NCJ Number
116449
Date Published
1984
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This chapter summarizes the major contributions made by biopsychological theories of delinquency causation.
Abstract
This review of biological and psychological images of the delinquent over the past 100 years suggests that their content has had more to say about the changing character of beliefs about children than with scientific advances. Inevitably all explanations of delinquency have an ideological component. The 'medicalization' of delinquency, i.e., its transformation from the religious conception of sin to a medical understanding of problem behavior, was greatly influenced by Benjamin Rush, who was a physician for the Continental Army. Darwin's work also influenced the view that primitive or criminal behaviors derive from less evolved human physiques. Variations on this theme were touted by Lombroso, Dugdale, and Hooton. Under these theories, intervention relies on the removal, diminishment, or control of the underlying physiological or biological causes of problem behavior. Shah and Roth distinguish between biological variables more directly related to criminal behavior (tumors, epilepsy, and hormonal balance) and those indirectly related (chromosomal abnormalities, physique, and psychopathy). By the early 1900's, the failure of biological explanations to establish a clear link between physiological traits and delinquency, along with attendant pessimistic implications for treatment, undermined their popularity among practitioners. Psychogenic explanations of behavior became popular under the influence of Freud and William Healy, the most influential figure in the treatment of delinquency from a psychodynamic perspective. After discussing the policy implications of biopsychological views of delinquency, the chapter concludes with an analysis of a delinquency-prevention experiment based on psychogenic assumptions (the Cambridge-Somerville project).