Criminal Behavior as It Relates to Size

Criminal Behavior As It Relates To Size
Loretta L.Gaskamp
Psychology of Criminal Behavior
Professor Ali Choudhry
December 6, 2009

Does size really matter? Well if you are attempting to study criminal behavior in relation to appearance. Cesare Lombroso (November 6, 1835 – October 19, 1909) was the founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso believed that a people could see in inferiority of genetic abnormalities of others and determine if that person was a criminal or criminally inclined, all this from an exterior examination. He believed that a criminal was born with physical defects that were noticeable. He was not alone in his thinking. Lombroso studied cadavers of criminals and of non criminals and noticed a difference in the general make up of the two, he claimed that anatomical investigations of the post mortem bodies of criminals revealed that they were physically different from normal people. He claimed that criminals have stigmata (signs) that include abnormal dimensions of the skull and jaw. He wrote six editions of a series called Criminal Man. Lombroso claimed that such signs were noticeable in ‘Born Criminals’ Below are the signs he claimed made up a criminal: • large jaws, forward projection of jaw, • low sloping forehead, • high cheekbones, • flattened or upturned nose, • handle-shaped ears, • hawk-like noses or fleshy lips, • hard shifty eyes, • scanty beard or baldness, • insensitivity to pain, • long arms relative to lower limbs.

Lombroso was not the only scientist who believed this method and was soon followed by Frank Gall, who believed that each section of the brain was responsible for a different aspect of human functioning. Gall was an anatomist. This was later shown to be inaccurate. John Lavater who published his 4 volume Physiognomical Fragments in 1775, He claimed that unusual physical traits were related to strange behavior, facial features that included shifty eyes, weak chins, arrogant noses and even tattooing of the body. Lombroso’s finding were challenged and pretty much were found to be unfounded by many scientists and experts in the field of criminology. I find this subject to be fascinating while at the same time ridiculous. Criminals throughout the years have surprised investigators and scientists. Many of the really bad criminals have been studied and found to have had some sort of mental disease, whereas almost the same amount have been found to be perfectly normal (in the ‘normal’ sense). I have studied serial killers who were remarkable in the way that they hid their crimes, there were no physical traits in Ted Bundy or Robert Wayne Gacy that resembled his idea a criminal. Not all criminals are murderers, by any means, I have dealt with entire families who have been dealing drugs for generations and generations of shop lifters. These that I am touching on were born into the family crime trait. Some get out, others are not so lucky. Mafia and Drug Lord families are vigilant on keeping their identities unknown to the authorities. If I studied Lombroso, I would be looking at the wrong people, sure I believe that he ‘thought’ he had evidence, but I don’t believe that his theory would ever get any kind of support, especially in this day and age.

References

The Social Science Journal, Volume 45, Issue 2, June 2008, Pages 330-344
Sean Maddan, Jeffery T. Walker and J. Mitchell Miller

Bartol, C.R. & Bartol, A.M. (2008). Criminal Behavior a Psychoscial approach. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education. Inc

Cesare Lombroso. (2009, June 17). New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:02, December 7, 2009 from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cesare_Lombroso?oldid=942876.

References: The Social Science Journal, Volume 45, Issue 2, June 2008, Pages 330-344 Sean Maddan, Jeffery T. Walker and J. Mitchell Miller   Bartol, C.R. & Bartol, A.M. (2008). Criminal Behavior a Psychoscial approach. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education. Inc Cesare Lombroso. (2009, June 17). New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:02, December 7, 2009 from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cesare_Lombroso?oldid=942876.