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Criminal Man
Cesare Lombroso is widely considered the founder of criminology. His theory of the “born” criminal dominated European and American thinking about the causes of criminal behavior during the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth. This volume offers English-language readers the first critical, scholarly translation of Lombroso’s Criminal Man, one of the most famous criminological treatises ever written. The text laid the groundwork for subsequent biological theories of crime, including contemporary genetic explanations.Originally published in 1876, Criminal Man went through five editions during Lombroso’s lifetime. In each edition Lombroso expanded on his ideas about innate criminality and refined his method for categorizing criminal behavior. In this new translation, Mary Gibson and Nicole Hahn Rafter bring together for the first time excerpts from all five editions in order to represent the development of Lombroso’s thought and his positivistic approach to understanding criminal behavior.
In Criminal Man, Lombroso used modern Darwinian evolutionary theories to “prove” the inferiority of criminals to “honest” people, of women to men, and of blacks to whites, thereby reinforcing the prevailing politics of sexual and racial hierarchy. He was particularly interested in the physical attributes of criminals—the size of their skulls, the shape of their noses—but he also studied the criminals’ various forms of self-expression, such as letters, graffiti, drawings, and tattoos. This volume includes more than forty of Lombroso’s illustrations of the criminal body along with several photographs of his personal collection. Designed to be useful for scholars and to introduce students to Lombroso’s thought, the volume also includes an extensive introduction, notes, appendices, a glossary, and an index.
In Criminal Man, Lombroso used modern Darwinian evolutionary theories to “prove” the inferiority of criminals to “honest” people, of women to men, and of blacks to whites, thereby reinforcing the prevailing politics of sexual and racial hierarchy. He was particularly interested in the physical attributes of criminals—the size of their skulls, the shape of their noses—but he also studied the criminals’ various forms of self-expression, such as letters, graffiti, drawings, and tattoos. This volume includes more than forty of Lombroso’s illustrations of the criminal body along with several photographs of his personal collection. Designed to be useful for scholars and to introduce students to Lombroso’s thought, the volume also includes an extensive introduction, notes, appendices, a glossary, and an index.
448 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2006
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About the author
Cesare Lombroso
192 books47 followersItalian criminologist, physician, and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso rejected the established Classical School, which held that crime was a characteristic trait of human nature.
Instead, using concepts drawn from physiognomy, early eugenics, psychiatry and Social Darwinism, Lombroso's theory of anthropological criminology essentially stated that criminality was inherited, and that someone "born criminal" could be identified by physical defects, which confirmed a criminal as savage, or atavistic.
Instead, using concepts drawn from physiognomy, early eugenics, psychiatry and Social Darwinism, Lombroso's theory of anthropological criminology essentially stated that criminality was inherited, and that someone "born criminal" could be identified by physical defects, which confirmed a criminal as savage, or atavistic.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 5, 2020
Mary Gibson*, the translator of this current volume, whose famous prior book covered prostitution in Italy, was a fellow postdoctoral seminarian when I first read Lombroso in Italian (Brown U NEH seminar 1979-80). After my daily readings in quattrocento Florentine history, in the Rockefeller Library 3rd Floor carrel overlooking the Van Wickle Gates, I recall looking at images of criminals in Lombroso (Torino, 1894). CL theorized you could tell a criminal just looking at their face; especially women criminals in Italy and Germany, who had masculine faces. This was the science of physiognomy.
I would argue the exact opposite of Lombroso: Criminal faces, especially serial rapists and murderers, are often very handsome. As a Shakespearean, I have argued that Iago should be the opposite of how he is often cast, as an obvious Lombrosan villain. No, no... Othello, not a stupid man though a total outsider in Venezia, calls him, "Honest, honest Iago." He should look honest, like John Boy Walton / Richard Thomas.
Thanks to new international studies (by Mendel, Sergi, Verga and Virgilio), Lombroso shows that criminals result from a primativism, or attavism, though a "paradossiale rigoglio di salute in individui malati spesso fino della nascita," a luxuriance of good health" (ix).
He has studied the primordial forms of crime in the savage ("selvaggio"), in children and in animals. He's studied their physical characteristics like reflex reactions.
Speaking of reflexes, the US President is today having a medical exam, and he may well be an example of criminals (money launderers, fraudsters) who appear fairly handsome. (His weight lists as 239, which cheers me; I too must weigh 20 lbs less than what the scale says.) Lombroso analyzes criminals' skulls and their hands--which he think look more like chimps' and monkeys' (173)-- as well as their handwriting (112). One murderer's writing looks very like the US president's, which also looks surprisingly like an alcoholic friend of mine, though the prez doesn't touch a drop.
* She went on to teach at John Jay Coll of Criminal Justice, and the University of Bologna. Other seminarians became professors at the U of Alabama and President of Trinity College, Hartford.
I would argue the exact opposite of Lombroso: Criminal faces, especially serial rapists and murderers, are often very handsome. As a Shakespearean, I have argued that Iago should be the opposite of how he is often cast, as an obvious Lombrosan villain. No, no... Othello, not a stupid man though a total outsider in Venezia, calls him, "Honest, honest Iago." He should look honest, like John Boy Walton / Richard Thomas.
Thanks to new international studies (by Mendel, Sergi, Verga and Virgilio), Lombroso shows that criminals result from a primativism, or attavism, though a "paradossiale rigoglio di salute in individui malati spesso fino della nascita," a luxuriance of good health" (ix).
He has studied the primordial forms of crime in the savage ("selvaggio"), in children and in animals. He's studied their physical characteristics like reflex reactions.
