They don't become criminals, C. Lombroso said, criminals are born.

A criminal is an atavistic being who reproduces in his personality the violent instincts of primitive humanity and lower animalsGertsenzon A.A. Methods of criminological study of the identity of the offender. M., 2004. S. 221..

Criminals have distinctly different physical traits. Innate individual factors are the main causes of criminal behavior, he argued.

Lombroso developed a table of signs of a born criminal - such traits (stigmas), by identifying which, by directly measuring the physical features of a person, it was possible, he believed, to decide whether we are dealing with a born criminal or not Criminology: ed. N.F. Kuznetsova, V.V. Lunaev, 2nd edition M; Wolters Kluwer-2005, p. 192.

The very first checks of Lombroso's tables showed, however, that the presence of special physical features in a criminal that distinguishes them from all other modern people and brings them closer to primitive man is nothing more than a myth.

In 1913, the English criminologist S. Goring checked Lombroso's study by comparing the prisoners with students of Cambridge (1000 people), Oxford and Aberdeen (959 people), with military personnel and college teachers (118 people). It turned out that there were no differences between them and the criminals.

In the book, Lombroso attracted attention primarily to the thesis of the existence of an anatomical type of a born criminal, that is, a person whose criminality is predetermined by his certain lower physical organization, atavism or degeneration.

However, subsequent thorough examinations of criminals, including in Russia, did not confirm his conclusions.

So, the pathologist D. N. Zernov, on the basis of specially conducted testing studies, came to the conclusion that a “born criminal” does not exist; qualified research in the field of anatomy failed to confirm its existence.

Zernov noted that among criminals there are people with signs of degeneration in the same way as among non-criminal people. Their number, in all likelihood, is the same among both criminals and non-criminals, and therefore the average numbers are the same.

C. Lombroso attached great importance to the dissemination and development of his theory, which received a wide response at the International Legal Congress, which opened in Lisbon on April 4, 1889. Lombroso C. A crime. The latest advances in science. Anarchists. M., 2004. S. 211.

However, already in the XIX century. the theoretical constructions of C. Lombroso were criticized. One of these critics was the famous German lawyer F. von List.

Recognizing the importance of addressing the identity of the criminal, F. von List, nevertheless, pointed out: C. Lombroso is far from the truth, believing that most criminals are prone to epilepsy and that in almost any criminal one can find the characteristic signs of a wild man. List F. background. Tasks of criminal policy. Crime as a socially pathological phenomenon. M., 2004. S. 15.

F. von List, in his publications, sought to show that it is necessary to take into account both the social conditions that give rise to crime and the characteristics of the offender's personality. S. 92..

This led to the conclusion that the anthropological and sociological schools in criminology without each other will not be able to give an accurate answer regarding the crime.

A consistent critic of the exceptional anthropologization of criminology was, as already noted, S. Ya. Bulatov.

In the monograph "Criminal Policy of the Age of Imperialism", he showed the inconsistency of the so-called natural science experiments, which served as the basis for considering criminals as a supposedly special group of people, something akin to a special race Bulatov S.Ya. Criminal policy of the era of imperialism. M., 1933..

S.Ya. Bulatov saw the reasons that prompt a person to embark on the path of committing crimes in social existence, in social relations that take shape in the conditions of class struggle.

Ch. Lombroso developed his views over time, drawing attention to certain socio-economic causes of the emergence and growth of crime.

He, in particular, noted that "poverty is a source of crimes, although not very rude and cruel in their form, but rather limited in their number.

Meanwhile, the artificial endless needs of rich people also create numerous types of special crimes.

The evolution of C. Lombroso's views did not go unnoticed by S. Ya. Bulatov. He gives a detailed analysis of the views of the founder of the anthropological school of criminology and the approaches of his followers.

As a result of a comprehensive study, he comes to the conclusion: “The anthropological school is not a school of determinism, but of fatalism, a school not of materialism, but of idealism disguised as materialism, since it turns a class historical phenomenon - crime into a supraclass, ahistorical phenomenon, “eternal, like birth like death."

