Biogenic Causes of Crime

1. Biogenic Causes of Crime Chapter 6

2. Positivist School of Thought • Actions are determined by sociological, biological, or psychological causes, not rational, free will choices – crime has an antecedent cause • Whereas classical criminologists assumed no inherent difference between criminals and noncriminals, positivists assume those who commit crimes are somehow different from those who do not • Positivism’s core is empiricism and determinism • Knowledge can be discovered only by means of observation & experience; criminologists must use the scientific method to collect empirical facts to determine the factors that lead to criminal behavior • Individual differences are rooted within factors beyond the control of individuals – their behavior is determined by something other than their free-willed choice • Can justify intervention into offenders’ lives to “cure” them • Controversial – how much, & what kind, of intervention is allowed?

3. Early Positivism: Biogenic • Pioneered by Cesare Lombroso, Italian rationalist, physician, & scientist who studied the connection between anatomy and psychiatry • Influenced by Charles Darwin’s ideas on evolution • Moved away from the classical “rational man” idea into the positivist “fact-seeking” and “causality of behavior” ideas • Considered the father of criminology • Led to a shift in criminological thinking long-term • Multiple-factor explanation of crime • Scientific study rather than philosophical examinations of crime • Detailed analysis of all data • Biogenic theories fell out of favor after being associated with Nazi regime, racism, and medical abuses; simultaneously, Sutherland raised criminology to a respected subfield of sociology

4. Lombroso & “The Criminal Man” • Physical characteristics are predictive of criminal behavior and can distinguish criminals from non-criminals • Some criminals possess atavistic (evolutionary throwback) features: • skulls larger or smaller than the local average, prominent frontal sinuses & femoral muscles, large jaws & cheekbones, asymmetrical eyes & ears, “shifty” or “hard-looking” eyes, ears larger or smaller or sticking out more than the local average, flat noses among thieves, aquiline noses among murderers, fleshy lips among rapists & murderers, thin lips among swindlers • Four types of criminal: • Born criminals – atavistic • Insane criminals – “idiots, imbeciles, paranoiacs, epileptics, alcoholics” • Occasional criminals – innate traits predispose, but opportunity must be present for them to act • Criminals of passion – propelled to crime by an “irresistible force” like anger, love, or honor

6. Lombroso & Ferrero and “The Female Offender” • Female offenders’ physical traits: • Occipital irregularities, narrow foreheads, prominent cheekbones, “virile” faces • Females had fewer degenerative features than men; prositutes had the most because they offended against “female decency” • Female offenders lacked “maternal instincts” and “ladylike qualities” that they were supposed to have biologically, making them more vicious than male offenders

7. Post-Lombroso Bio-crime Research • Ferri – crime is explained by interactive effects of the physical, the individual, and the social; recommended socialist reforms to correct the problems that led to crime (later became fascist to prevent excessive individualism) • Garofalo – society is a natural body, crimes are crimes against nature and reflect failures of pity (concern for others’ well-being) or probity (concern for others’ property); advocate of death penalty because he believed criminality a permanent state • Goring – found that violent criminals had more strength, and burglars, thieves, and arsonists were shorter & thinner, though his improved statistical analyses found no other physiological differences between offenders and nonoffenders • Goddard & Dugdale– studied genetics & crime via “pedigree studies” that looked for families with higher than average amounts of deviant behavior; fueled the eugenics movement

8. Problems with Early Biogenic Theories • Poor methods • Generalized from small study groups • Failed to consider more plausible explanations for differences they did find – confused causality & correlation • Biological features are heavily influenced by environment: Poor diet, environmental toxins, poor parenting, and poverty • Confused biological & behavioral features (e.g. tattoos) • Fit facts to theories & worldview (e.g. women deviating from prescribed gender role; assumed behavior must be biological in nature) • Statistical issues • There is no physical characteristic that is associated with criminality – though there are some neurological features that appear more frequently with some kinds of criminals

9. Issues & Implications of Early Bio-crime Theories • Eugenics • Sterilization • Death penalty • Bodily privacy & experimentation • Racism • Classism • Lack of focus on environmental factors (biological antecedents) and social issues

