Lombroso, Cesare

(1835–1909)

   Born in Verona, Lombroso was a pioneer in the field of criminology. His early career was as an army surgeon, but he subsequently became professor of mental illness at the University of Pavia and, influenced by Darwinian ideas of natural selection, began to develop his ideas on inherited criminal traits. Unlike the theologically inspired experts of the time, Lombroso did not believe that crime was due to the innate wickedness of humanity. Rather, he argued in his book L’Uomo Delinquente(Criminal Man, 1876) that criminals were genetically (as we would say today) disposed to crime. Lombardo argued that the born criminal could be identified by certain physical characteristics (large jaws, shifty eyes, long arms, flattened noses). Criminals were human beings who had degenerated rather than evolved.

   The positive aspect of this theory was that Lombroso argued that criminals should be treated humanely and that the death penalty should be abolished. He advocated a prison regime that tried to rehabilitate its inmates. The negative aspect of Lombroso’s work was that it spilled over into racial theorizing. Like many other theorists of his time, Lombroso believed that science had demonstrated that Europeans were a superior race that had evolved further than the rest of the species. The eugenics movement, the attempt to breed a higher form of humanity, regarded Lombroso’s work as fundamental. Lombroso also advanced the interesting theory that artistic genius is closely connected to insanity. His work with psychiatric art was regarded as a groundbreaking attempt to understand the workings of the mind. Lombroso died in Turin in October 1909.