Biology and Crime

1
Biology and Crime

• Early Theories of Biology and Crime
• Modern Approaches
• Behavioral Genetics
• Biological Factors Related to Crime
• Biosocial Theory
• Policy Implications

2
Early Biological Theories (1 of 2)

• ? Early history of criminology
• Many early criminologists were physicians
• General idea the presence of certain physical
  traits makes criminal behavior more likely

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Early Biological Theories (2 of 2)

• 1. Phrenology
• 2. Lombrosos born criminal
• 3. Physical deficiencies
• 4. The XYY supermale
• 5. Somatotype theory

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Phrenology

• ? Exterior of the skull reflects the mind
• ? Bumps on the head indicate criminal tendencies

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Lombrosos Born Criminal (1 of 3)

• ? Cesare Lombroso
• ? 19th-century Italian physician
• ? Led the movement from classical school to
  scientific positivism
• ? Major contributions
• ? Study of the individual offender and crime
  conditions
• ? Application of statistical methods to data
  collection and analysis, as well as
  multiple-factor analysis
• ? Use of typological methods to classify and
  study criminals and examine criminological
  phenomena

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Lombrosos Born Criminal (2 of 3)

• ? Atavism
• ? Criminals as evolutionary
• throwbacks
• ? Physical traits (Stigmata)
• Peaked nose (as bird of prey)
• Sloped forehead, large jaws
• Strong canine teeth (as with carnivores)
• General hairiness of the body
• Low foreheads

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Lombrosos Born Criminal (3 of 3)

• ? Types of criminals
• ? Insane
• ? Idiots, drug addicts, moral degenerates
• ? Criminaloids
• ? Those who have less pronounced physical
  stigmata
• ? Criminals by passion
• ? Passion (like love, hate, honor) fueled their
  criminal rage

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Physical Deficiencies

• ? Charles Goring
• ? Criminal behavior related to defective
  intelligence
• ? Earnest Hooten
• ? Criminals physiologically inferior
• ? Physical traits
• ? Low foreheads
• ? Pinched noses
• ? Compressed faces
• ? Narrow jaws

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Somatotype Theory (1 of 3)

• ? Developed by William Sheldon (supported by the
  Gluecks at Harvard)
• ? Body build (somatotype) linked to
• ? Behavioral tendencies
• ? Temperament
• ? Life expectancy
• ? Susceptibility to disease

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Somatotype Theory (2 of 3)

• ? Basic body types
• ? Endomorph
• ? Fat, soft, and round
• ? Tend to be extroverts
• ? Ectomorph
• ? Thin and wiry
• ? Easily worried, sensitive, and introverted
• ? Mesomorph (most criminals)
• ? Muscular
• ? Gregarious, aggressive, assertive, and action
  oriented

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Somatotype Theory (3 of 3)

• ? Explanations
• ? Those with muscular builds tend to enjoy the
  physical activity involved in crime.
• ? Mesomorphic body type may have an advantage in
  the rough-and-tumble activities of street crime.
• ? Mesomorph is perceived as a threat and is
  therefore more likely to be arrested and/or
  incarcerated.

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The XYY Supermale

• Chromosomal abnormality (extra Y chromosome)
• ? May be more likely to engage in criminal
  behavior (but not violent behavior)
• ? Extremely rare chromosome structure (less than
  0.1 of total male population)

• ?

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Policy Implications of Early Biological Research

• ? Focused on single, direct cause of crime that
  cannot be changed
• ? Policy implication Eugenics
• Remove these individuals from society through
  forced sterilization, internment in camps, or
  death
• Eugenics movement waned after WWII

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The demise of early positivism

• 1. Poor theory
• Single biological trait as direct cause of crime.
• 2. Poor/biased research
• Any small criminal/non-criminal difference were
  assumed to reflect the superiority of
  non-criminals
• 3. Dangerous policy implications
• Eugenics movement
• Largely discredited by Sociologists by 1950.

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Modern Biological Approach (2 of 2)

• 1. Behavioral genetics
• 2. Biological correlates of criminal behavior
• 3. Biosocial theory
• 4. Evolutionary theory (sociobiology)

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Behavioral Genetics (1 of 5)

• Can criminality be inherited?
• Trying to separate nature (genes) from nurture
  (environment)
• ? Family studies
• ? Twin studies
• ? Adoption studies
• ? Molecular genetics

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Behavioral Genetics (2 of 5)

• Family studies
• ? Early studies traced family history (Jukes)
• ? Modern studies look at parents crime (Sampson
  and Laub)
• ? Findings Parental crime consistently predicts
  childrens criminal behavior.
• ? Criticism Environment (poor parenting, shared
  environment) could easily explain this finding.

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Behavioral Genetics (3 of 5)

• Twin studies
• ? Compare monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ)
  twins
• ? MZ twins have higher concordance rates than DZ
  twins Danish Study (Christiansen, 1979)
• MZ52
• DZ22
• ? Criticism
• ? People may treat MZ twins more similarly
• ? MZ twins more likely to share friends
  (including delinquent peers)

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Behavioral Genetics (4 of 5)

• Adoption studies
• ? Compare criminal record of adopted children
  with their biological and adoptive parents.
• ? Findings Childrens criminal behavior relates
  more to biological parents.
• ? Criticism Adoption agencies might have biased
  placements.

