Cesare Lombroso and his classification of criminals

Cesare Lombroso was a doctor and anthropologist by profession considered the father of criminology. One of his great contributions in this area was the classification of criminals. Let’s see what they are.

The name of Cesare Lombroso is strongly linked to the history of criminology. His classification of criminals was, for a long time, the main tool for establishing the profile of criminals. In fact, many of his postulates are still debated in the field of law.

Cesare Lombroso, doctor and an anthropologist by training, he is considered the father of criminology. His work “Experimental anthropological treatise on delinquent man” is assumed to be the first systematized compilation in this area. Together with Enrico Ferri and Raffaele Garofalo, he was one of the great representatives of primitive criminology or positivist criminology.

“There are certain clues at a crime scene that, by their very nature, do not lend themselves to being picked up or examined. How are love, rage, hate, fear… collected? These are things we are trained to know how to look for.”.

-James Reese-

The thought by Cesare Lombroso was strongly influenced by Darwin’s theories. In this sense, Lombroso went so far as to say that criminals were “the missing link”, a being that was somewhere between ape and man.

The highlight of Cesare Lombroso’s work was his classification of criminals. He divided them into: born criminal, morally insane criminal, epileptic criminal, insane criminal, passionate criminal and occasional criminal. Let’s see how he defined each of those categories.

Cesare Lombroso and the born criminal

For Cesare Lombroso it was possible to determine if someone was a criminal by analyzing their bodily characteristics. According to his approach, the criminal presents traits of organic and psychic inferiority that are evident to the eyes.

Read Also: It is not personal: conflictive beings are at war with themselves

In the case of the born criminal, this It would be characterized, from a physical point of view, by the following features: small skull, large orbit eye, sunken forehead, bulging at the bottom of the back of the head, etc. Psychologically he is insensitive, impulsive and feels no remorse.

Moral crazy criminal

According to Cesare Lombroso, the offender moral crazy He is rarely admitted to special psychological care centers. Instead, He is frequently found in prisons and brothels.. They are cunning, unfriendly, vain and selfish.

From the physical point of view, They resemble the born criminal in their prominent jaw. His face shows several asymmetries. However, in this case it is not easy to identify it by its appearance, but by its behavior. They simulate madness and from childhood we can identify this way of being in them.

Epileptic criminal

For Lombroso, epilepsy was a sign of criminality. This could manifest itself in the usual way, with attacks, or occur without any apparent manifestation. In both cases, we would be talking about one of the most dangerous criminals.

They would be characterized as lazy, animal lovers, destructive and vain. Lombroso also points out that they would have a tendency to commit suicide and that, along with the morally insane, they are the only ones who seek to associate to commit crimes.

Crazy criminal

Cesare Lombroso distinguishes between crazy criminals and crazy criminals. Crazy criminals are sick people who do not reason and are not responsible for their actions. Crazy criminals, on the other hand, commit a crime and then go crazy in prison.

Read Also: Demisexuality: when emotions generate desire

It indicates that there are three types of crazy criminals: the alcoholic, the hysterical and the mattoid.. The first is the one who gets drunk and commits crimes. The hysteric has a great tendency to lie and a natural inclination towards eroticism. The mattoid, for its part, is on the line that separates sanity from madness. They commit crimes on impulse.

Passionate criminal

The passionate criminal acts on impulse and is moved by noble passions. Low passions are reserved only for common criminals. He has no particular physical features that identify him, except that his age ranges between 20 and 30 years.

These types of criminals are extremely affectionate and feel a great shock after committing the crime.. Sometimes they try to commit suicide. The reasons that lead them to commit a crime can be three: mourning, infanticide and political passion.

Occasional offender

Lombroso says that occasional criminals are classified into three groups: pseudo-criminals, criminaloids and professional criminals.. The former commit crimes that can be of three types: involuntary, without perversity (almost always motivated by necessity) and in self-defense.

Criminaloids are those who commit crimes motivated or pressured by circumstances.. Under normal conditions, they would not commit them, although they have a certain predisposition to do so. Finally, professional criminals are those who combine legal activities with crimes.

Cesare Lombroso’s theory and classification of criminals remained in force for a time, but was then radically reevaluated.. Serious deficiencies appeared in the different contrasts that were attempted using the scientific method. Also, at times, it became dangerous: it incited prejudice and sometimes advocated for the “definitive elimination” of the criminal.

Read Also: How an antidepressant works on the brain