Are some people just born to be criminals? That’s the idea behind the Cesare Lombroso theory, which is often referred to as the Theory of Anthropological Criminology. Lombroso theorizes that criminality is inherited, which means potential criminals could be identified through specific physical traits.
Lombroso identified several different physical anomalies which could confirm that an individual was at a higher risk of being a criminal. He believed that these physical defects were a “reversion of humanity.” By having the genetics of an individual revert to subhuman or primary characteristics, similar to that of the apes, then the “modern savage” could be identified.
Lombroso based his theory from his own observations through anthropometric studies and postmortem exams of those with mental illnesses and consistent criminal behavior. He then compared those findings to individuals that he considered to be “normal.”
How Could an Individual Be Identified Using the Cesare Lombroso Theory?
Lombroso determined that there were certain anatomical anomalies which could be measured in order to determine the risk an individual faced in becoming a criminal. There were several characteristics which were identified as a general criminal threat risk, including the following.
- A sloping forehead when compared to “normal” individuals.
- Ears that were of an unusual size.
- A face or a cranium that was asymmetrical.
- Arms that were an excessive length.
- Having teeth that do not align properly due to a prognathous condition.
- Other generalized physical stigmata.
Lombroso also determined through his theory that specific criminals could also be identified by specific physical abnormalities. He was convinced that murderers, rapists, and thieves had better eyesight than the general population, had less susceptibility to pain, were less sensitive to touch, and exhibited an absence of remorse.
There could also be more vanity, impulsiveness, cruelty, and other manifestations. This could be detected by a lack of moral sense. It would also be observed through certain decisions these specific criminals made, such as an excessive use of tattoos on their body.
Genius as a Physical Defect in the Lombroso Theory
Lombroso believed that artistic genius was also evidence of a hereditary problem. If someone was good at art, he reckoned, then there must be a form of insanity that is based down through a family. Beginning in 1880 and lasting for more than a decade, he believed that mental illnesses could be diagnosed by the artwork that an individual produced, much like a criminal could be diagnosed by specific physical features.
He eventually published The Man of Genius in 1889, coming up with 13 specific features that artwork would have if an individual had a hereditary mental illness.
The Role of Criminaloids in the Cesare Lombroso Theory
Lombroso recognized that some individuals would commit criminal acts, including severe and violent crime, without any of the physical traits that he believed were evidence of their predisposition to such actions. This led to the idea of the “criminaloid” within this theory.
A criminaloid is an individual who is the “occasional” criminal. They do not have a physical defect which prompts them to commit a crime. They instead have environmental, socioeconomic, or recreational prompts that allow them to commit a crime if an opportunity to do so arises. When combined with “minor” physical defects that fit within his measurement comparisons, it could influence the crinimaloid into becoming a full-blown criminal.
To Lombroso, these were the people who would commit a crime because of their passion. They might not have the same moral acuity as a “normal” person. He also felt that epilepsy could contribute to criminal behaviors in certain circumstances. If those influences were strong enough and had genetic factors that encouraged them, then it would be difficult for the criminaloid to resist a crime if there was an opportunity to commit one.
For the criminaloid, all was not lost. Lombroso believed that if the physical, environmental, and emotional factors of life could be balanced properly, then these occasional criminals would conform to the expectations that society placed upon them.
Much of the criteria in the Cesare Lombroso theory of criminal conduct and insanity are considered to be outdated today. Many of his theories were disapproved immediately in Europe, but were often accepted in the United States. His methods were clinical and descriptive, but he did not use statistical comparisons when look at criminal data.
Eventually Lombroso would come to accept certain sociological and psychological factors in the making of a criminal, but up until his death, he always remained convinced that criminal anthropometry was the correct solution in determining the risks any individual faced in regards to their conduct.