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Cross Fostering AnalysisMednick et al. (1984)
Environment
Genetic Effect
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Behavioral Genetics (5 of 5)

• Molecular genetics
• ? Isolates particular genes that may relate to
  crime
• DNA
• Bases (A,T,C,G)
• Gene
• Gene-linkage
• Hans Brunner Case as OGOD
• Human Genome Project

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Many biological factors may contribute to
criminal behavior

• 1. Neurological factors
• 2. Autonomic nervous system
• 3. Biological harms
• 4. Hormones

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Neurological Factors (1 of 2)

• ? Direct measures of the brain
• ? Prefrontal cortex
• ? Executive functions (e.g., cognition,
  attention, impulsivity)
• ? MRI and PET scans analyze brain structure and
  activity
• ? Differences in the frontal lobe exist between
  criminals and noncriminal control groups

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Neurological Factors (2 of 2)

• ? Neurochemical measures
• ? Neurotransmitters (like serotonin) allow cells
  to communicate with each other.
• ? Low levels of serotonin are sometimes linked
  with impulsive and aggressive behavior
• Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene implicated in
  several studies
• Hans Brunner study
• Interaction between specific forms of the gene
  and violence/crime (New Zealand study)

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Autonomic Nervous System

• ? Controls how the body reacts to stimuli (heart
  rate, gland secretions)
• ? Some criminals have lower resting heart rates
  than noncriminals.
• ? Studies of skin conductance (sweat) yield mixed
  results.
• ? Criminals potentially have low levels of
  arousal.

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Biological Harms (1 of 3)

• ? Perinatal risks linked with criminality
• ? Smoking (cigarettes, marijuana)
• ? Alcohol consumption (fetal alcohol syndrome)
• ? Delivery complications
• ? Low birth-weight children
• ? More pronounced effect in unstable families

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Biological Harms (2 of 2)

• ? Environmental toxins
• ? Lead exposure
• ? Highly toxic substance (especially for young
  children)
• ? Found in lead paint and leaded gasoline
• ? Can cause serious health and behavioral
  problems
• ? Linked to delinquent behavior

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Biosocial Theory

• ? Combinations of environmental and biological
  risk cause criminal behavior
• 1. Life-course-persistent offending
• 2. Personality-based theory
• 3. Female delinquency

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Life-Course-Persistent Offending

• ? Developed by Terrie Moffitt
• ? Adolescent-limited (AL) offenders
• ? Criminal behavior limited to adolescence
• ? Life-course-persistent (LCP) offenders
• ? Chronic offending starts early in life
• ? Argue that LCP path is caused by neurological
  deficits and ineffective parenting

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Personality-Based Theory

• ? Hans Eysenck
• ? Personality traits driven by underlying biology
  cause crime.
• ? Children with low arousal will be difficult to
  socialize.
• ? In criminal families, low arousal might prevent
  children from learning criminal behavior.

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Female Delinquency

• ? Early onset of puberty is linked to criminal
  behavior.
• ? Caspi et al. This is true for girls in coed
  schools, but not for those in all-girls schools.
• ? Conclusion Girls who start puberty early
  attract the attention of older, crime-prone
  males, which may lead to delinquency. Good
  example of a biology x environment interaction.

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Evolutionary Theory (1 of 2)

• ? Uses principles of evolution to explain modern
  human behavior
• ? Research
• ? Rape
• ? Cads and dads theory
• ? Criticism
• ? Difficult if not impossible to test
• ? Evidence sometimes runs counter to predictions

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Evolutionary Theory (2 of 2)

• ? Rape
• ? Evolutionary processes allow males who are
  pushy and aggressive in the pursuit of sex to
  pass on their genes successfully.
• ? Cads and dads theory
• ? Alternative strategies for reproductive success
• ? Cadspretend caregivers who really want to
  reproduce with as many females as possible
• ? Dadsinvest time and energy to help nurture and
  raise offspring

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Summary

• ? Many biological factors appear to be related to
  criminal behavior
• ? Inherited
• ? Results of biological harm
• ? Biological factors contribute to criminality in
  certain environmental circumstances.
• ? Biosocial Theories

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Biological Theories Criticisms

• ? Ignores some types of crimes
• ? White-collar
• ? Organized
• ? Political crime
• ? Focuses on aggression or antisocial behavior in
  children and street crime in adults

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Policy Implications (1 of 2)

• ? Still fear of ethical problems
• ? Biology not necessarily destiny
• ? Provide unsound justifications for the control
  of minority populations
• ? New eugenics
• ? Gene therapy
• ? Discrimination based on presence of biological
  risk indicators

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Policy Implications (2 of 2)

• ? The upside? Criminality as a public health
  problem
• ? Prenatal care for at-risk mothers
• ? Strengthen environmental counterbalances for
  children with biological risk indicators