BIOLOGY OF CRIMINOLOGY

Sociologists have done studies to note that sometimes criminals are not just nurtured but are likely to become ones due to biological traits/features they may possess. This biological view emphasizes crime as being to do with genes largely supporting right wing criminological views. The research obtained were all found from various sources such as newspaper articles.

Atavistic Man (Lombroso) - An Italian doctor Lombroso devised a theory of the criminal man and woman. He was studying the human skull of the human body and discovered the problem and nature of criminal behaviour. He explained that criminals are likely to have biological features inherited which enormous jaws, huge eye sockets and handle shaped ears. This is because these individuals with these biological features were more in their primitive form than other people in general.

Genes (S. Connor) - Supporting the biological view, S. Connor’s case study of Stephen Mobley reveals the Mobley family’s previous generations had been inexplicably violent, aggressive and criminal. This is why Connor agrees that you can inherit biological traits from ancestors such as violence and killing intent. For example, Stephen Mobley committed a unexpected crime when he shot a manager in a pizza store, robbed the till and joked about it. No one expected this because he was nurtured from a middle class family.

Psychopaths (Carter) – Agrees with the biological views of criminology. He argues that psychopaths who are potential killers having mental/personality disorders that are incurable are likely to wreak havoc in society. They are not to blame because many of them lack the ability to feel guilt or empathy also not knowing or understanding the morality.

He explains that the way to deal with these psychopaths is to install pacemakers to their brains using electronic magnetic technology to turn off and on different parts of the brain.

Delinquent Personalities (Eysenck) – Studies revealed that a large sample of delinquents demonstrate high levels of extroversion. He would argue that personalities and anti-social behavior are correlated. This means people will not necessarily become delinquents because of biological features or personality but it will rather depend on the interaction between them and the environment.