Anthropological criminology

{{Short description|Subfield of anthropology}} {{Criminology}} [[File:Bertillon, Alphonse, fiche anthropométrique recto-verso.jpg|thumb|Anthropometric data sheet (both sides) of [[Alphonse Bertillon]], a pioneer in anthropological criminology]]

'''Anthropological criminology''' (sometimes referred to as '''criminal anthropology''', literally a combination of the study of the [[human species]] and the [[Criminology|study of criminal behaviour]]) is a field of [[offender profiling]], based on perceived links between the nature of a [[crime]] and the [[personality]] or [[Physical anthropology|physical appearance]] of the offender.<ref name="Aggress. Violent Behav.">{{cite journal |last1=Duntley |first1=J. D. |last2=Shackelford |first2=T. K. |date=October 2008 |title=Darwinian foundations of crime and law |location=[[Amsterdam]], [[Netherlands]] |journal=[[Aggression and Violent Behavior]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages=373–382 |doi=10.1016/j.avb.2008.06.002 |issn=1359-1789 |lccn=96640730 |s2cid=143101230}}</ref><ref name="Riv. Biol."/><ref name="Funct. Neurol."/>

Although similar to [[physiognomy]] and [[phrenology]],<ref name="Kellor 1899"/> the term "criminal [[anthropology]]" is generally reserved for the works of the [[Italian school of criminology]] of the late 19th century ([[Cesare Lombroso]], [[Enrico Ferri (criminologist)|Enrico Ferri]], [[Raffaele Garofalo]], and [[Lorenzo Tenchini]]).<ref name="Riv. Biol."/><ref name="Funct. Neurol."/><ref name="Kellor 1899"/> Lombroso thought that criminals were born with detectable inferior physiological differences.<ref name="Riv. Biol."/><ref name="Funct. Neurol."/><ref name="Kellor 1899"/> He popularized the notion of "born criminal" and thought that criminality was a case of [[atavism]] or [[Heredity|hereditary predisposition]].<ref name="Aggress. Violent Behav."/><ref name="Riv. Biol."/><ref name="Funct. Neurol."/> His central idea was to locate crime completely within the individual and divorce it from surrounding social conditions and structures. A founder of the [[Positivism|Positivist school of criminology]], Lombroso opposed the social positivism developed by the [[Chicago school (sociology)|Chicago school]] and [[environmental criminology]].

==Mugshot and fingerprinting== {{multiple image |header=[[Alphonse Bertillon]] created a [[mugshot]] identification system for criminals prior to the invention of [[dactyloscopy]] |header_align=center |header_background=#CCCCFF |align=right |direction=horizontal |image1=Bertillon selfportrait.jpg |caption1=Bertillon selfportrait |width1=150 |image2=Fingerprintforcriminologystubs2.png |caption2=Fingerprint detail |width2=65 }}

French police officer and biometrics researcher [[Alphonse Bertillon]] (1853–1914) created a [[mugshot]] identification system for criminals prior to the invention of [[fingerprinting]]. Austrian criminal jurist and criminologist [[Hans Gross]] (1847–1915), regarded as the "Founding Father" of [[criminal profiling]], was also involved in the development of the theory.<ref name="faculty.ncwc.edu">{{cite web |author= |date=2 October 2006 |title=Anthropological Criminology |url=http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/301/301lect03.htm |url-status=dead |website=faculty.ncwc.edu |location=[[Rocky Mount, North Carolina]] |publisher=[[North Carolina Wesleyan University]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009044430/http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/301/301lect03.htm |archive-date=9 October 2006 |access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>

==Theory== {{Main|Italian school of criminology}} {{Further|History of anthropometry}}

