Crime Causation – Biological & Constitutional Theories

Vocabulary flashcards covering key theorists, concepts, and terms related to biological and genetic explanations of crime causation.

Classical School of Crime

18th-century theory (Beccaria & Bentham) that crime results from rational free-will choices made after weighing pleasure versus pain.

Cesare Beccaria

Italian jurist who helped found the Classical School and argued for proportionate, deterrent punishment based on free will.

Jeremy Bentham

English philosopher who promoted utilitarianism and the Classical School’s view of rational, hedonistic offenders.

Cesare Lombroso

Italian physician; father of empirical criminology; argued criminals are atavistic, born with evolutionary stigmata.

Atavism

Lombroso’s notion that criminals are evolutionary throwbacks exhibiting primitive physical and behavioral traits.

Criminal Stigmata

Distinctive physical anomalies (large jaw, protruding ears, etc.) Lombroso believed signaled innate criminality.

Physiognomy

Ancient practice of inferring character from facial and bodily appearance; term from Greek physis (nature) + gnomon (judge).

Pythagoras (physiognomy)

Early advocate who linked outward appearance to inner character.

Giambattista della Porta

16th-century Italian scholar; wrote On Physiognomy (1586) classifying people by animal resemblances.

Johann Kaspar Lavater

Swiss pastor (1783) who detailed facial fragments to predict criminality through features like eyes, nose, chin.

Jacob Fries

German philosopher (1820) who related crime nature to personality via physical appearance in criminology handbook.

Phrenology

19th-century theory that mental faculties reside in brain organs; skull bumps reveal personality and behavior.

Franz Joseph Gall

Founder of cranioscopy; mapped 27 brain organs on skull to read character and crime propensity.

Cranioscopy

Gall’s technique of examining skull contours to infer traits.

Johann Spurzheim

Gall’s student who coined “phrenology” and popularized the phrenology bust diagram.

Body Type Theory (Criminal Anthropology)

View that physique and genetic constitution relate to criminal behavior.

Ernst Kretschmer

German psychiatrist who linked four physiques (asthenic, athletic, pyknic, dysplastic) to specific crime patterns.

Asthenic Type

Slim, fragile build; associated by Kretschmer with petty theft and fraud.

Athletic Type

Muscular, broad-shouldered build; associated with violent crimes.

Pyknic Type

Short, stout build; linked to deception, fraud, and some violence.

Dysplastic (Mixed) Type

Unclear or mixed physique; associated with offenses against decency and morality.

Earnest Hooton

Harvard anthropologist; Crime and the Man (1939) claimed criminals are biologically inferior and should be segregated.

Somatotyping

William Sheldon’s method classifying bodies as endomorph, mesomorph, or ectomorph and linking them to temperament and crime.

Endomorph

Round, soft physique; viscerotonic (relaxed, sociable); prone to mental illness, per Sheldon.

Mesomorph

Muscular, energetic body; dionysian temperament; deemed most crime-prone by Sheldon.

Ectomorph

Thin, fragile body; cerebrotonic (introverted, anxious); linked to suicide risk.

Viscerotonic Temperament

Comfort-loving, sociable personality associated with endomorphs.

Dionysian Temperament

Active, assertive personality Sheldon associated with mesomorphs.

Cerebrotonic Temperament

Introverted, inhibited personality linked to ectomorphs.

Early Genetic Theories

Perspective that inherited traits, explained by evolutionary biology, influence criminal behavior.

Charles Darwin

Naturalist whose Theory of Evolution (1859) suggested inherited traits, including possible criminal propensities.

Theory of Evolution

Darwin’s explanation of species change by natural selection and heredity across generations.

Gregor Mendel

Father of genetics; pea-plant experiments (1866) established laws of inheritance applicable to human traits.

Laws of Inheritance

Mendelian principles that traits pass from parents to offspring via dominant and recessive genes.

Francis Galton

Darwin’s cousin; coined “eugenics” (1883) to improve hereditary traits through selective reproduction.

Eugenics

Movement advocating controlled human breeding to enhance desirable traits and reduce undesirable ones.

Positive Eugenics

Encouraging reproduction by the ‘more fit’ (healthy, intelligent individuals).

Negative Eugenics

Discouraging or preventing reproduction by the ‘less fit’ (ill, feeble-minded individuals).

Richard Dugdale

Researcher who studied The Jukes (1877), linking family environment and heredity to crime and poverty.

The Jukes

Dugdale’s pseudonym for a clan producing many criminals, paupers, and prostitutes over seven generations.

Margaret Ada Jukes

Matriarch labeled “mother of criminals” at root of Dugdale’s Jukes family study.

Henry H. Goddard

Psychologist who traced The Kallikak Family (1912) to argue heredity of feeble-mindedness; coined “moron.”

The Kallikak Family

Goddard’s pseudonymous lineage showing ‘good’ and ‘bad’ branches to support hereditary feeble-mindedness.

Feeble-mindedness

Early 20th-century term for high-grade mental deficiency; ranked below imbecility and idiocy.

Moron

Goddard’s term for a person with mild intellectual disability (IQ 51-70).

Albert Edward Winship

Researcher who contrasted Dugdale’s findings with a study of the eminent Edwards family’s positive heredity.

Edwards Family Study

Winship’s genealogy showing large numbers of professionals and leaders with minimal criminality.

Arthur H. Estabrook

Eugenicist who revisited The Jukes (1916) and stressed interplay of heredity and environment in crime.