Policy Recommendations for Controlling Crime

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Outline

There exist various aspects of justice policy regarding crime, among them, being crime theories in regard to how they influence justice system as far as criminal issues are concerned. Lombroso’s theory talked about the impact of biological setup in human beings on crime where he was influenced to a great extent by the study of evolution by Darwin. The theory suggested that criminals had characteristics that were similar to those of animals and which led them into criminal behavior. The theory was criticized because control factors from the environment that was likely to affect the study were not adequate. Another challenge to this theory is that, correlation may not necessarily lead to causation because research has shown that, criminal behavior cannot be inborn.

Introduction

The issue of criminology has for a long time being described and analyzed through biological theories that largely depend on nature as well as nurture. These theories revolve around the question of whether the character that leads an individual to commit crime is inborn or is learned. Although there are several theories on crime, they all have a similar objective in finding out whether the way an individual looks may communicate anything regarding his/her potential in being a criminal. In 1876, Lombroso came up with the first theory on crime that has today been analyzed regarding its strengths and weaknesses. (Rafter, 2006).

Lombroso’s proposals on the theory

Lombroso’s theory essentially argued that, criminal behavior is inherited and can easily be identified through physical defects that had the capacity to confirm an individual engaging in criminal acts as savage if not atavistic. He said that, as opposed to evolution that occurs to most individuals, individuals who commit criminal acts undergo devolution and this makes their behavior societal. This theory suggested that, all individuals have inborn potential towards committing crime which means the predisposition is innate. It also proposed that, the way a person looks also known as physiognomy, determines the kind of behavior he/she is likely to have regarding crime. According to this argument, if the behavior that leads to crime can be inherited, then the individual who engages in criminal acts can easily be identified through physical characteristics. The theory also suggested that, people who are not criminals are normal and are referred to as Homo sapiens while on the other hand criminals have an element of retardation and are therefore referred to as Homo delinquent. According to Lombroso, individuals who are criminals share common physical characteristics such as a brow that is narrow and slopping which signifies low level of intellect. They also have high cheekbones as well as enlarged ears. It is also common for them to have more nipples than usual as well as extra fingers and toes. Their jaws tend to be renowned and this is characteristic of the individual who has a strong passion. (Blanc, 2006).

Research also indicated that, the behavior of such criminals is usually different depending on the person they are interacting with and therefore has a capacity to change with time and situation. Such individuals will always have a difficulty regarding adjustment to issues related to social; as well as moral standards because their mind is already programmed towards committing crime. Even after being exposed to the right environment, such individuals will have a hard time differentiating right actions from the wrong ones. Criminals are less likely to express guilt or even remorsefulness even after they have committed a crime or anything wrong. Studies have also shown that, such individuals will also exhibit lack of feelings for others even when they are not engaging in crime and are therefore always in poor relationships with others. (Rock, 2005).

Weaknesses of Lombroso theory

A close evaluation of Lombroso’s theory reveals that it lacks psychological evidence to prove that, the alleged behaviors only manifest in criminals and not in ordinary people who are not criminals. This is supported by the fact that a psychologist, Goring (1913) conducted an experiment on differences between criminals and individuals who had not engaged in crime before and found that, there were no significant differences as far as their behaviors were concerned. Lombroso later made a revision on the theory and argued that, there are many similarities between the behavior of men and those of women with the only significant difference being that, women express more jealousy and are more likely to be vengeful than men. Women also have a higher capacity in exercising atrocious cruelty in comparison to men. In his theories, Lombroso used the term ‘criminal universities ‘to refer to prisons by arguing that, when criminals were taken to prisons, they were more likely to be worse than before in addition to having not improved their attitude. He gave reasons to explain this argument and among them was that, the behavior of criminals largely depended on the influence from immediate environment. Such environments include poor family backgrounds that could have deprived them of one of their parent or extreme poverty that was prolonged creating trouble in payment of bills as well as affording daily bread. Criminals may also have had an experience of being subjected to acts of crime early in their life due to a family background that had a history of using drugs and when the finances were low to sustain the drug use, the criminal at his/her young age would be forced to steal so as to raise the money. (Rafter, 2006).

Criticism of Lombroso’s theory

Research has shown that, stereotyping was encouraged by Lombroso’s theory and this would consequently lead to prejudice as well as discrimination among individuals in the society. An example is when a child is exposed to a picture of an individual with tattoos symbolizing a criminal character. The child is likely to develop a negative attitude regarding that picture as opposed to a picture of an individual without tattoos. Stereotyping would be a problem in that, it lacks evidence for it to be proved and even the methods that are used in this kind of research are defective. Regarding methodology, Lombroso’s theory is criticized because it lacked an effective control group during the experiments and most of the samples of the criminal’s involved people who were mentally disturbed. However, his theory was important in that, it gave a challenge to the idea of criminals being wicked or as having chosen to be engaging in criminal acts. Lombroso was also in agreement that, environmental factors contributed to a great extent to the development of behavior related to crime. (Rock, 2005).

Conclusion

Lombroso’s theory supports the idea that, human beings have a capacity to evolve negatively and transform into criminals. According to his theory, the human skull as well as his/her facial features are symbolic in representing genetic criminality and are measurable. Regarding criminality among men and women, Lombroso argued that females were less likely to become criminals because they have not yet evolved as much as their male counterparts as a result of them being generally less active in life. They evolve slowly, and exhibit childlike characteristics as well as being less intelligent. Their passive nature holds them back from committing criminal acts due to a lack of intelligence and initiative character in committing the crime.

References

Rafter N. (2006): Cesare Lombroso and the Origins of Criminology: Westview Press.

Blanc M. (2006): Self-control and social control of deviant behavior in context: Cambridge University Press.

Rock P. (2005): Chronocentrism and British criminology: Blackwell synergy.

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