At the same time, of course, it must be borne in mind that the views of scientists are largely determined specifically by the historical situation in which they live.

It is in this vein that one should evaluate the achievements of a scientist, his real contribution to the development of science, and not those opportunities that were not realized for one reason or another.”

Despite the fallacy of Lombroso's position about the existence of a variety of born criminals, one cannot deny his contribution to the development of criminology Begimbaev S.A. Ideas S.Ya. Bulatov about the anthropological theory of crime. State and law. No. 10. 2008. P. 25 - 27..

It was Lombroso who began researching the factual material, raised the question of the causality of criminal behavior and the identity of the offender. His main idea is that a cause is a chain of interrelated causes.

Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) - an outstanding Italian psychiatrist, criminologist and criminologist. Born on November 6, 1835 in Verona, then controlled by Austria. In 1858 he received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Pavian. In 1859-1865. As a military doctor, he participated in the Italian War of Independence. In 1867 he was appointed professor at the mental hospital in Pavia, in 1871 he was the head of the Pesaro neurological institution, and in 1876 he was professor of forensic medicine at the University of Turin.
Psychiatrists consider C. Lombroso the forerunner of several scientific schools, in particular, the morphological theory of temperament. His book "Genius and Madness" is a classic of psychiatry. Criminologists see Ch. Lombroso as one of the creators of the theory of judicial identification. None other than Lombroso, in his book "Criminal Man", outlined the first experience of the practical application of the psychophysiological method of "lie detection" (using a device - a prototype of a polygraph) to identify persons who committed crimes.
In criminology, C. Lombroso is known for being the founder of the anthropological school. In his work - "Criminal Man" (1876), he put forward the hypothesis that a criminal can be identified by external physical signs, reduced sensitivity of the senses and pain sensitivity. Lombroso wrote: “Both epileptics and criminals are characterized by a desire for vagrancy, shamelessness, laziness, boasting of a committed crime, graphomania, jargon, tattooing, pretense, weakness of character, momentary irritability, megalomania, a quick change of mood and feelings, cowardice, a tendency to contradictions, exaggeration, morbid irritability, bad temper, quirkiness. And I myself observed that during a thunderstorm, when seizures become more frequent in epileptics, prisoners in prison also become more dangerous: they tear their clothes, break furniture, beat ministers. Thus, the offender is in special pathological conditions, determined in most cases by different processes or different special conditions. Impressed by his discovery, C. Lombroso began to study the anthropological features of a large array of criminals. Lombroso studied 26,886 criminals, 25,447 respectable citizens served as a control group for him. Based on the results obtained, C. Lombroso found out that a criminal is a kind of anthropological type who commits crimes due to certain properties and characteristics of his physical constitution. “The criminal,” Lombroso wrote, “is a special being, different from other people. This is a kind of anthropological type, which is motivated to crime due to the multiple properties and characteristics of its organization. Therefore, crime in human society is as natural as in the whole organic world. Plants that kill and eat insects also commit crimes. Animals cheat, steal, rob and rob, kill and devour each other. Some animals are bloodthirsty, others are greedy.”
The main idea of ​​Lombroso is that the criminal is a special natural type, more sick than guilty. A criminal is not made, but born. This is a kind of bipedal predator, which, like a tiger, does not make sense to reproach for bloodthirstiness. Criminals are characterized by special anatomical, physiological and psychological properties that make them, as it were, fatally doomed from birth to commit a crime. To anatomo-fiziol. signs of the so-called. "Born criminal" Lombroso refers: irregular, ugly shape of the skull, bifurcation of the frontal bone, small jagged edges of the cranial bones, asymmetry of the face, irregularity in the structure of the brain, blunted susceptibility to pain, and others.
The offender is also characterized by such pathological personality traits as: highly developed vanity, cynicism, lack of guilt, the ability to repent and remorse, aggressiveness, vindictiveness, a tendency to cruelty and violence, to exaltation and demonstrative forms of behavior, a tendency to the distinguishing features of a special community (tattoos, jargon, etc.)
Born criminality was first explained atavism: the criminal was understood as a savage who cannot adapt to the rules and norms of a civilized community. Later it was understood as a form of "moral insanity" and then as a form of epilepsy.
In addition, Lombroso creates a special typology - each type of criminal corresponds only to his characteristic features.
The killers. In the type of murderers, the anatomical features of the criminal are clearly visible, in particular, a very sharp frontal sinus, very voluminous cheekbones, huge eye orbits, and a protruding quadrangular chin. These most dangerous criminals are dominated by the curvature of the head, the width of the head is greater than its height, the face is narrow (the back semicircle of the head is more developed than the front), most often their hair is black, curly, the beard is rare, there is often a goiter and short hands. The characteristic features of the killers also include a cold and motionless (glassy) look, bloodshot eyes, a bent down (eagle) nose, excessively large or, on the contrary, too small earlobes, thin lips.
The thieves. Thieves have elongated heads, black hair and a sparse beard, mental development is higher than that of other criminals, with the exception of swindlers. Ravens predominantly have a straight nose, often concave, upturned at the base, short, wide, flattened and in many cases deviated to the side. The eyes and hands are mobile (the thief avoids meeting the interlocutor with a direct look - shifty eyes).
Rapists. The rapists have bulging eyes, a delicate face, huge lips and eyelashes, flattened noses of moderate size, deviated to the side, most of them are lean and rickety blondes.
scammers. Fraudsters often have a good-natured appearance, their face is pale, their eyes are small, severe, their nose is crooked, their head is bald. Lombroso was able to identify the features of the handwriting of various types of criminals. The handwriting of murderers, robbers and robbers is distinguished by elongated letters, curvilinear and definite features in the endings of letters. The handwriting of thieves is characterized by extended letters, without sharp outlines and curvilinear endings.
The atomistic teaching of C. Lombroso was of great importance in the search for ways and means of diagnosing the personality of a criminal, the development of psychology and pathopsychology of a criminogenic personality, in the formation of the foundations of forensic science and forensic psychology, in the search for appropriate measures to influence the personality of a criminal. Many results of Lombroso's empirical research have not lost their relevance (experimental data on the genetics of behavior at the end of the 20th century demonstrated that genetic factors are indeed the cause of some varieties of aggressive, including criminal, behavior). And, most importantly, they are not reduced to primitive schemes for the biological explanation of criminal behavior. C. Lombroso's conclusions are always multivariate and imbued with a constant desire to reveal the real mutual influence of biological and social factors on each other in antisocial behavior.

2.1 The theory of "born criminal" C. Lombroso

Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) - an outstanding Italian psychiatrist, criminologist and criminologist.

Cesare Lombroso was one of the first to undertake a systematic study of criminals, relying on strictly fixed anthropometric data, which he determined using a “craniograph” - a device for measuring the size of parts of the face and head. He published the results in the book Anthropometry of 400 Offenders (1872).

He owns the theory of the so-called "born criminal", according to which criminals are not made, but born. Lombroso declared crime to be a natural phenomenon, like birth or death. Comparing the anthropometric data of criminals with careful comparative studies of their pathological anatomy, physiology and psychology, Lombroso put forward the thesis about the criminal as a special anthropological type, which he then developed into an integral theory (“Criminal Man”, 1876). He came to the conclusion that a criminal is a degenerate, lagging behind in his development from the development of mankind. He cannot slow down his criminal behavior, so the best strategy for society in relation to such a "born criminal" is to get rid of him, depriving him of his liberty or life.

According to Lombroso, the "criminal type" is distinguished by a number of innate features of an atavistic nature, indicating a lag in development and criminal inclinations.

The scientist developed a system of physical signs (“stigmata”) and mental traits of this type, which, in his opinion, characterize a person endowed with criminal inclinations from birth. The scientist considered the main features of such a personality to be a flattened nose, a low forehead, large jaws, a frowning look, etc., which, in his opinion, are characteristic of "primitive man and animals." The presence of these signs allows you to identify a potential criminal even before he commits a crime. In view of this, Lombroso spoke in favor of involving doctors, anthropologists and sociologists in the number of judges and demanded that the question of guilt be replaced by the question of social harm.

The main drawback of this theory of Lombroso was that it ignored the social factors of crime.

The rapid and widespread dissemination of Lombroso's theory, and especially the extreme conclusions that were often drawn from it, caused sharp and conclusive criticism. Lombroso had to soften his position.

In later writings, he refers to the innate anthropological type only 40% of criminals, whom he calls "savages living in a civilized society." Lombroso recognizes the important role of non-hereditary - psychopathological and sociological causes of crime. This gave grounds to call Lombroso's theory biosociological.

At the end of the XIX century. at international congresses on criminal anthropology, the theory of anthropological crime was generally recognized as erroneous.

Under the influence of criticism, Lombroso himself moved away from a purely biological explanation of crime, recognized the existence along with the "natural" type of "accidental" criminal, whose behavior is determined not only by personal, but also by external factors. In the book Crime, Its Causes and Remedies, Lombroso outlined a scheme of crime factors containing 16 groups of such factors, including cosmic, ethnic, climatic, racial factors, civilization factors, population density, nutrition, education, upbringing, heredity and etc. Thus, the biological theory of crime, already in the works of its founder Lombroso, began to transform into a bio-social theory. This transformation was even more clearly manifested in the views of Lombroso's students and associates - Ferri and Garofalo, who, having retained the main provisions of their teacher's theory, significantly increased the role of social factors of crime.

Despite the refutation of this theory during the lifetime of Lombroso, they continued to develop it with some changes: in Italy - R. Garofalo, E. Ferri, D. di Tullio, in Germany - E. Kretschmer, V. Sauer, in the USA - E. Huton , W. Sheldon and other biocriminologists.

Modern biocriminologists substantiate their positions based on the latest achievements of the natural sciences. The hereditary theory in modern understanding is divided into several varieties: family predisposition, twin, chromosomal, endocrine, etc. in their conclusions, representatives of these theories draw on the results of studying the pedigree of criminals, the functioning of the endocrine glands, comparing the behavior of twins and identifying chromosomal abnormalities in criminals and non-criminals .

Indisputable links between crime and human biology have not been established. Biological theories of the causes of crime do not find serious support either in individual countries or in the world as a whole.

2.2 Psychosexual theory of the causes of crime (S. Freud)

sociological crime stigmatization conflict

Among the biological and bio-social criminological concepts, those that associate crime not with the physical, but with the psychological structure of a person, are more popular. This is especially true of the psychological theory of Sigmund Freud, who considered crime as the result of a defective development of the individual. The essence of the theory is that a person from birth is biologically doomed to a constant cruel struggle of antisocial deep instincts - aggressive, sexual, fear - with the moral attitudes of the individual. That is, an individual from childhood learns to control his instincts. Some individuals never manage to achieve this due to some specific circumstances, for example, poor family relations. As a result, they develop incorrectly and form into an inferior personality. The conflict between the subconscious and the conscious, the struggle between them determines the content of a person's mental activity and his behavior. In those cases when the activity of consciousness is insufficient, the "oppressed" anti-social instincts and inclinations break out and manifest themselves in the form of a crime.

An explanation for criminal behavior should be sought in the psychosexual conflicts that a person encounters in early childhood. Unsatisfied drives are pushed out of consciousness into the unconscious and continue to have a decisive influence on human behavior.

Freudian theories gained currency in the early 20th century. They got their name from the ancestor - the Austrian psychiatrist 3. Freud. In the works “Psychopathology of everyday life”, “Basic psychological theories in psychoanalysis”, he argued that the explanation of human, including criminal, behavior should be sought in psychosexual conflicts that a person encounters in early childhood. The struggle of subconscious sexual desires (libido), as well as the instincts of aggression and fear with the human consciousness, moral and legal requirements, Freud named after the mythical persons - "Oedipus complex", "Herostratus complex", "Electra complex". Unsatisfied drives, according to Freud, are forced out of consciousness into the unconscious and continue to have a decisive influence on human behavior.

