biological positivism lombroso, eugenics & social darwinism
TRANSCRIPT
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