Psychology of Crime

Running Head : ARE CRIMINALS MADE OR BORN ARE CRIMINALS MADE OR BORN

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Are criminals made or born

In 1909 the father of modern criminology , an Italian by the name of Cesare Lombroso made a series of skull measurements which led him to believe that criminals had smaller sized brains as compared to law abiding citizens (Wolfgang , 1961 361-391 . Although , this contention was eventually disproven , Lombroso did succeed in bringing science one of its most important contributions . He took away the focus from crimes

and put it where it belonged , towards the criminal mind . While there are several debates which still rage on today regarding the nature vs nurture issue of the criminal element . There has been no true answer to whether criminals are simply a product of their environment or are simply victims of genetics . This will attempt to answer these questions

The first question of course begins by discussing which factors influence the nature vs . nurture rule . When Lombroso first wrote his book not only did he include anthropomorphic measurements of several subjects as a basis for his findings . His book also included several etiological factors which were common to criminals of that era . When Lombroso was conducting his studies he found that the etiological factors which contributed to the increased crime rate consisted of weather , race , civilization , alcohol , genetics , age , sex and moral education . The man spoke of several factors in the environment which affected the crime rate just as it...