Taboo until today? The coverage of biological arguments in criminology textbooks, 1961 to 1970 and 1987 to 1996

Abstract

In American criminology throughout most of the twentieth century, biological arguments that link biochemistry, genetics, and/or neurophysiology to crime have been viewed as taboo: unthinkable and unmentionable. Despite this reputation, biological perspectives have resurged in the last two decades, reshaping theory and research in criminology. This article examines the changes in the taboo image of biological arguments in fifty-five introductory criminology textbooks: twenty published from 1961 to 1970 and thirty-five appearing from 1987 to 1996. The data show that the taboo surrounding biocriminology appears to be diminishing in textbooks: Newer texts devote more coverage to biological perspectives and are more likely to claim that there is at least some empirical evidence supporting these arguments. Furthermore, criminology textbooks that embrace interdisciplinary orientations are less likely to depict biological arguments as taboo than books that endorse sociological, and especially critical sociological, orientations.