Criminal Anthropology

Abstract

CRIMINAL anthropology, which for some time has suffered an eclipse owing to ill-judged claims which had little or no foundation on sound observation, is once more attracting the attention of investigators. In Scientia for May, Prof. A. Mendes-Corrêa recapitulates views which he has put forward from time to time on the contribution which a re-orientated anthropological method can make to the study of criminals and to practical measures in dealing with delinquents. The method advocated by the author is based on a study of the individual, whether normal or abnormal, in reference to his individual psychic and moral make-up and his biological and sociological conditions. Measurements, somatic characters, mental tests, and other methods employed in dealing with delinquents and defectives are regarded as auxiliary rather than as primary methods of investigation in criminological research. Prof. Mendes-Corrêa rega the new criminal anthropology as a development of the Lombrosian methods which has shed the defects of that school. On the other hand, a preliminary study of the American criminal by Prof. E. A. Hooton, as reported by Science Service of Washington, more nearly approaches the methods of Lombroso, in that it endeavours to relate delinquency and physical type. Prof. Hooton's conclusions are, however, based on a large number of observations extending over a considerable period. He is of the opinion that his material justifies the conclusion that criminals in the totality of their physical characters differ from civilians of the same ethnic type. Certain variations of physical type tend to be associated disproportionately with certain types of crime.