This implies that criminality is inherited and that it can be identified by physical defects.Ĭredit: Wellcome Library, London. This made them, according to Lombroso, wilder, untamed and unable to fit in the 1870s society and therefore they would inevitably turn to crime. These atavistic characteristics, he argued, denoted the fact that the offenders were at a more primitive stage of evolution than non-offenders they were “genetic throwbacks”. Atavistic derives from the word “avatus”, which means ancestor in Latin. In The Criminal Man (“L’Uomo delinquente”), first published in 1876, he suggested that there was distinct biological class of people that were prone to criminality. This explanation was focused on the notion that criminals have physical distinguishing features. In 1876 Lombroso, an Italian criminologist, proposed atavistic form as an explanations of offending behavior. Lombroso's (1876) biological theory of criminology suggests that criminality is inherited and that someone "born criminal" could be identified by the way they look. Cesare Lombroso: Theory of Crime, Criminal Man, and Atavismīy Elisabeth Brookes, published July 20, 2021
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