Determinism An Unfortunate Part Of Criminology s History

Determinism: An Unfortunate Part of Criminology’s History Throughout history various schools of thought have been created; all attempting to explain why people commit crimes, how to identify criminals, and how we should react to these criminals. These early theories were predominantly deterministic, meaning they all believed there was some trait that can differentiate criminals and non-criminals. Determinism is an important part of the history of criminology and has had a large impact on modern criminology; but these theories are inherently problematic and have some very unfortunate implications. Determinism was extremely popular in history which, ignoring the problems for the moment, makes a lot of sense. People like easy†¦show more content†¦The theorists behind them all trying to find evidence that seemed more focused on supporting their own biases, rather than focusing on actual science. These theories were mostly inspired by racism, sexism, and ableism. Granted, this could be attributed to these theories being a product o f their time. But, these theories have influenced our criminal justice system which still has some apparent biases. Biological determinism is arguably the most problematic of these theories. It focuses mostly on physical traits that can be used to identify criminals. One of the biggest theorists behind this idea is that of Cesare Lombroso, who founded the Italian School which is according to Adler, Mueller, and Laufer, â€Å"... a new orientation, the Italian, or positivist, school of criminology, which seeks explanations for criminal behavior through scientific experimentation and research.† (68). Lombroso believed completely in what he called atavistic stigmata which are â€Å"...physical features of creatures at an earlier stage of development, before they became fully human,† (Adler. Mueller, and Laufer 68). He believe that these characteristics were identifiers for criminals, following the logic that the more of these traits a person had the unevolved they were an d therefore they were more savage and would commit criminal acts. Focusing on the good first, Lombroso’s finding have helped advance criminology in