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Anthropological criminology 7 languages

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Italian school
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Mugshot and fingerprinting
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Theory
Anthropological criminology (sometimes referred to as criminal anthropology, literally a combination of Criminology
Rejection the study of the human species and the study of criminals) is a field of offender profiling, based on perceived
Modern times 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
See also
of the Italian school of criminology of the late 19th century (Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri, Raffaele Garofalo
References and Lorenzo Tenchini). Lombroso thought that criminals were born with detectable inferior physiological
Bibliography differences. He popularized the notion of "born criminal" and thought that criminality was a case of atavism or Main Theories
hereditary disposition. His central idea was to locate crime completely within the individual and divorce it from Conflict theory · Criminalization ·
Differential association ·
surrounding social conditions and structures. A founder of the Positivist school of criminology, Lombroso
Integrative criminology · Rational choice theory
opposed the social positivism developed by the Chicago school and environmental criminology. · Structural functionalism · Subcultural theory ·
Symbolic interactionism

History [ edit ] Methods

Comparative · Profiling · Critical theory ·
This section is empty. You can Ethnography · Uniform Crime Reports ·
help by adding to it. (August 2014) Crime mapping · Positivist school · Qualitative
· Quantitative · BJS · NIBRS

Italian school [ edit ] Subfields and other major theories

American · Anthropological ·
This section is empty. You can Biosocial criminology · Conflict · Criminology ·
help by adding to it. (August 2014)
Critical · Culture · Cyber · Demography ·
Development · Environmental · Experimental ·

Mugshot and fingerprinting [ edit ]

Organizational · Political · Public ·
Radical criminology
On the other hand, Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) created a mugshot identification system for criminals Browse
prior to the invention of fingerprinting. Hans Gross (1847–1915), leading worker in the field of criminology Bibliography · Index · Journals · Organizations
was also involved in the development of the theory.[1] · People
· ·

Social Darwinism [ edit ]

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.[1] The work of Cesare Lombroso was continued by social
Darwinists in the United States between 1881 and 1911.
Anthropometric data sheet (both
sides) of Alphonse Bertillon, a pioneer
Theory [ edit ] in anthropological criminology

In the 19th century, Cesare Lombroso and his followers performed autopsies on criminals and declared that they
had discovered similarities between the physiologies of the bodies and those of "primitive humans" such as Alphonse Bertillon created a
monkeys and apes. Most of these similarities involved receding foreheads, height, head shape, and size; mugshot identification system for
Lombroso postulated the theory of the born criminal based on these physical characteristics. Moreover, he also criminals prior to the invention of
declared that the female offender was worse than the male, as they had distinct masculine characteristics. dactyloscopy

Lombroso outlined 14 physiognomic characteristics which he and his followers believed to be common in all
criminals, some of which were (but are not limited to): unusually short or tall height; small head, but large face;
fleshy lips, but thin upper lip; protuberances (bumps) on head, in back of head and around ear; wrinkles on
forehead and face; large sinus cavities or bumpy face; tattoos on body; receding hairline; bumps on head,
particularly above left ear; large incisors; bushy eyebrows, tending to meet across nose; large eye sockets, but Bertillon selfportrait Fingerprint
detail
deep-set eyes; beaked or flat nose; strong jaw line; small and sloping forehead; small or weak chin; thin neck;
sloping shoulders, but large chest; large, protruding ears; long arms; high cheek bones; pointy or snubbed fingers
or toes.[1]

Lombroso published several works regarding his work, L'Uomo Delinquente, L'Homme Criminel (The Criminal Man), The Female Offender (original titled
Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman) and Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso.

Rejection [ edit ]

During Lombroso's life, British scientist Charles Buckman Goring (1870–1919) was also working in the same area, and concluded that there were no
noticeable physiological differences between law-abiding people and criminals. Maurice Parmelee, seen as the founder of modern criminology in America,
also began to reject the theory of anthropological criminology in 1911, which led to its eventual withdrawal from the field of accepted criminological
research. (Source?)

Modern times [ edit ]

Despite general rejection of Lombroso's theories, anthropological criminology still finds a place of sort in modern criminal profiling. Historically (particularly
in the 1930s) criminal anthropology had been associated somewhat with eugenics as the idea of a physiological flaw in the human race was often
associated with plans to remove such flaws. This was found particularly in America, with the American Eugenics Movement between 1907 and 1939, and
the Anti-miscegenation laws, and also in Germany during the Third Reich where 250,000 mentally disabled Germans were killed.[1]

Criminal anthropology, and the closely related study of Physiognomy, have also found their way into studies of social psychology and forensic psychology.
Studies into the nature of twins also combines aspects of criminal anthropology, as some studies reveal that identical twins share a likelihood of criminal
activities more so than non-identical twins. Lombroso's theories are also found in studies of Galvanic skin response and XYY chromosome syndrome.

See also [ edit ]

Biosocial criminology Pathognomy Physiognomy

Criminal psychology Personology Racial bias in criminal news
Criminology Phrenology Scientific racism

References [ edit ]

1. ^ a b c d Anthropological Criminology, North Carolina Wesleyan College, retrieved from here on March 10, 2007 Archived October 9, 2006, at the Wayback
Machine

Bibliography [ edit ]

Garbarino, M. Sociocultural Theory in Anthropology, (1977).

Black, E. War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race, (2003).

Authority control databases: National France · BnF data · Israel · United States

Categories: Anthropology Criminology

This page was last edited on 22 December 2022, at 20:20 (UTC).

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