Criminology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Criminology - Assignment Example It is indicated that personality and genetics of a person have link with social influences like family and peer environment. The impact of parental role is also explained by psychological theories that state neglect or abuse from parents can also lead to criminal tendencies. Therefore, where biological theories stress upon genetic and brain compositions, other theories look at external factors like social and environmental impact (Theories of the Causes of Crime, 2009). 2. It was during the 19th century that physical appearance was given importance regarding studying criminal aggressiveness in individuals. Collins (1999) has explored the core subject of physiognomy which states that unaltered body structures can reflect the characteristic of a person. In the field of physiognomy it is considered that physical features like distance between two eyes or structure of the forehead can tell about a person’s strengths like intelligence and honesty (Collins, 1999, p.251). It was the 19th century Italian criminologist, Cesare Lombroso who had observed resemblance between the skulls of a notorious criminal and those belonging to lower races. He coined the term â€Å"born criminals† and attributed their criminology to physical features like â€Å"drooping eyes, large ears, protruding jaw, flat nose† (Valla et al., 2011, p.70). 3. During the 1970s and 1980s, various studies have demonstrated that children born from parents who have been imprisoned carry greater potential of becoming criminals during adult years even if they are brought up by law-abiding foster parents. From these adoptive studies, it has been concluded that genetic impact on criminal behavior is significant irrespective of gender although females are more subjected to individual genetic risk than the males. Moreover, it has been observed that parents with records of petty