who have these features are made to be criminals.
Lombroso believed some people are born
with strong, innate predisposition to behave
antisocially.
He claimed criminals are not fully evolved,
instead they are throwbacks to a previous
evolutionary state. This is known as ATAVISM.
As a result, you can spot a criminal from their
physical atavistic features.
Lombroso also believed tattoos were markings of born
criminals because they stood as evidence of both
immortality and insensitivity to physical pain, e.g Richard
Ramirez (the night stalker). But not every criminal has a
tattoo.
He believes Criminals are a separate species
called homo delinquents
To research his theory, Lombroso studied the facial and
cranial features of 383 dead criminals and 3,839 living
criminals.
He concluded that 40% of criminal acts were committed
by individuals with atavistic features.
He even claimed you could tell what type of crime they
would commit based on which features they had.
Principle markers: Strong jaw, Heavy brow
= Murderers: Bloodshot eyes, Curly hair
-
Sex offenders: Thick lips, Protruding ears
To be marked by Lombroso as born criminals, women need
to have 3 or more atavistic features and men 5 or more.
Lombroso, Atavism, atavistic features, homo
delinquents.