Speaking of reflexes, the US President is today having a medical exam, and he may well be an example of criminals (money launderers, fraudsters) who appear fairly handsome. (His weight lists as 239, which cheers me; I too must weigh 20 lbs less than what the scale says.) Lombroso analyzes criminals' skulls and their hands--which he think look more like chimps' and monkeys' (173)-- as well as their handwriting (112). One murderer's writing looks very like the US president's, which also looks surprisingly like an alcoholic friend of mine, though the prez doesn't touch a drop.
* She went on to teach at John Jay Coll of Criminal Justice, and the University of Bologna. Other seminarians became professors at the U of Alabama and President of Trinity College, Hartford.
August 19, 2022
Semplicemente delirante
February 26, 2017
Cesare Lombroso's Criminal Man (1876-1897) paved the way for biocriminology, evolutionary psychology, American literary naturalism, and noir fiction. In this edition, editors/translators Mary Gibson and Nicole Hahn Rafter include portions of all five of Lombroso's original editions of the book, thereby providIng a thorough overview of the substance and evolution of his thought. This is a tremendous piece of scholarship.
December 5, 2018
Lomroso's ideas are the evolution of Imam Chafii's physiognomy theory... Cesare's ideas are useful to understand lots of stuff. Nevertheless, "women're inferior to men and blacks to whites" is nothing but a "legal and scientifically proven" invitation to sexism, hatred and racism...
March 8, 2018
Un ouvrage intéressant : L'Homme criminel, c'est assister à la naissance d'une science bancale vouée à l'échec. Expliquer le vice par l'apparence physique est délicat et Lombroso lui-même présente timidement ses observations. Cet ouvrage a au moins le mérite d'être une vraie plongée dans la fin du XIXe siècle.
August 13, 2018
read it in school library, quite interesting, but this book is about science, and terminology. finish with half of the book, and find it extremely hard to understand.
March 5, 2020
One for the sociologist, historian and criminologist. Well written factual.
October 16, 2022
racism moment
August 28, 2024
Maybe people just had too much time in their hands at the time. And, also maybe, his methodology was questionable (a lot questionable).
Nonetheless, interesting
Nonetheless, interesting
March 31, 2025
pian pianino ci son riuscita. Libro molto interessante, le prime 200 pg le avrei stracciate, statistiche e grafici che mi hanno un pò annoiato, ma il resto è interessante
October 16, 2024
Lombroso's work is invaluable to the student of criminology. Lombroso is often introduced to students as an "outdated" criminologist who believed in physiognomy. Physiognomy means the determination of a person's mental character from their physical traits. This is obviously a controversial idea but fundamentally holds some ground as it is clear and obvious that poor development can manifest in both physical and mental areas. Lombroso's book and work distinguishes between different types of criminal and is far from deterministic for many types of crime and criminal.
Lombroso's book is valuable to the medically minded, especially the student of nutrition and prenatal development. Lombroso's characterizations of various criminals and their physiognomic traits struck me one after another as characterizations of fetal abnormal development - facial asymmetry, jaw defects, etc. It has been studied and shown that poor fetal development can have amplifying effects on criminality - abnormal brain development creating criminal potential.
This book pairs well with Weston Price's book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" which, in most editions, has a section which covers criminality, nutritional deficiencies, and reflections of poor development in the face and body. Both of these books are powerful examples of the importance of good prenatal environment and the multiple factors of heredity which we must account for in improving the wellbeing of individuals and emergent social institutions.
Lombroso's book is valuable to the medically minded, especially the student of nutrition and prenatal development. Lombroso's characterizations of various criminals and their physiognomic traits struck me one after another as characterizations of fetal abnormal development - facial asymmetry, jaw defects, etc. It has been studied and shown that poor fetal development can have amplifying effects on criminality - abnormal brain development creating criminal potential.
This book pairs well with Weston Price's book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" which, in most editions, has a section which covers criminality, nutritional deficiencies, and reflections of poor development in the face and body. Both of these books are powerful examples of the importance of good prenatal environment and the multiple factors of heredity which we must account for in improving the wellbeing of individuals and emergent social institutions.
February 15, 2019
Excellent.Lombroao explain us the concept of L' home delinquent or 'Hombre Atávico', for the explanation about the beginning of the criminal mind. A really interesting read about anthropology and the origin of the criminal men. He was the Father of Positive School, and master of Rafael Garófalo.
November 24, 2011
An enjoyable read. Of course his arguments went way beyond the data he had, but you gotta have a theory to collect data anyways, right?
to-keep-reference
October 18, 2016Entiendo que bajo las ideas de la biocriminalistica en este libro explicadas, está basada la lectura que hace el nazismo de darwin. "Hay gente geneticamente mala".
April 17, 2017
Μπορεί να μοιάζει παλιομοδίτικο. Μπορεί ιδέες και συμπεράσματα με τα χρόνια να ανατράπηκαν. Είναι όμως ένα σπουδαίο βιβλίο και για την ιστορία αξίζει πενταράκι. Ήθη, έθιμα, φυλές, συμπεριφορές αποδεκτές και αποκκλίνουσες, υπόκοσμος, εξαρτήσεις, ανθρώπινη ανατομία, βιαιότητα στο ζωικό βασίλειο....αν μη τι άλλο, τόμος σπάνιος και χορταστικός. (από την σχολή της Αστυνομίας, στην παιδική βιβλιοθήκη μου! Το έχω διαβάσει πολλές φορές και πάντα με τον ίδιο ενθουσιασμό)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews