Cesare Lombroso and his theories

Cesare Lombroso and his theories in the field of criminology are still very prominent in the
teaching of criminology, even if so many have criticized them since their publishing. Still, a
lot of people only know the most basic principles of his theories and the controversies around
them. But what was the content of his work? And are there any positive consequences from
his theories for the field of criminology? These questions shall be answered in the following.

The Italian started his research in criminology after receiving his medical degree in 1858 and
writing his doctor thesis a year later.1 He then volunteered in the army until 1863 in the field
of the medical service, which allowed him to conduct systematic measurement and
observation of 3000 soldiers. With the information he collected, he tried to analyse
differences in the physicality between the soldiers depending on the region which they came
from in Italy. But at the same time Lombroso observed the tattoos of the soldiers, which as he
stated himself, was one of the reasons why he became interested in criminology.2 Later he
identified the kind of tattooing he saw during his time in the army as a characteristic of a
criminal. Another reason of his growing interest in criminology was his dissatisfaction with
the current procedures in psychiatry, arguing that there should be more focus on the patient
himself, not the disease during the investigation.

His growing interest in clinical psychiatry helped him get the permission to study patients
with mental issues in the hospital of S. Euphemia. Two subjects of his studies were cretinism
and pellagra. Cretinism is a form of severe iodine deficiency3, pellagra a nutritional disease
caused by deficient vitamin niacin and the essential amino acid tryptophan4. Lombroso
examined these diseases in regard to the mental changes and found that pellagra could cause

1 “Pioneers in Criminology: Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)” by Marvin E. Wolfgang, The

Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, Vol. 52, November-December
1961, No. 4
2 Criminal Man: According to the classification of Cesare Lombroso, Gina Lombroso-Ferrero
3 Lifetime Nutritional Influences on Cognition, Behaviour and Psychiatric Illness, S.A.
Skeaff, 2011
4 Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition (Second Edition), D.A. Bender, 2003

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such changes, even leading up to violence and similar criminal behaviour. His 1863 published
“Introduction to the Clinical Course on Mental Diseases” was the first work where he
described the supposed relationship between crime and insanity, based on his study with
pellagra.

Other early work from him dealt with the topic of brain pathology, the changes happening in
the brain because of diseases and illnesses. To this topic he published several papers like
"Some Cases of Lesions of the Central Nervous System"5, “Memoir on a Tumor of the
Cerebellum”6, “Supernumerary Cerebral Convolutions in a Murderer and Satyrist”7 and
“Existence of a Median Fossette in the Cranium of a Criminal”8.

Already this early work of his makes it clear, that his general theory of criminality saw
criminal behaviour as caused by biological factors which are recognizable and predictable by
physiognomic features9. Besides his research in psychiatry, he also studied inmates in
prisons, documenting their behaviour and feelings, but also measuring physical traits.

With the publishing of “L’Uomo Delinquente”10, which was translated into French and
German before English, set the foundations for the development of his new, positivistic
school of criminology. It started to grow in Italy but soon had followers from all over the
world11.

“L’Uomo Delinquente” contained Lombroso’s theory of the born criminal. The “delinquente
nato” developed from the thesis, that all children are born with this evil character traits. He

5 “Some Cases of Lesions of the Central Nervous System”, Cesare Lombroso, 1861
6 “Memoir on a Tumor of the Cerebellum”, Cesare Lombroso, 1863
7 “Supernumerary Cerebral Convolutions in a Murderer and Satyrist”, Cesare Lombroso,
1871
8 “Existence of a Median Fosette in the Cranium of a Criminal”, Cesare Lombroso, 1871
9Neuroscience’s new techniques for evaluating future dangerousness: are we returning to
Lombroso’s biological criminality, J.W. Looney, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law
Review, Volume 32, Issue 3, Article 2, 2010)
10„L’Uomo Delinquente“, Cesare Lombroso, 1876
11Cesare Lombroso – A Glance at His Life Work – Adalbert Albrecht (Volume Information.”
Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 1, no. 1, 1910)

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argues, that these so-called moral anomalies, like jealousy, envy or cruelty, are more frequent
in children than adults, because the right upbringing including a good school education can
erase or minimize them. All criminals show some kind of degeneration mark according to
Lombroso. Normal people can also have some of these marks, but they appear less
frequently. A mark can be a receding forehead and a certain size of the head in proportionality
to the body, which is why Lombroso and his school measured the size of the head of inmates,
inter alia during his time as a prison physician in Turin. His observations made him conclude
that murderer had bigger heads and that bigger heads occurred less often in female criminals
than male ones. Other atavistic marks according to Lombroso are varieties of the ear like
handle ears, broad hips for men, different number of vertebrae, unusually long hands12. But
having one or more these physical characteristics wouldn’t cause a person to commit a crime,
they are rather an outward sign which point to other anomalies, like malformations of the
brain, which could lead to committing a crime.

