Biological Positivism: Biological Approaches Of Crime

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BIOLOGICAL POSITIVISM
Biological positivism is a theory which claims that criminal actions are a result of some chemical imbalance within the brain or abnormalities. Traditional biological positivism suggest that criminal actions are a result of defect within the individual. This defect can be either biological or genetic, and can be used to differentiate between a criminal and law abiding citizens. Modern biological positivism unlike traditional ones search for a relationship between factors such as testosterone and intelligence level (IQ). Modern positivism and traditional positivism share a biological link. Society is very limited in the responses they can make to the individual, if the biological theories are correct. (http://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/criminology/biological-positivism-approaches-of-crime.php) Article: Biological approaches of crime. The basic cause of crime for biological positivism/theory have been identified as biological inferiority, which is shown by the physical/genetic characteristics that distinguish …show more content…

On his book (Lombroso, 1885) indicated that biological factors increase the risk of committing crime. He argued that criminals were less evolved as compared to the non-criminals this means they had features including small or large ears, too long arms, twisted nose and sloping heads and he called this people atavistic. As time went on Lombroso indicated or introduced more factors influencing crime to his theory like environmental factors such as climate, poverty, immigration and urbanization incorporating the factor of insanity. All this lead to Lombroso categorizing criminals into four classes namely the born criminals, insane criminals, criminaloids and crimes of

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