El determinismo biológico en México: del darwinismo social a la sociología criminal

Abstract

This essay questions the rationality underlying the broad dissemination given to a trend in criminal sociology that took up the propositions of the Italian positivist school, led by Ferri and Garofalo, during the first half of the 20th century. The origins of this trend can be traced to a number of late 19th century propositions of Social Darwinism. The author holds that both Social Darwinism and criminal sociology shared a single approach based on biological determinism. The essay's conclusion establishes a link between the ignorance or neglect of criminal sociology studies undertaken during the first half of this century and the negligible development of a trend in legal sociology which nowadays could provide a humanistic and critical view of problems related to the justice system