In 1876, Cesare Lombroso published his book “The Criminal Man.” In it he wrote, “…one has to conclude that while offenders may not look fierce, there is nearly always something strange about their appearance. It can even be said that each type of crime is committed by men with particular physiognomic characteristics.”
Theory Says Criminals are Throwbacks to Savage Past
Lombroso founded his theory on the evolutionary notions popular in the late 19th century. He said that criminals represented genetic throwbacks who possessed physical characteristics from more primitive stages of human development.
In the online magazine Brain and Mind (March 1997) Renato Sabbatini wrote that Lombroso called these physical features stigmata, which “could be expressed in terms of abnormal forms or dimensions of the skull and jaw, asymmetries in the face, etc, but also of other parts of the body.”
Among the many features that Dr. Lombroso identified as being characteristic of crooks were:
- Unusually shaped ears, occasionally very small but more likely large “jug handle” types similar to those of chimpanzees;
- Upturned or twisted noses – hawk-like in murderers and flattened in thieves;
- Large, protruding jaws;
- High cheekbones;
- Fleshy, swollen, or protruding lips;
- Hard, shifty eyes; and,
- Excessively long arms.
Facial Features Vary with Type of Criminal
Lombroso wrote that: “In general, thieves are notable for their expressive faces and manual dexterity: small, wandering eyes that are often oblique in form, thick and close eyebrows, distorted or squashed noses, thin beards and hair, and sloping foreheads. Like rapists, they often have jug ears.
“Rapists, however, nearly always have sparkling eyes, delicate features, and swollen lips and eyelids.”
The Criminal Mind Republished
A new edition of Cesare Lombroso's work was published in 2006 by Duke University Press. In reviewing “The Criminal Man” Isobel Williams of Swansea University wrote: “Given that alcoholism is now seen as a disease, and that alcohol is often pinpointed as an impetus for crime, perhaps Lombroso was not so far off the mark in looking for biological causes for at least some crime. And, while society has, we hope, advanced beyond condemning a person as a criminal because of jug ears or a low brow, scientists continue to find physical characteristics that mark differing abilities or tendencies.”
Ugly People more likely to Commit Crimes
Two economists have, to a limited extent, backed up some of Dr. Lombroso’s theories. H. Naci Mocan and Erdal Tekin co-published a paper in December 2005 entitled “Ugly Criminals.” In an abstract of their paper they say: “Using data from three waves of Add Health we find that being very attractive reduces a young adult’s (ages 18-26) propensity for criminal activity and being unattractive increases it for a number of crimes, ranging from burglary to selling drugs.
They quote a Miami man’s explanation as to why he committed robberies as “I am too ugly to get a job.”
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