Cesare Lombroso

Cesare Lombroso (Verona, November 6, 1835 - Turin, October 19, 1909) was a historical figure in modern criminology, and the founder of the Italian Positivist School of criminology. Lombroso rejected the established Classical School of criminology, which held that crime was a characteristic trait of human nature. Instead, using concepts drawn from Social Darwinism, Lombroso's theory was that criminality was inherited, and that the born criminal could be identified by physical defects, which confirmed a criminal as savage, or atavistic.

External links

• York University Classics in Psychiatry
• Lombroso: Sociological Theories of Deviance
• Anthropological Criminology
• Overview of the Positivist School
• Sabbatini, R.M.E. - Cesare Lombroso. A Brief Biography. Brain and Mind Magazine, 1997.