Biological Theories Of Criminology Essay

Before one can begin talking about what the “Biological Theories” of Criminology are, one must first understand what were the early understandings of crime. The earliest theories tended to focus on supernatural or religious causes, which is where the ideas of witches and witchcraft came into play (e.g., the Salem Witch trials), which today seem ludicrous to even believe in. However, most crime cases focused on the assumption that these criminals were possessed, rather than it being their rational choice to commit the crime, which is where the unconventional, to say the least, treatments came into place, such as exorcisms, burning, or trephining (i.e., making a hole in the scull of the deviant to release the evil spirits from their body… wonder how that worked out?). This explanation soon fell out of favor within the community when individuals (e.g., Lombroso and H.H. Goddard) began finding more conclusive explanations and moved on to explain that it was the individual’s fault, but not necessarily their choice; they used the descriptions of phrenology/physiognomy (which was based off of Darwin’s theory of evolution) and the

Nurture debate, which argues whether a person is predisposed due to their DNA makeup, or are a blank slate and are affected by the life experiences and environment that creates who they will be and adapt as seen fit. Scientists have determined that the presence of biological abnormalities will increase the likelihood of an individual doing criminal acts, but it will not force them to be one (it does not make them a criminal for sure), which is what individuals against biological theories tend to argue. Another argument is that biological factors will increase the possible criminal behaviors when other social/mental factors are also present, which is what the other factions of theories tend to