The born criminal isn’t the only type of criminal Lombroso distinguished during years and
years of observation, examination and research. A criminal of habit is the closest to the
delinquente nato however shows no or few anomalies. This group of people becomes
criminal due to negligence as children, for example the lack of care by their parents which
makes it hard to overcome the “naturally bad habits of the child”13, while normal children
lose these habits as they get older. Surroundings and factors such as alcohol, poor education,
community can also lead such person towards crime, for example organized crime groups
like mafia or camorra which would lead people to commit crimes by association to them14.
But without a predisposition, Lombroso states, social factors won’t make a normal person
criminal. If there is a biological disposition, they can constitute a trigger for crime.

12 See Footnote Nr.11

13 Cesare Lombroso – A Glance at His Life Work – Adalbert Albrecht (Journal of the
American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 1, no. 1, 1910) page 76
14“Pioneers in Criminology: Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)” by Marvin E. Wolfgang, The
Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, Vol. 52, November-December
1961, No. 4

3


Another type of criminal is the criminal of passion. As stated in “Woman as a Criminal and a
Prostitute”15 passion crimes develop rather quickly because of subconscious feelings or
feelings like honour or platonic love which were offended. They are often proud of their
crime, so they don’t deny it and also aren’t as cautious as other groups of criminals.
According to Lombroso more women become a delinquente de passione, disappointed love
being the most common motive. To the group of delinquente d’impeto o passione belong also
other criminals of violence: the political criminals. They are described by Lombroso as
intellectuals which have patriotic, religious or scientific ideals16. Among this type of
criminals, he observed a high number of suicides, signalling an unhealthy state of mind17. But
he also notices that these criminals of passion are the most likely to improve.

Furthermore, there is the criminal of opportunity. This group shows little outward marks but
they are disposed that circumstances and opportunities make them commit a crime. The
delinquente d’occasione acts out of a sudden impulse but isn’t as religious as a criminal of
passion, but confesses easily. They don’t actively seek for crime, but coincidentally get
attracted by it. In connection to this type of group Cesare Lombroso developed his theory of
the epileptic impulse, which he later took back in “Crime: Its Causes and Remedies”18,
stating that occasional criminals are the only ones who don’t have any connection to atavism
or epilepsy. Not just for the criminal of opportunity, but in general Lombroso says epilepsy as
a key to explain all psychological and mental illnesses19. In “Crime: Its Causes and
Remedies” he also emphasizes the geographical and social factors; which critics have
accused him of neglecting before.

15“Woman as a Criminal and a Prostitute” Lombroso and Ferrero

16“Pioneers in Criminology: Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)” by Marvin E. Wolfgang, page
372
17 L’Uomo Delinquente, Cesare Lombroso, page 204-65 (5th ed.)
18“Crime, Its Causes and Remedies." Cesare Lombroso, M. D., Professor of Psychiatry and
Criminal Anthropology in the University of Turin. Translated by Henry P. Horton, M. A.,
Boston. Little, Brown & Co.
19 Lombroso’s theory of crime – Charles A. Ellwood (Charles A. Ellwood, Lombroso's
Theory of Crime, 2 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 716 (1912)

4


Another group of criminals which Lombroso distinguishes are the female offenders whom he
even dedicated a whole book. “The Female Offender”20 was written by him together with his
son-in-law, Guglielmo Ferrero. According to them, women have a weaker sensibility than
men. Based on experiments with the five senses he argued that women prefer strong scents
like perfume, because their sense of smell isn’t as good as men’s sense of smell. He argued
further that women were not only less sensible to pain21, but that they also lacked the highest
intelligence as well as creativity, originality and had only little logic and abstract thought, just
like children and savages did22. Women supposedly also have common traits with children
like revengefulness, jealousy and vengeance. Normal women don’t share these traits, as
Lombroso argues, for they are normally neutralised by piety, maternity, weakness and
underdeveloped intelligence. This makes a female offender a “monster” 23 .
He stated that most prostitutes belonged to the group of born criminals, more than other
female offenders, knowing only the honour of sex. According to Lombroso prostitutes had
the typical marks as the born criminals, tattoos while their language also gave away their
criminality24. Prostitution was perceived by him as an atavistic phenomenon but lacked, just
like all female criminals, the “mother-sense”25. Still, female criminals seemed like a double
exception as criminals are an exception in civilization and women being exceptions among
criminals. But he is still convinced, that there is more female criminality than statistics show,
as many crimes go undetected26.

