CESARE LOMBROSO (1835-1909)
PHYSICIAN 1876 WROTE, THE CRIMINAL MAN
DURING AUTOPSY, CERTAIN PHYSICAL STIGMATA WAS APPARENT, CONCLUDED THE CERTAIN NUMBER OF THESES INDICATED A BORN CRIMINAL, ATAVISTIC CRIMINAL
Atavism: Atavism refers to Lombroso's theory that while most individuals evolve, some devolve, becoming primitive or "atavistic". These evolutionary "throwbacks" are "born criminals," the most violent criminals in society. Born criminals could be identified through their atavistic stigmata. (For a good account of Lombroso's theories of atavism, see Gould's The Mismeasure of Man, pages 151-75.)
Atavistic Stigmata: Lombroso, 'atavistic stigmata' were those physical characteristics that suggested an individual to be atavistic. Such stigmata included abnormal skull sizes, hawk-like noses, large jaws and cheekbones, and fleshy lips.
In criminology, 'positivism' has two meanings. (1) Specifically, it refers to the evolutionary assumptions and scientific methods of the 'positivist school' of criminology. (2) More generally, it is used to characterize all approaches to criminology that are primarily concerned with questions of etiology, and which believe that social phenomena can and should be explained in the manner of the natural sciences. And the origins of the term? Talk to Comte.
Source: Crimetheory.com
STIGMATA RELATED TO AN ATAVISTIC CRIMINAL:
DEVIATION IN HEAD SIZE AND SHAPE FROM TYPE COMMON TO RACE AND REGION FROM WHICH THE CRIMINAL CAME ASYMMETRY OF THE FACE EYE DEFECTS AND PECULIARITIES EXCESSIVE DIMENSIONS OF THE JAW AND CHEEK BONES EARS OF UNUSUAL SIZE, OR OCCASIONALLY VERY SMALL, OR STANDING OUT FROM THE HEAD AS DO THOSE OF THE CHIMPANZEE NOSE TWISTED, UPTURNED, OR FLATTENED IN THIEVES, OR AQUILINE OR BEAK-LIKE IN MURDERERS, OR WITH A TIP RISING LIKE A PEAK FROM SWOLLEN NOSTRILS. LIPS FLESHY, SWOLLEN, & PROTRUDING POUCHES IN THE CHEEK LIKE THOSE OF SOME ANIMALS PECULIARITIES OF THE PALATE, SUCH AS ARE FOUND IN SOME REPTILES, AND CLEFT PALATE. CHIN RECEDING, OR EXCESSIVELY LONG, OR SHORT AND FLAT, AS IN APES. ABNORMAL DENTITION. ABUNDANCE, VARIETY, AND PRECOCITY OF WRINKLES ANOMALIES OF THE HAIR, MARKED BY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HAIR OF THE OPPOSITE SEX. DEFECTS OF THE THORAX, SUCH AS TOO MANY OR TOO FEW RIBS, OR SUPERNUMERARY NIPPLES INVERSION OF SEX CHARACTERS IN THE PELVIC ORGANS EXCESSIVE LENGTH OF ARMS SUPERNUMERARY FINGERS AND TOES IMBALANCE OF THE HEMISPHERES OF THE BRAIN (ASYMMETRY OF CRANIUM)
SUMMARY OF HIS WORK
HE CONSISTENTLY EMPHASIZED THE NEED FOR DIRECT STUDY OF THE INDIVIDUAL, UTILIZING MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL METHODS IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC DATA. HE BEGAN WITH THE BASIC ASSUMPTION OF THE BIOLOGICAL NATURE OF HUMAN CHARACTER AND BEHAVIOR: A. HE FIRST CONCEIVED OF THE CRIMINAL AS A THROWBACK TO A MORE PRIMITIVE TYPE OF BRAIN STRUCTURE, AND THEREFORE OF BEHAVIOR. B. HE LATER MODIFIED THIS TO INCLUDE GENERAL DEGENERACY OF DEFECTIVENESS. C. HE NEVER CLAIMED THAT THE BORN CRIMINAL CONSTITUTED MORE THAN 40% PROBABLY LESS, ONLY ABOUT 1/3 OF THE TOTAL CRIMINAL POPULATION
WITH SUCCESSIVE YEARS OF STUDY, DISCUSSION, AND CONTACT WITH CRITICS, HE MODIFIED HIS THEORY AND METHOD MORE AND MORE TO INCLUDE ALL KINDS OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA. THROUGH IT ALL, HE ALWAYS ATTEMPTED TO BE: A. OBJECTIVE, IN METHOD, OFTEN STATISTICAL B. POSITIVE IN THE SENSE OF DETERMINISTIC C. FAITHFUL TO THE BASIC IDEA OF CAUSE AS A CHAIN OF INTERRELATED EVENTS, NOT THE MORE
FAMILIAR AND POPULAR DOCTRINE OF SELF-DETERMINISM OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR, TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DEMONISTIC
THE FEMALE OFFENDER 1909 MOST WOMEN ARE NOT CRIMINAL THOSE THAT ARE, ARE MOST OFTEN OCCASIONAL CRIMINALS BUT, SOME WOMEN ARE ATAVISTIC CRIMINALS HARDER TO DETECT THEN MEN MORE VICIOUS
Citation: http://www.d.umn.edu/~jhamlin1/lombroso.html
THE POSITIVIST SCHOOL The Positivist School of Criminology rejected the Classical School's idea that all crime resulted from a choice that could potentially be made anyone. Though they did not disagree with the Classical School that most crime could be explained through "human nature," they argued that the most serious crimes were committed by individuals who were "primitive" or "atavistic"--that is, who failed to evolve to a fully human and civilized state. Crime therefore resulted not from what criminals had in common with others in society, but from their distinctive physical or mental defects. The positivists understood themselves as scientists: while the classical thinkers were concerned with legal reform, constructing an environment in which crime was seen to be not in an individual's self-interest, the positivists were concerned with scientifically isolating and identifying the determining causes of criminal behavior in individual offenders.
Like the Classical School, the Positivist School had its origins in Italy. Cesare Lombroso is regarded as its founder, with his theory of the "born criminal," and the social implications of his ideas were considered by his student, Enrico Ferri, who popularized his thought in the United States. American representatives of the positivist approach to understanding criminality include William Sheldon, who attempted to establish a correlation between one's body type and one's behavior.
The positive school consists of the following: study first the natural origin of crime and then its social and legal consequences in order to provide, by social and legal means, the various remedies which will have the greatest effect on the various causes that produce it.
This is our assumption, the innovation we have made, not so much in our particular conclusions as in our research method. ENRICO FERRI