ADVOCATES OF POSITIVIST CRIMINOLOGY/ITALIAN

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

1. CESARE LOMBROSO (1836 -1909)

- An Italian university professor and

criminologist.
- Became popular in the field of
Characterology, or the relation between
mental and physical characteristics of a
person.
- The founder of the Positivist School
of Thought and commonly considered
today as the “Father of Modern
Criminology”.
- Lombroso primary emphasis was on the
concept of the atavistic criminal.
- He believed the atavistic criminal to be
a biological throwback to an earlier stage of evolution, since inborn
delinquency was not natural to contemporary mankind but peculiar to
primitive races.
- One of his major contribution was his essay, CRIME: Its Causes and
remedies that contains his key ideas and influenced criminological
thinking principally redirecting emphasis from a legalistic concern for
crimes to a scientific study of the criminals.
- Although Lombroso was aware of the importance of social and
psychological factors in the causation of crime, his primary emphasis
was the concept of the atavistic criminal.
- he believed the atavistic criminal to be a biological throwback to an
earlier stage of evolution, since inborn delinquency was not natural to
contemporary mankind but peculiar to primitive races.
Atavism: Its concept
Atavism (from Latin atavus, ancestor) claimed a return to a primitive or
subhuman type of man, characterized physically by a variety of inferior
morphological features reminiscent of apes and lower primates, occurring in the
more simian fossil men and, to some extent, preserved in modern “savages”.

Classifications of Criminals by Lombroso

1. The Born Criminal – those that have pathological symptoms common with
imbecile and the epileptic.
 He argued that if criminal behavior is inherited then the born criminal
could be distinguished by associated physical characteristics such as:
a. Large jaws, forward projection of jaw
 b. Low sloping forehead
c. High cheekbones
d. Flattened or upturned nose
e. Handle-shaped ears
f. Hawk-like noses or fleshy lips
g. Hard shifty eyes
h. Scanty beard or baldness
i. Insensitivity to pain
j. Long arms relative to lower limbs

2. The Insane criminal – those who commit crime due to abnormalities or

psychological disorders. This criminal type includes the alcoholic,
kleptomaniac, nymphomaniac, child molester and hysterical.
3. The criminoloid – one who commits crime due to less physical stamina/self-
control.
4. The occasional criminal – one who commits crime due to insignificant
reasons that pushed them to do on a given occasion.
5. The pseudo-criminal – one who kills in self-defense.
6. The criminal by passion – individuals who are easily influenced by great
emotions like fit of anger.

2. ENRICO FERRI (1856 – 1929)

- He was an Italian criminologist and socialist.
- He worked on the social and economic factors
to crimes.
- He authored Criminal Sociology.
- He became one of the founder of the positivist
school but more focused on psychological and
social positivism as opposed to the biological
positivism of Lombroso.
- Ferri was also an instrument in formulating
the concept of “social defense” as a
justification for punishment.
- He asserted that the only reasonable rationale
for punishing offenders is to incapacitate them for as long possible so that
they no longer posed a threat to the peace and security of society.

Ferri’s Classification of Criminals

1. The born or instinctive criminal – who carries from birth, through

unfortunate heredity from his progenitors, a reduced resistance o criminal
stimuli and also an evident and precocious propensity to crime.
2. The insane criminal – affected by a clinically identified mental disease or by
a neuropsychopathic condition which groups him with the mentally diseased.
3. The passional criminal – who in two varieties, the criminal through passion
(a prolonged and chronic mental state), or through emotion (explosive and
unexpected mental state), represents a type at the opposite pole from the
criminal due to congenital tendencies.
 4. The occasional criminal – who constitutes the majority of lawbreakers and
is the product of family and social milieu more than that of abnormal personal
physio-mental conditions.
5. The habitual criminal – or the criminal by acquired habit, who is mostly a
product of the social environment in which due to abandonment of his family,
lack of education, poverty and bad companions and already in his childhood
begins as an occasional offender.

3. RAFFAELE GAROFALO (1852 – 1934)

 Italian Nobility in Naples in 1852.

 Like Lombroso
the position that the only way to understand
crime was to study it by scientific methods.
 Influenced by
animalistic behavior), he traced the roots of
criminal behavior not to physical features
but to their psychological equivalents, which
he called “moral anomalies”.
 He attempted
designate those acts which can be
repressed by punishment. These constituted
“Natural Crime” – that conduct that would
offend the basic altruistic sentiments
common to all people, namely, Probity
(revulsion against the voluntary infliction of
suffering on others) and Pity (respect for
property rights of others).
 He

believed that the true criminal is abnormal

and “lacks a proper development of the
altruistic (humane) sensibilities. This lack or
deficiency is not simply the product of
circumstance or environmental conditioning
but has an organic basis.”

Types of criminals by Garofalo

1. Murderers – those who are satisfied from vengeance/revenge

2. Violent criminals – those who commit very serious crimes
3. Deficient criminals – those who commit crime against property
4. Lascivious criminals – those who commit crime against chastity
 THEORY OF CRIME CAUSATION: BIOLOGICAL THEORY

Biological explanations of crime assume that some people are “Born criminals”
who are physiologically distinct from non-criminals. According to biological
positivists the basic cause of crime is biological inferiority, which is indicated by
physical or genetic characteristics that distinguish criminals from noncriminal.
Biological theorists also advocate brain surgery, chemical treatment, improved diets
and better mother and child care.
Biological theories of criminality basically purport that criminal behavior is the
result of some flaw in the biological makeup of the individual. This physical flaw
could be due to:
a. Heredity
b. Neurotransmitter dysfunction
c. Brain abnormalities that were caused by either of the above, improper
development or trauma.

