CRIME AND INTELLIGENCE (FROM CRIME AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROCESS, 1978 BY JAMES A INCIARDI AND KENNETH C HAAS - SEE NCJ-53277)

• NCJ Number: 53281
• Author(s): N F HAHN
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 8 pages
• Corporate Author: Kendall/ Hunt Publishing Co
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. REVISED VERSION OF 'CRIME AND INTELLIGENCE - AN HISTORICAL LOOK AT THE LAW IQ (INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT) THEORY', PRESENTED AT THE 29TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, NOVEMBER 1977

Annotation

THE ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENT, AND CONTINUING POPULARITY OF THE NOTION THAT CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IS THE RESULT OF LOW INTELLIGENCE ARE EXAMINED.

Abstract

AMONG BIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME, THE LOW INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ) THEORY HAS BEEN MOST TENACIOUS. AN EARLY AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIST (AND SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE) FIRST ENDORSED THE WEAK INTELLIGENCE EXPLANATION OF CRIME IN THE TERMS OF PHRENOLOGY, THE 'SCIENCE' OF THE MIND WHICH PICTURED THE BRAIN AS A SERIES OF SEPARATE COMPARTMENTS OR 'FACULTIES.' THE IDEA THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE DESTINED TO COMMIT CRIMES BECAUSE THEY ARE BORN LACKING THE CRUCIAL MORAL FACULTY WAS LATER TAKEN UP UNDER THE RUBRIC OF MORAL IMBECILITY. LATER IN THE 19TH CENTURY, THE IDEA WAS SUBSUMED FIRST INTO DEGENERATION THEORY--THE IDEA THAT ALL PERSONAL AND SOCIAL AFFLICTIONS ARE CAUSED BY AN INHERITED CORE MALADY OF DEGENERATION--AND LATER INTO CRIMINAL ANTHROPOLOGY. IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY, THE LOW INTELLIGENCE THEORY WAS THE BACKBONE OF THE DEFECTIVE DELINQUENCY MOVEMENT, WHICH EQUATED FEEBLEMINDEDNESS WITH CRIMINALITY AND DOMINATED CRIMINOLOGY THROUGH 1920. CONTEMPORARY RESEARCHERS CONTINUE TO PURSUE THE VARIABLE OF INTELLIGENCE EVEN THOUGH THE VALIDITY OF IQ TESTS HAS BEEN QUESTIONED AND EVEN THOUGH LOW MEASURED INTELLIGENCE IS KNOWN TO BE LARGELY A LOWER-CLASS PHENOMENON, LESS THE PRODUCT OF POOR GENES THAN OF POOR ENVIRONMENT. THAT THE LOW IQ THEORY REMAINS VIGOROUS DESPITE ITS AGE AND ITS CLASS BIASES CAN BE EXPLAINED IN TERMS OF THE SOCIAL MEANINGS THAT HAVE BECOME ATTACHED TO THE THEORY OVER TIME. THE PERSISTENT TENDENCY TO SUSPECT THAT LOW IQ CAUSES CRIME HAS BEEN SHAPED BY THE IDEA'S LINK TO 19TH-CENTURY DEGENERATION THEORY, WHICH EXPLICITLY CONNECTED LOW INTELLIGENCE, LOW SOCIAL CLASS, AND LOW BEHAVIOR. CRIMINOLOGISTS NO LONGER DARE BE SO EXPLICIT, AND LOW IQ HAS BECOME A METAPHOR FOR LOW SOCIAL CLASS. THOSE WHO PURSUE THE SUBJECT ARE IN FACT DISCUSSING A PHENOMENON NOT OF MENTALITY, BUT OF ECONOMICS. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--LKM)