Biological Positivism

Lombroso , Eugenics & Social Darwinism

BIOLOGICAL positivist Criminology Late1800s Context

Reification of ScienceReification of Science◦ Emergence of experts◦ Society as a social fact◦ 1850s heredity studies◦ 1840s ‘Mug Shots’

(Belgium)

StatisticsStatistics Growing underclass Rise of the Penitentiary

Positivism

A method & a paradigm Focus on actors not acts Deterministic Locate difference in

people

Assumptions of Positivist Criminology Causes of criminal

behaviour is different than causes for normal behaviour

Consensus

Darwinism..On the Origin of

Species - Principles of Biology (1864)

Some specimens were "better adapted for immediate, local environment”

Influences Herbert Spencer…

Social Darwinism

Herbert Spencer (1820 -1903)‘Survival of the Fittest’Hierarchy of social

inferiority

Fitness becomes synonymous with health AND deserving

‘naturalness’

Not what Darwin intended….

Social Darwinism

EthnocentricProgress/CivilizationScientific justification for inequality

Tautology:

‘‘We’ are in power because we are more We’ are in power because we are more evolvedevolved

How do you know that you are more evolved?How do you know that you are more evolved?

Because ‘we’ are in power...Because ‘we’ are in power...

Image: Duncan Walker

Birth of Criminology: The Italian School

The foundations of biological explanations

Assumed people in prison = criminals

Cesare Lombroso

Enrico Ferri Raffael Garofalo

The foundations of biological explanations

Assumed people in prison = criminals

Cesare Lombroso

Enrico Ferri Raffael Garofalo

Canada

PhrenologyFounded on Aristotle ...

““brain as the organ of the brain as the organ of the mind”mind”

◦ Exterior skull/interior brain

◦ Mind – faculties & function Requires ‘exercise’

◦ Behavior – bumps in skull

◦ 1830s scientifically accepted Criminal determined by

trained phrenologists

Cecare Lombroso (1835 – 1909)

Medically trained Psychiatry Professor of legal medicine Testified at trials

The Criminal Man (1876) w/ Gina Lombroso-Ferrero

Medically trained Psychiatry Professor of legal medicine Testified at trials

The Criminal Man (1876) w/ Gina Lombroso-Ferrero

Criminal Classification

Atavistic Man Primitive Less evolved/developed 1/3 of offenders

Born CriminalsBorn Criminals

Lombroso

 Military observations: well-disciplined and aggressive or criminal soldiers

Deviations common to particular races/cultures

Autopsies criminals & non animals ‘inferior races’ –

physically/intellectually

 Military observations: well-disciplined and aggressive or criminal soldiers

Deviations common to particular races/cultures

Autopsies criminals & non animals ‘inferior races’ –

physically/intellectually

Criminal Woman

Smaller variations

LessLess evolved than men?

Naturally vengeful, weak and dumb ~ balanced by ‘feminine’

Criminal women:

masculine (negative quality)

Smaller variations

LessLess evolved than men?

Naturally vengeful, weak and dumb ~ balanced by ‘feminine’

Criminal women:

masculine (negative quality)

Sir Fancis Galton (1822-1911)

Coined the term Eugenics

Positive Encourage ‘good birth’

Negative Exclusion of ‘inferior’

populationsRecognized eugenics

would have to have spiritual framework to work in his “vision”

Feeble-mindedness not curable

Burdensome populations $Fear of ‘inferior’ peoples

Emily Murphy “The Black Candle” (1922)

Calls to limit immigration

How is this connected to How is this connected to Rousseau’s ‘Ideal Rousseau’s ‘Ideal

Society’?Society’?

Feeble-mindedness not curable

Burdensome populations $Fear of ‘inferior’ peoples

Emily Murphy “The Black Candle” (1922)

Calls to limit immigration

How is this connected to How is this connected to Rousseau’s ‘Ideal Rousseau’s ‘Ideal

Society’?Society’?

Mental Hygiene Movement

Experts needed to determine defectives

Long term custody of ‘untreatable’ kids

Sterilization (gendered) Domestics 1928 Sterilization Act

in Alberta Repealed in 1972

why? In the movie…

Implications

The JukesRobert Dugdale (1875) “The Jukes: A Study in

Crime, Pauperism, Disease, and Hereditary”

Impoverished family Many assumptions “Inept methodology” Cost to taxpayers Used to support negative Eugenics

Defining mental illness?

The Kallikaks

Henry H. Goddard

Focused on IQ as manifestation of degeneracy

“Inept methodology”

Martin Kallikak ‘Feeble-minded barmaid’Respectable Quaker

woman

Positivist Criminology

“ Ye Olde History”? Focus on the actor Treatment of the

individual

“ Ye Olde History”? Focus on the actor Treatment of the

individual

Critiques of Positivist Criminology Cure for crime?

◦ If no cure.....

Marked by poor methodology ◦ despite scientific foundation

Repressive responses (not cure)

Pathologizing deviance◦ Illness of non-conformity◦ Discourse of non-responsibility◦ Industry of experts

Rehabilitation Treatment programs

Problem of delivery Non-voluntary

Treatment as punishment E.g. substance use, parenting... Guard or Counselor? Punitive environment

Critique from right Can access programs ‘honest’ citizens can’t Similar to issues of ‘training’ in Kingston