Criminal Anthropology

Anthropological criminology (sometimes referred to as criminal anthropology,

literally a combination of the study of the human species and the study of criminals)
is a field of offender profiling, based on perceived links between the
nature of a crime and the personality or physical appearance of the
offender. Although similar to physiognomy and phrenology, the term "criminal
anthropology" is generally reserved for the works of the Italian school of criminology
of the late 19th century (Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri, Raffaele Garofalo and
Lorenzo Tenchini).

The theory of anthropological criminology was influenced heavily by the ideas of

Charles Darwin (1809–1882). However, the influences came mainly from philosophy
derived from Darwin's theory of evolution, specifically that some species were
morally superior to others. This idea was in fact spawned by Social Darwinism, but
nevertheless formed a critical part of anthropological criminology.

Heredity Studies
1. Chromosomes
  Human cells normally have 22 pairs of chromosomes, plus a pair of
chromosomes that determines sex, for a total of 46. Sex chromosomes
are termed X and Y. Females carry a combination of XX, and males carry
a combination of XY.
 During conception, the male’s sperm carries genetic material to the
female’s egg. If the sperm that fertilizes a female egg is carrying a Y
chromosome, the resulting embryo will develop into a male fetus (XY). If
the sperm is carrying an X chromosome, the resulting embryo will develop
into a female fetus (XX).

 During this process, however, things can develop abnormally. For

example, during the process, some men are left with an extra Y
chromosome (XYY). Erroneously termed XYY syndrome, a “supermale”
carrying this chromosomal pattern usually has a normal appearance and
will probably never know that he carries an extra Y chromosome, unless
he is genetically tested for some other reason.
 Given the Y chromosomes association with the male sex and with
increased production in testosterone, many claims have been made in the
research literature that XYY males are more aggressive and more violent.
This supposition has not been supported with scientifically valid research.

2. Twin Studies
 Distinctions between fraternal (dizygotic [DZ]) and identical (monozygotic
[MZ]) twins have contributed to the sophistication of this type of research.
 DZ twins develop from two eggs and share about half of their genetic
material, whereas MZ twins develop from a single egg and share all of their
genetic material.

Twin studies attempt to control for the impact of the social environment,
hypothesizing that these environments are similar for twins. Twins generally are
raised in the same social environment, so the impact of the social environment is
considered to be equal and consistent (and thus controlled). Therefore, any greater
similarity between identical twins than between fraternal twins would provide
evidence for a genetic link.

 One of the earlier and simpler twin studies was conducted in the 1920s by
Johannes Lange (1929). He studied 30 pairs of twins who were of the same
sex. Seventeen of these pairs were DZ twins, and 13 of these pairs were MZ
twins. At least one of each twin pair was known to have committed a crime.
However, Lange found that both twins in 10 of the 13 MZ twin pairs were
known criminals, compared with both twins in only 2 of the 17 DZ pairs.

 More sophisticated and extensive studies have followed. In 1974, Karl O.

Christiansen evaluated the criminal behavior of 3,586 twin pairs born in
Denmark between 1881 and 1910.
 He found that the chance of one twin engaging in criminal behavior when the
other twin was criminal was 50% among the MZ twin pairs but only 20%
among the DZ twin pairs. The correlation between the genetic closeness of
the biological relationship and crime was especially true for serious violent
crime and for lengthier criminal careers.
  These findings were supported by additional work on the self-reported
delinquency of twins in the 1980s and 1990s by David C. Rowe and his
colleagues. This research found that MZ twins were more likely than DZ twins
to both be involved in delinquent activity. Moreover, MZ twins reported more
delinquent peers than did DZ twins (Rowe, 1983). The work of Rowe and his
colleagues supported a genetic component to delinquency but also provided
evidence of a social component.

Although twin studies have provided some support for a genetic component to
behavior, it is difficult to separate the influence of genetics from the influence of
social factors. There also are theoretical problems with the assumption that twins
raised in the same home are subject to the same treatment and the same social
environment. Even scholars who study the link between criminal behavior and
genetics are cautious with their conclusions, arguing that these types of studies
reveal only that the similarities between twins have some impact on behavior.

3. Adoption Studies
In adoption studies, the behavior of adoptees is compared with the outcomes of
their adopted and biological parents. The aim is to separate out the impact of the
environment from the influence of heredity. This research asks whether a child will
exhibit traits of the adopted parents or of the biological parents.

 Research indicates that an adoptee with a biological parent who is criminal is

more likely to engage in property crime than other adoptees and that this
effect is stronger for boys. The findings, from a study of 14,427 Danish
children adopted between 1924 and 1947, provide evidence that there may
be a genetic factor in the predisposition to antisocial behavior (Mednick,
Gabrielli, & Hutchins, 1984). Studies in both Sweden and in the United States
confirm these conclusions.