In the 19th century, [[Cesare Lombroso]] and his students performed [[Autopsy|autopsies]] on the [[cadaver]]s of convicted criminals and declared that they had discovered similarities between the [[physiologies]] of the formers' bodies and those of "primitive humans" (i.e., non-human [[primates]]), such as [[monkey]]s and [[ape]]s.<ref name="Riv. Biol."/><ref name="Funct. Neurol."/><ref name="Kellor 1899"/> Most of these similarities involved receding foreheads, height, head shape, and size; Lombroso postulated the theory of the born criminal based on these [[Physiognomy|physical characteristics]].<ref name="Funct. Neurol.">{{cite journal |last=Mazzarello |first=Paolo |date=July 2011 |title=Cesare Lombroso: An anthropologist between evolution and degeneration |location=[[Rome]], [[Italy]] |journal=Functional Neurology |publisher=CIC Edizioni Internazionali |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=97–101 |doi= |issn=1971-3274 |pmc=3814446 |pmid=21729591 |s2cid=42707544}}</ref> Moreover, he also declared that the female offender was worse than the male, as they had distinct [[Masculinity|masculine characteristics]].

Lombroso outlined 14 physiognomic characteristics which he and his followers believed to be common in all criminals, some of which were (but are not limited to): unusually short or tall height; small head, but large face; fleshy lips, but thin upper lip; protuberances (bumps) on head, in back of head and around ear; wrinkles on forehead and face; large sinus cavities or bumpy face; tattoos on body; receding hairline; bumps on head, particularly above left ear; large incisors; bushy eyebrows, tending to meet across nose; large eye sockets, but deep-set eyes; beaked or flat nose; strong jaw line; small and sloping forehead; small or weak chin; thin neck; sloping shoulders, but large chest; large, protruding ears; long arms; high cheek bones; pointy or snubbed fingers or toes.<ref name="faculty.ncwc.edu"/>

Lombroso published several works regarding his research in the field of criminal anthropology: ''The Criminal Man'', ''The Female Offender'' (originally titled ''Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman'') and ''Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso''.<ref name="Riv. Biol."/><ref name="Funct. Neurol."/><ref name="Kellor 1899">{{cite journal |last1=Kellor |first1=F. A. |date=January 1899 |title=Criminal Anthropology in Its Relation to Criminal Jurisprudence |location=[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] |journal=[[American Journal of Sociology]] |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=515–527 |doi=10.1086/210825 |doi-access=free |issn=1537-5390 |jstor=2761731 |jstor-access=free}}</ref>

===Social Darwinism=== The theory of anthropological criminology was influenced heavily by the [[theory of evolution]] of [[Charles Darwin]] (1809–1882).<ref name="Riv. Biol.">{{cite journal |last=Bergman |first=G. |date=January–April 2005 |title=Darwinian criminality theory: A tragic chapter in history |location=[[Perugia]], [[Italy]] |journal=Rivista di Biologia |publisher=[[University of Perugia]] |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=47–69 |issn=0035-6050 |lccn=75646630 |pmid=15889340 |s2cid=}}</ref> However, the influences came mainly from the [[Herbert Spencer#Political views|political and racial views of Herbert Spencer]] that had reinterpreted Darwin's evolutionary theory in order to fit his own worldview based on the concept of [[social Darwinism]], specifically that some [[Race (human categorization)|human races]] were morally superior to others.<ref name="Riv. Biol."/> This idea was in fact spawned by Spencer but nevertheless formed a critical part of anthropological criminology.<ref name="faculty.ncwc.edu"/> The work of [[Cesare Lombroso]] was continued by social Darwinists in the [[United States]] between 1881 and 1911.

===Modern times=== {{Main|Eugenics|Nazi racial theories|Scientific racism}} {{Further|Anti-miscegenation laws|Racial hygiene|Social degeneration}}

Despite general rejection of Lombroso's theories, anthropological criminology still finds a place of sort in modern criminal profiling. Historically (particularly in the 1930s) criminal anthropology had been associated somewhat with [[eugenics]] as the idea of a [[Phenotypic trait|physiological flaw]] in the [[human species]] was often associated with plans to remove such traits.

