Biological Theories of Criminality
Physiological Theory – Lombroso’s Theory
4 marks –
Founded by Lombroso in 1870 – suggested that a criminal could be identified based on
physical characteristics
He used the term atavism and said that criminals are lower in the evolutionary scale and
look like apes and lower primates and they have not evolved fully to fit in with society
He called them savages and throwbacks and said that some atavistic features include
large ears, high cheekbones and extra nipples, toes or fingers
6 Marks –
Lombroso carried out a study on 383 dead criminals and 3839 living ones and found that
40% of them had atavistic features
He also determined that you could tell what crime someone will commit by the way they
look e.g. murderers will have bloodshot eyes and curly hair
He also suggested that there were other aspects of the born criminal e.g. criminal slang,
unemployment and tattoos
His theory was published in the book L’uomo Delinquente
9 Marks –
University in China did a study using ID photos of 1856 Chinese men, half of whom had a
criminal conviction. The photos were entered into an artificial intelligence programme.
They found that it correctly identified 83% of the real criminals, but wrongly flagged
innocent men as criminal 6% of the time
Physiological Theory – Sheldon’s Theory
4 Marks –
Founded by Sheldon in 1949 – suggested that criminal behaviours are linked to a
person's physical form
He identified 650 personalities and 3 body types –
○ Ectomorph – thin and bony, introverted and restrained
○ Endomorph – large and heavy, sociable and relaxed
○ Mesomorph – broad and muscular, aggressive and adventurous
After 8 years, he concluded that criminals tended to be heavily mesomorphic, rarely
ectomorphic and never endomorphic
6 Marks –
Sheldon used 4000 photos of male students and delinquents and rated their
resemblance to mesomorphy using a scale of 1 (low) – 7 (high), and found that
delinquents had a higher average mesomorphy rating than the students (4.6 - 3.8)
His findings were published in his book Atlas of Men
9 Marks –
Glueck and Glueck found that in their sample of delinquents 60% were mesomorphs,
whereas in a non-delinquent sample only 31% were
, Genetic Theory – XYY Theory
4 Marks –
Genetic theories believe criminality is inherited, and the XYY theory believes you inherit
an extra chromosome
Most people are born XX (girl) or XY (boy) with 46 chromosomes (23 from each parent),
however Sandberg (1961) found that some people are born with a 47th Karyotype XYY
(where they have an extra Y chromosome)
XYY males are believed to be “supermales” which has been linked to aggression, height
and strength
Court-Brown looked at 314 patients and said that those with XYY would be ‘best
hospitalized’ due to an increased likelihood of aggressive behaviour
6 Marks –
Jacob Et Al found that XYY men are overrepresented in prison population with 15 in
1000 men in the prison population having the extra chromosome, compared to 1 in 1000
men in the general population
Prince and Whatmore found XYY males to be immature and unstable, with a strong
tendency to commit property crimes
9 Marks –
Serial killers back it up – John Wayne Gacy and Richard Speck both had an extra Y
chromosome
Genetic Theory – Adoption Studies
4 Marks –
Genetic theory believes that the closer you are related to someone, the higher likelihood
of sharing the same characteristics (known as concordance)
In this case, if your parent is criminal there is a higher chance you will inherit criminality
One way to study this is adoption
Concordance between:
○ Biological parent + kid - if higher concordance, genes
○ Environmental parent + kid - if higher concordance, upbringing
Hutchings and Mednick studied 14,000 adopted sons in Denmark and found that the
sons were more likely to have a criminal record if their birth parent also had one, with an
overall concordance of 20%, but there was only a 14% concordance rate between sons
with adopted parents
6 Marks –
Mednick et al also found no relationship between the number of criminal convictions of
adoptive parents and their adopted children, but found a significant correlation between
the number of criminal convictions of the biological parents and their children
Crowe found that adopted children with a criminal biological mother were more likely to
be a criminal at 18 years than adopted children who didn’t have a criminal biological
mother
Physiological Theory – Lombroso’s Theory
4 marks –
Founded by Lombroso in 1870 – suggested that a criminal could be identified based on
physical characteristics
He used the term atavism and said that criminals are lower in the evolutionary scale and
look like apes and lower primates and they have not evolved fully to fit in with society
He called them savages and throwbacks and said that some atavistic features include
large ears, high cheekbones and extra nipples, toes or fingers
6 Marks –
Lombroso carried out a study on 383 dead criminals and 3839 living ones and found that
40% of them had atavistic features
He also determined that you could tell what crime someone will commit by the way they
look e.g. murderers will have bloodshot eyes and curly hair
He also suggested that there were other aspects of the born criminal e.g. criminal slang,
unemployment and tattoos
His theory was published in the book L’uomo Delinquente
9 Marks –
University in China did a study using ID photos of 1856 Chinese men, half of whom had a
criminal conviction. The photos were entered into an artificial intelligence programme.