10. Modern Biological Theories • Growing acceptance of biological factors, but it is difficult to overcome anti-biological ideological bias • Most modern criminologists focusing on biological explanations are either biosocial or biopsychological = nature PLUS nurture • Heritability coefficient – percent of variable determined by genetic structure • Biological factors no longer seen as destiny, but only as risk factors • E.g. heritability in psychological issues like conduct disorder and ADHD, which are linked with criminal behavior • Difficulty with this perspective is its potential for abuse – danger of discriminating against people with biological risk factors, even if they do not commit crimes • Genetic, prenatal, and environmental biological impact is all considered

11. Genetic factors • Usually studied via twin or adoption research • Identical vs. fraternal; raised together or separated • There appear to be some genetic components to crime: • Adoptees with criminal biological parents are more likely to engage in criminal behavior despite having prosocial adoptive families • Identical twins are more likely to share in deviant behavior than fraternal twins or other siblings • Smoking and drinking behavior has a concordance rate of .70 for identical twins, .30 for fraternal, .27 for full siblings, and .07 for half siblings (Clevland et al, 2005) • 72% of variance in conduct disorders can be explained by genetics (Jaffee et al, 2005) • High levels of testosterone (a heritable trait) have been linked to aggression; lowers neurological sensitivity to environmental stimuli • Also environmental – steroid “rage”

13. Environment and Biology • Nutrition – increased sugar intake can lead to hypoglycemia and exacerbation of ADHD symptoms, sometimes causing aggressive behavior • Prenatal environmental toxin exposure • Nicotine can decrease the serotonin level of a fetus; interactive effects of father absence (Gibson & Tibbetts, 2000) • Lead increase of 1 microgram per deciliter of prenatal blood associated with a 7.8% increase in arrests; lead stifles synapse formation, reducing travel of neurotransmitters and lowers arousal of cerebral cortex (Wright et al, 2008) • Environmental toxins • One microgram increase in lead exposure from birth to age 6 associated with 5.2% increase in arrests (Wright et al , 2008) • Heavy metals, manganese, toxic waste, and synthetic hormones all linked to behavioral changes including hyperactivity, impulsivity, aggression, and learning disabilities • Toxins more likely in low-income areas

14. Neurotransmitters & Brain Arousal • Chemical messengers in the brain that allow neural cells to communicate with each other • Four connected to crime: dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, GABA • Low serotonin & dopamine or high norepinephrine: impulsive violent acts, depression, suicide • Arousal theory: low arousal of the cerebral cortex can lead to risk-taking and thrill-seeking behavior • Individuals with low EEG brain wave patterns are also at higher risk for ADHD, have a higher threshold for threats of pain, slower recovery to normal arousal levels, and low serotonin

15. Evolution

16. Evolutionary Theories • Cheater theory • Some males have evolved alternative reproductive strategies either through environmental adaptation or inherited genetics, using force or deception to impregnate females; same predisposition leads these men to take advantage in other situations • Conditional adaptation theory • Antisocial behavior is a response to unstable or hostile environment; to ensure reproduction, early puberty and early sexual activity, a pattern also associated with antisocial behavior • Evolutionary expropriative theory • All humans have an equal genetic potential for criminal behavior; human are all programmed to acquire resources to ensure reproduction. When common strategies are inadequate or threatened, resources are expropriated, leading to victimization of others

17. Policy Implications: Issues • Big issues before we can even get to policy: problems with causation vs. correlation (e.g. IQ and crime); why do all children exposed to certain biological phenomena (e.g. lead) not act the same way? • Must show that treatment is safe and effective, and addresses both environment AND biology. • Depo-provera for sex offenders, only physiology • Drugs vs. cognitive-behavioral treatment • Tendency to stigmatize and science-orient what is essentially a social construction: the law and conflict in behavior – crime is not a biological concept • Prediction of criminal behavior by genetics (“crime-prone” individuals) • Crime as an unchangeable biological trait