20La Donna Delinquente, La Prostituta e La Donna Normale (in collaboration with G.

Ferrero) (Torino 1893)
21 “Cesare Lombroso – A Glance at His Life Work”, Adalbert Albrecht, page 79
22 See Footnote Nr.11
23 “The Female Offender”, pages 150-152
24 “Cesare Lombroso – A Glance at His Life Work”, Adalbert Albrecht, page 80
25 “Pioneers in Criminology: Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)” by Marvin E. Wolfgang
26 See Footnote Nr. 11

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After his death in 1909 his daughter Gina Lombroso sent “Crime and Insanity”27, an
unpublished paper of his, to the “Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and
Criminology” for publishing. In this paper, Lombroso states that even if the reforms
suggested by his school were enacted, he gives the example of London and Geneva, crime
wouldn’t disappear as it is only on one hand caused by social conditions, but on the other
hand by human nature as well28. This shows how his theories developed from an excessive
focus on anatomical and anthropometric data to a theory of atavism and concepts of
degeneracy as causes of crime29, but also now taking into account other factors as social ones.

Even though Lombroso developed his theories over time, adjusting them, he faced a lot of
criticism. While he used a lot of statistics with material and data, which he collected over the
years on his examinations, Charles A. Ellwood accuses him of using these statistics too
loosely30 , others claim he only used rough estimated figures and proportions, e.g. when it
comes to the amount of born criminals among all types of criminals31. Ellwood also criticizes
Lombroso’s argumentation that crime has biological roots, asking whether or not these are
actually the cause of crime or if crime would still happen without these apparent biological
traits. He further condemned the lack of acknowledgment of social factors contributing to
crime32, which as stated earlier Lombroso included in his later work.

Another part of Lombroso’s theories that was criticized was the supposed link between
degeneration marks, as he called them, and mental diseases which he saw as the cause of
crime. Erich Wulffen argued in contrary to that, that degeneration isn’t a disease itself and
therefore the argumentation by Lombroso is faulty33. Further, the link between epilepsy and
criminal behaviour was criticized by many. A group that was rather opposed to Lombroso’s

27Crime and Insanity- Cesare Lombroso (Cesare Lombroso, Crime and Insanity in the
Twenty-First Century, 3 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 57 (1912))
28 See Footnote Nr. 27
29 See Footnote Nr. 14
30 See Footnote Nr. 19
31 See Footnote Nr. 1
32 See Footnote Nr. 19, page 718-720
33 See Footnote Nr. 11

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school was the German respectively Northern school of criminology, of which members were
Erich Wulffen, Paul Naecke, Gustav Aschaffenburg and others34.

Another opponent of Lombroso’s theories was Charles Goring, who conducted a whole
investigation to test the claims made by Lombroso35, accusing his criminology as being
superstitious36. Goring comes to the conclusion in his investigation that he managed to
disprove that a born criminal exists37.

Furthermore, there is criticism towards the positivist approach to criminology Lombardo and
others chose, not acknowledging or accepting empirical criticism38. Empirical evidence,
according to the authors Don Weatherburn and Mark Findlay, opposes the belief that
criminality or it’s causes can be explained by individual examples where Lombardo’s
hypothesis seems to fit39.

Despite all this criticism and research that rather disproves Lombardo’s theories in the field
of criminology, there are also positive assessments of his work. Charles A. Ellwood states
that his papers and books, including “Crime: Its Causes and Remedies”, had a heavy
influence on the development of criminology in the United States of America40. Further,
Lombroso’s work showed that the criminal itself as a person was worth investigating,

34 See Footnote Nr. 11, page 81

35“Charles Goring's "The English Convict: A Symposium” 1. The Results Of An Official
Investigation Made In England By Dr. Goring To Test The Lombroso Theory.”, Gina
Lombroso-Ferrero (The Canadian Law Times vol. 34 (1914) Charles Goring's the English
Convict: A Symposium)
36 See Footnote Nr. 35
37 See Footnote Nr.35
38Positivism, empiricism and criminological theory - Don Weatherburn, Mark Findlay (Legal
Studies, Volume 5 Issue 2, July 1985, p. 191-204)
39 See Footnote Nr. 38
40 See Footnote Nr. 19

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including the reasons and causes why he committed a crime, not only the crime itself41. This
helped to develop individual punishment according to Charles A. Ellwood42.

