Lombroso's Categorical Theory Of Crime

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Individual differences have been used to categorise the population into groups of criminals and non-criminals since the 19th century. Lombroso (1876) states that this is solely depending on personal traits including but not limited to; big lips, a twisted nose or abnormal teeth (Lombroso, 1876). When defining criminal acts, you can see there is a large spectrum and range of crime varying from shop lifting to first degree murder. In this essay, I will be discussing the argument of whether criminal acts are mainly committed by people who fit within categories of personal traits and features or whether this theory was left behind centuries ago. My first point in this essay will look into Lombroso’s (1876) categorical theory of criminal behaviour, …show more content…

Modern day individual differences are prejudicial and include – but is not limited to; race, gender and mental health. Race and ethnicity is a prominent and key issue regarding prejudgment in today’s society and furthermore today’s policing – specifically street level policing (Holdaway, 1983) (Reiner, 2010) (Whitfied, 2004). Research confirms that policing in the UK and USA is subject to prejudice (Britton, 2000) (Holdaway, 1983). The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE), includes the police power stop and search under sections 1-3, which allow the police to stop, search and question people in public based upon reasonable suspicion, this search should be for unlawful goods that they believe the person carries on them (Ashworth, 1994), or they can also search their vehicle. If goods are found then this can lead to an arrest. Although the figures for stop and search have fallen significantly throughout the years, it is still apparent that those part of Black and Minority Ethnic groups (BME) are still targeted more than white people (StopWatch, 2017). These figures suggest that stop and search in some cases is based upon the race and ethnicity of the individual in question, opposed to having the reasonable grounds for suspicion that is required. The England and Wales population in 2014 was made up of 87% White people, 6% Asian people, 3% Black people, 2% mixed race people, and 2% Chinese or other races (Ministry of justice, 2014). Considering this, black people are majorly over represented in stop and search figures being 8 times more likely to be stopped, searched and questioned, and more likely to be arrested (Ministry of justice, 2014) (Dodd, 2017). This suggests that those who belong to black and ethnic minority groups are more likely to commit crimes, however there is no evidence to confirm that they commit the crimes because of their race,

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