Atavistic Form and Criminal Types

• The atavistic form is an explanation for criminal behavior suggesting some individuals are born with a criminal personality determined by innate atavistic characteristics.
• Atavistic means the tendency to revert to ancestral types.

Atavistic Form and Criminal Types

• Criminals possess similar characteristics to lower primates, explaining criminal tendencies.
• Atavistic characteristics include high cheekbones, facial asymmetry, large ears, tattoos, extra toes, and a prominent jaw.
• Lombroso is considered the father of modern criminology.

Lombroso's Research

• Lombroso, viewed criminals a genetic throwbacks, investigated facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts, both living and dead.
• After examining over 383 living criminals, Lombroso concluded that 43% had one atavistic trait and 34% had at least five.
• Atavistic characteristics accounted for the majority of crimes.

Contradictory Evidence

• Charles Goring (1913), after comparing 3000 criminals with 3000 non-criminals, found no differences except that criminals were smaller and had below-average intelligence.

Lombroso's Methodology Critiques

• Lombroso's methods were poorly controlled and non-scientific.
• There was no comparison to a non-offender control group, leading to issues with controlling confounding variables.
• The design did not control for important variables, such as social conditions like poverty or poor education that are linked to crime.

Significance of Lombroso's Work

• Lombroso shifted the emphasis away from moralistic views of criminals as wicked or weak-minded toward scientific exploration of evolutionary influences and genetics.
• Lombroso's theory may have marked the start of offender profiling, helping to describe how specific traits may make people more likely to commit particular crimes.

Criticisms of Lombroso

• Matt DeLisi (2012) questioned Lombroso's theory which suggests it has racist undertones.
• Some features considered atavistic (curly hair, dark skin) are common among people of African descent.
• The association of crime with certain groups aligns with 19th-century eugenic attitudes.
• Aspects of Lombroso's theory were influenced by social prejudices of the time.

Eugenics Movement

• The Eugenics movement began in the 1880s with Francis Galton, and argued that people are born unequal.
• Desirable human traits are inherited and found more in some social and cultural groups.
• Groups with genetic advantages should breed for society's benefit, while those without should be prevented from breeding.

Genetic Factors in Crime - Twin Studies

• One or more genes may predispose individuals to criminal behavior
• Concordance rates in twin studies provide evidence of the role of genetics;
• Christiannsen (1977) found a 35% concordance rate in criminal activity for MZ twins and a 13% rate for DZ twins in a study of 3500 twins born in Denmark between 1880-1910.

Adoption Studies

• Crowe (1972) found that adopted children with a biological mother with a criminal record had a 50% chance of having a criminal record by age 18.

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

• The variance between both types of twins suggests that both nature and nurture have impact.
• Further backed up by the study done by Crowe, whose adopted children who's biological mother had a criminal record - had a 50% change of having a criminal record by 18, suggesting criminality can be linked to genes.

Problems with Twin Evidence

• Similar micro-environments and treatment due to appearance, complicate genetic interpretations.
• Twins are raised in similar environments or by family members.
• Dizygotic twins can be male/female and are treated differently from one another and from monozygatic twins.

Genes Linked to Criminal Behavior

• MAOA (Monoamine oxidase A) and CDH13 (Cadherin 13) abnormalities have been linked to violent crime.
• Jari Tiihonen et al. (2015) on 900 offenders demonstrated 5-10% of violent crimes are due to abnormalities in these genes.

MAOA Gene

• MAOA is an enzyme, is determined by the MAOA gene.
• The enzyme breaks down serotonin from the synapse.
• The gene has a low activity variant (MAOA-L) associated with increased aggression.
• Dysfunction affects serotonin levels.

The Warrior Gene

• The MAOA-L variant is nicknamed the warrior gene.
• Brunner (1993) found the MAOA-L variant was present in 28 members of a Dutch family known to be involved in rape, attempted murder and physical assaults.
• This variant was found in 56% of Maoris in New Zealand (also renown to be aggressive individuals)

Diathesis-Stress Model and Crime

• Genes influence offending behavior, but are moderated by effects of environment.
• Applied to the relationship between genetics and criminal behavior, states that a combination of genetics and biological or psychological triggers within dysfunctional environments causes crime.

Support Strength Diathesis-stress

• Mednick et al. (1984) found that 13.5% of adoptees with neither biological nor adoptive parents with criminal records also had criminal records.
• This figure rose to 20% when either biological parent had conviction, and 24.5% when both adoptive and had convictions.
• Genetic inheritance and environmental influences both play important roles in crime.

Neural Explanations

• Brain differences may correlate with offending and antisocial and there exists reduced empathy.
• Antisocial personality disorder (APD) has been associated with emotional response reduction and lack of empathy.

Prefrontal Cortex

• Adrian Raine reported that individuals with antisocial personalities have reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex.
• Prefrontal Cortex is part of the brain that regulates emotional behavior Individuals with APD have reduced gray volume matter in the prefrontal cortex.

Mirror Neurons

• Criminals with antisocial personality disorder can experience empathy.
• Keysers (2011) found that the mirror neurons activated when criminals were asked to empathize.
• Their empathetic ability includes a switch that can be turned on and off, unlike the "normal" brain where the switch is permanently on.

The atavistic form explains criminal behavior, suggesting criminals are born with innate characteristics. These characteristics are similar to lower primates, such as high cheekbones and large ears. Lombroso, considered the father of criminology, researched facial and cranial features of Italian convicts.