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Anthropological criminology (sometimes referred to ascriminal anthropology, literally a combination of the study of thehuman species and thestudy of criminal behaviour) is a field ofoffender profiling, based on perceived links between the nature of acrime and thepersonality orphysical appearance of the offender.[1][2][3]
Although similar tophysiognomy andphrenology,[4] the term "criminalanthropology" is generally reserved for the works of theItalian school of criminology of the late 19th century (Cesare Lombroso,Enrico Ferri,Raffaele Garofalo, andLorenzo Tenchini).[2][3][4] Lombroso thought that criminals were born with detectable inferior physiological differences.[2][3][4] He popularized the notion of "born criminal" and thought that criminality was a case ofatavism orhereditary predisposition.[1][2][3] His central idea was to locate crime completely within the individual and divorce it from surrounding social conditions and structures. A founder of thePositivist school of criminology, Lombroso opposed the social positivism developed by theChicago school andenvironmental criminology.
French police officer and biometrics researcherAlphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) created amugshot identification system for criminals prior to the invention offingerprinting. Austrian criminal jurist and criminologistHans Gross (1847–1915), regarded as the "Founding Father" ofcriminal profiling, was also involved in the development of the theory.[5]
In the 19th century,Cesare Lombroso and his students performedautopsies on thecadavers of convicted criminals and declared that they had discovered similarities between thephysiologies of the formers' bodies and those of "primitive humans" (i.e., non-humanprimates), such asmonkeys andapes.[2][3][4] Most of these similarities involved receding foreheads, height, head shape, and size; Lombroso postulated the theory of the born criminal based on thesephysical characteristics.[3] Moreover, he also declared that the female offender was worse than the male, as they had distinctmasculine characteristics.
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 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.[5]
Lombroso published several works regarding his research in the field of criminal anthropology:The Criminal Man,The Female Offender (originally titledCriminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman) andCriminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso.[2][3][4]
The theory of anthropological criminology was influenced heavily by thetheory of evolution ofCharles Darwin (1809–1882).[2] However, the influences came mainly from thepolitical and racial views of Herbert Spencer that had reinterpreted Darwin's evolutionary theory in order to fit his own worldview based on the concept ofsocial Darwinism, specifically that somehuman races were morally superior to others.[2] This idea was in fact spawned by Spencer but nevertheless formed a critical part of anthropological criminology.[5] The work ofCesare Lombroso was continued by social Darwinists in theUnited States between 1881 and 1911.
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 witheugenics as the idea of aphysiological flaw in thehuman species was often associated with plans to remove such traits.
This was found primarily in theUnited States with theAmerican Eugenics Movement between 1907 and 1939 and theJim Crow laws that enforcedracial segregation until theCivil Rights Act of 1964, and also inNazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, where275,000–300,000 people with disabilities were killed[6][7][8][a] in theconcentration camps as part of Hitler'seugenics program to purify the "Aryan race" from perceived undesirable traits in accordance with theNazi ideology and itsracial policies.[5]
Criminal anthropology, and the closely related study of physiognomy, have also found their way into studies ofsocial psychology andforensic psychology.[5] Studies into the nature oftwins 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 ofGalvanic skin response andXYY chromosome syndrome.