Adalbert Albrecht goes even further and calls him the godfather of criminal anthropology, as
he used anthropometric date in a practical way, basing on that said system of judging not only
crimes but also taking notice of the criminal43. According to Albrecht, Lombroso’s theories
paved the way for modern criminology, even if they were faulty themselves44. As quoted in
Albrecht’s work, Lombroso supposedly was a researcher with a lot of intuition and a genuine
interest in improving criminology45.

As the title of Marvin E. Wolfgang already shows, he regarded Lombroso as one of the
pioneers in criminology, who’s work had a massive influence on the continental
criminology46, even calling him father of modern criminology. Wolfgang emphasizes as well
that Lombroso should be recognized for moving the focus from the act of crime to the
criminal and introducing new ideas about punishment and even with all the controversy he
sparked, this created a new interest in criminology which helped improve it47. He also
acknowledges the broadness of Lombroso’s investigations and research, which made it
possible for the science of modern etiology of crime to exist48. Additionally, Marvin E.
Wolfgang accentuates that Lombroso’s school of criminology brought innovations to
pathology and police work, changing the applied scientific methods49.

41 See Footnote Nr.19, page 723

42 See Footnote 19
43 See Footnote Nr. 11, page 72
44 See Footnote Nr,11, page 78
45 See Footnote Nr. 11, page 83
46 See Footnote Nr. 1
47 See Footnote, Nr. 1, page 361
48 See Footnote Nr.1
49 See Footnote Nr. 1, page 363

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Even Charles goring, who as stated earlier, widely criticized Lombroso’s work, is still
convinced that Cesare Lombroso should be credited for the sincere work and intent he had in
looking for new theories in criminology, even if those were proved to not be correct50.

Concluding, it is obvious that Lombroso and his new school of criminology have faced a lot
of criticism and negative assessment since the publishing of his works. Still, it is impressive
how broad and extensive the research, investigation and all the examinations the Italian
criminologist conducted was. But it is clear that the theories of the born criminal and physical
characteristics which are typical for criminals aren’t provable anymore, making them
irrelevant to modern methods in criminology as they aren’t applied. That being said, his work
wasn’t irrelevant to the development of the field of criminology, putting more focus on the
criminal and the causes which make him commit a crime. Therefore, his theories did have
positive consequences and outcomes, as they and the criticism towards them changed the
field of criminology towards the contemporary criminology we know today.

50 See Footnote Nr.35

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Bibliography

1. “Lombroso’s theory of crime” – Charles A. Ellwood (Charles A. Ellwood, Lombroso's

Theory of Crime, 2 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 716 (1912)

2. “Cesare Lombroso – A Glance at His Life Work” – Adalbert Albrecht (Volume

Information.” Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology,
vol. 1, no. 1, 1910)

3. “Pioneers in Criminology: Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)” by Marvin E. Wolfgang,

The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, Vol. 52, November-
December 1961, No. 4

4. “Neuroscience's New Techniques for Evaluating Future Dangerousness: Are We

Returning to Lombroso's Biological Criminality?”, J W. Looney (University of
Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review, Volume 32, Issue 3, Article 2, 2010)

5. “Crime and Insanity “, Cesare Lombroso (Cesare Lombroso, Crime and Insanity in
the Twenty-First Century, 3 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 57 (1912))

6. “Charles Goring's "The English Convict: A Symposium” 1. The Results Of An

Official Investigation Made In England By Dr. Goring To Test The Lombroso
Theory.”, Gina Lombroso-Ferrero (The Canadian Law Times vol. 34 (1914) Charles
Goring's the English Convict: A Symposium)

7. “Positivism, empiricism and criminological theory”, Don Weatherburn, Mark Findlay

(Legal Studies, Volume 5 Issue 2, July 1985, p. 191-204)

8. Lifetime Nutritional Influences on Cognition, Behaviour and Psychiatric Illness, S.A.

Skeaff, 2011

9. Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition (Second Edition), D.A. Bender, 2003

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