They found that it correctly identified 83% of the real criminals, but wrongly flagged
innocent men as criminal 6% of the time
Physiological Theory – Sheldon’s Theory
4 Marks –
Founded by Sheldon in 1949 – suggested that criminal behaviours are linked to a
person's physical form
He identified 650 personalities and 3 body types –
○ Ectomorph – thin and bony, introverted and restrained
○ Endomorph – large and heavy, sociable and relaxed
○ Mesomorph – broad and muscular, aggressive and adventurous
After 8 years, he concluded that criminals tended to be heavily mesomorphic, rarely
ectomorphic and never endomorphic
6 Marks –
Sheldon used 4000 photos of male students and delinquents and rated their
resemblance to mesomorphy using a scale of 1 (low) – 7 (high), and found that
delinquents had a higher average mesomorphy rating than the students (4.6 - 3.8)
His findings were published in his book Atlas of Men
9 Marks –
Glueck and Glueck found that in their sample of delinquents 60% were mesomorphs,
whereas in a non-delinquent sample only 31% were
, Genetic Theory – XYY Theory
4 Marks –
Genetic theories believe criminality is inherited, and the XYY theory believes you inherit
an extra chromosome
Most people are born XX (girl) or XY (boy) with 46 chromosomes (23 from each parent),
however Sandberg (1961) found that some people are born with a 47th Karyotype XYY
(where they have an extra Y chromosome)
XYY males are believed to be “supermales” which has been linked to aggression, height
and strength
Court-Brown looked at 314 patients and said that those with XYY would be ‘best
hospitalized’ due to an increased likelihood of aggressive behaviour
6 Marks –
Jacob Et Al found that XYY men are overrepresented in prison population with 15 in
1000 men in the prison population having the extra chromosome, compared to 1 in 1000
men in the general population
Prince and Whatmore found XYY males to be immature and unstable, with a strong
tendency to commit property crimes
9 Marks –
Serial killers back it up – John Wayne Gacy and Richard Speck both had an extra Y
chromosome
Genetic Theory – Adoption Studies
4 Marks –
Genetic theory believes that the closer you are related to someone, the higher likelihood
of sharing the same characteristics (known as concordance)
In this case, if your parent is criminal there is a higher chance you will inherit criminality
One way to study this is adoption
Concordance between:
○ Biological parent + kid - if higher concordance, genes
○ Environmental parent + kid - if higher concordance, upbringing
Hutchings and Mednick studied 14,000 adopted sons in Denmark and found that the
sons were more likely to have a criminal record if their birth parent also had one, with an
overall concordance of 20%, but there was only a 14% concordance rate between sons
with adopted parents
6 Marks –
Mednick et al also found no relationship between the number of criminal convictions of
adoptive parents and their adopted children, but found a significant correlation between
the number of criminal convictions of the biological parents and their children
Crowe found that adopted children with a criminal biological mother were more likely to
be a criminal at 18 years than adopted children who didn’t have a criminal biological
mother