This was found primarily in the [[United States]] with the [[Racism in the United States|American Eugenics Movement]] between 1907 and 1939 and the [[Jim Crow laws]] that enforced [[racial segregation]] until the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], and also in [[Nazi Germany]] between 1933 and 1945, where [[Aktion T4|275,000–300,000 people with disabilities were killed]]<ref name="denkmal">{{cite web |title=Exhibition catalogue in German and English |url=https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/fileadmin/user_upload/projekte/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/pdf/T4_Flyer_2015_EN_Web.pdf |publisher=Memorial for the Victims of National Socialist ›Euthanasia‹ Killings |location=Berlin, Germany |year=2018 |access-date=4 March 2018 |archive-date=16 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516185355/https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/fileadmin/user_upload/projekte/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/pdf/T4_Flyer_2015_EN_Web.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Euthanasia Program |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206303.pdf |website=Yad Vashem |year=2018 |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221110017/https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206303.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Welle">{{cite web |title=Remembering the 'forgotten victims' of Nazi 'euthanasia' murders |url=https://www.dw.com/en/remembering-the-forgotten-victims-of-nazi-euthanasia-murders/a-37286088 |first=Jefferson |last=Chase |work=[[Deutsche Welle]] |date=26 January 2017 |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221110015/https://www.dw.com/en/remembering-the-forgotten-victims-of-nazi-euthanasia-murders/a-37286088 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn|As many as 100,000 people may have been killed directly as part of ''[[Aktion T4]]''. Mass euthanasia killings were also carried out in the [[German-occupied Europe|Central and Eastern European countries and territories occupied by Nazi Germany]] during the war (''see'' [[Nazi war crimes]]). Categories are fluid and no definitive figure can be assigned but historians put the total number of victims at around 300,000.<ref name="Welle"/>}} in the [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] as part of Hitler's [[Nazi eugenics|eugenics program]] to purify the "[[Aryan race#Nazism|Aryan race]]" from perceived undesirable traits in accordance with the [[Nazism|Nazi ideology]] and its [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|racial policies]].<ref name="faculty.ncwc.edu"/>

Criminal anthropology, and the closely related study of physiognomy, have also found their way into studies of [[social psychology]] and [[forensic psychology]].<ref name="faculty.ncwc.edu"/> Studies into the nature of [[twins]] also combines aspects of criminal anthropology, as some studies reveal that identical twins share a likelihood of criminal activities more so than non-identical twins. Lombroso's theories are also found in studies of [[Galvanic skin response]] and [[XYY syndrome|XYY chromosome syndrome]].

==See also== {{Portal|Biology|Crime|Politics|Psychology}} {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * [[Biosocial criminology]] * [[Criminal psychology]] * [[Cultural bias]] * [[Darwinian anthropology]] * [[Evolutionary psychology]] * [[Implicit stereotype]] * [[List of unsolved murders (1900–1979)]] * [[List of unsolved murders (before 1900)]] * [[Marginalization]] * [[Pathognomy]] * [[Personality psychology]] * [[Phrenology]] * [[Physiognomy]] * [[Pro-slavery thought]] * [[Pseudo-scientific racist theories]] * [[Racial bias in criminal news]] * [[Sex differences in crime]] * [[Sex differences in psychology]] {{Div col end}}

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{cite book |author-last=Black |author-first=Edwin |author-link=Edwin Black |year=2018 |orig-date=2003 |title=[[War Against the Weak|War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race]] |location=[[New York City]] |publisher=[[Barnes & Noble]] |edition=Reprint |isbn=9780914153399}} * {{cite book |author-last=Garbarino |author-first=Merwyn S. |year=1977 |title=Sociocultural Theory in Anthropology: A Short History |location=[[New York City]] |publisher=[[Holt, Rinehart, and Winston]] |isbn=978-0-88133-056-4}}

==External links== * {{cite web |author= |date=19 April 2018 |title=APA Dictionary of Psychology: "Criminal anthropology" |url=https://dictionary.apa.org/criminal-anthropology |website=dictionary.apa.org |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |publisher=[[American Psychological Association]] |access-date=13 October 2025}} * {{cite web |author= |date= |title=USLegal Dictionary: "Anthropological criminology" |url=https://definitions.uslegal.com/a/anthropological-criminology/ |website=definitions.uslegal.com |publisher=USLegal, Inc. |access-date=13 October 2025}}

[[Category:Anthropometry]] [[Category:Criminology]] [[Category:Forensic anthropology]] [[Category:Medical malpractice]] [[Category:Offender profiling]] [[Category:Physiognomy]] [[Category:Political abuses of psychiatry]] [[Category:Race and intelligence controversy]] [[Category:Scientific racism]]