Modern psychoanalysts additionally associate the internal conflicts of the individual with the high pace of life, with neuropsychic overload, with technical progress, which, in their opinion, leads to psychopathization, neuroticization of the population, an increase in crime and mental illness.

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The famous Italian forensic psychiatrist and criminologist of the 19th century, Cesare Lombroso, called for types with "non-photogenic" faces to be executed or isolated: they say that a person's criminal addictions are written on his face. His theories have long been recognized as erroneous, but many of his developments are valuable today. For example, a method of fixing anthropological data of a person.

Mikhail Vinogradov: psychics in the service of special services

Lombroso, born in 1836 in Verona, went down in history as one of the most famous criminologists of the century before last - he created a criminal anthropological direction in the science of criminal law. It is believed that he made a great contribution to the development of legal psychology. True, there is little practical benefit from his research today: often the most terrible maniac-criminals in person were no more terrible and no more beautiful than average citizens.

At the age of 19, while studying at the medical faculty of the University of Pavia, Lombroso published his first articles on psychiatry - on the problem of cretinism, which attracted the attention of specialists. He independently mastered such disciplines as ethnolinguistics, social hygiene.

In 1862, he was already a professor of mental illness, then director of a mental illness clinic, professor of legal psychiatry and criminal anthropology. In 1896, Lombroso received the chair of psychiatry at the University of Turin.

As a military doctor back in the early 1860s, Lombroso had a chance to take part in campaigns to combat banditry in the south of the country - then he undertook his first research on anthropometry. Summarizing them, he came to the conclusion that the hardships of life in poor southern Italy led to the fact that there appeared an "anomalous" type of people with various anatomical and mental abnormalities. He attributed them to a special anthropological variety - "criminal man."

Cesare Lombroso strictly recorded the anthropometric data of lawbreakers, using a special device for this - a craniograph, with which he measured the dimensions of parts of the face and head. He published his findings in the book Anthropometry of 400 Offenders, which became something of a textbook for many of the then detectives.

According to Lombroso's "born criminal" theory, offenders are not made, but born: criminals are degenerates. Therefore, it is impossible to re-educate them - it is better to preventively deprive them of their freedom or even life.

How to determine criminal inclinations in appearance? This is the hallmarks - "stigmata": a combination of psychological and physical characteristics. For example, a flattened nose, a low forehead, massive jaws - all of them, from the scientist's point of view, are characteristic of "primitive man and animals."

However, Lombroso also had critics. Already many of his contemporaries noted that his theory overlooks the social factors of crime. Therefore, as early as the end of the 19th century, the theory of anthropological crime was generally recognized as erroneous.

It is worth mentioning the curious work of Lombroso - "Genius and insanity" (1895). In it, the scientist put forward the thesis that genius is the result of abnormal brain activity on the verge of epileptoid psychosis. He wrote that the resemblance of brilliant people to the physiologically crazy is simply amazing. Well, many agreed with him then - they agree now: after all, often people of genius are really "out of this world."

By the way, it was Lombroso who was the first in the world to apply knowledge of physiology to detect deception, that is, he used a kind of lie detector. In 1895, he first published the results of the use of primitive laboratory instruments in the interrogation of criminals.

Cesare Lombroso died on October 19, 1909 in Turin, despite all his mistakes and delusions, remaining in the memory of posterity as an outstanding scientist, one of the pioneers of introducing objective methods into legal science. His works played an important role in the development of criminology and legal psychology.

In the contribution of Cesare Lombroso to the business of criminology to Pravda.Ru, a forensic psychiatrist, doctor of medical sciences, professor of psychiatry, founder and head of the Center for Legal and Psychological Assistance in Extreme Situations Mikhail ViktorovichVinogradov:

"Cesare Lombroso laid the foundation for modern psychiatric criminology. But at that time he did not have the opportunity to conduct a clear mathematical analysis of the signs that he identified. With what a person has written on his face, in gestures, in gait, facial expressions, all this reflects its essence, but Lombroso shifted the concepts of man in a special way, because man is, as it were, a twofold being: social and biological.