ABSTRACT
Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909) is widely recognized as one of the first scholars to bring scientific methods to bear on the study of crime. A physician, psychiatrist, and prolific author, Lombroso is best known as the founder of criminal anthropology, the study of the body, mind, and habits of the “born” criminal. Lombroso’s theory of the atavistic offender dominated criminological discussions in Europe, North and South America, and parts of Asia from the 1880s into the early twentieth century. But critics attacked his theory even during his lifetime, and by the time he died, criminologists outside Italy had moved on to other explanations of crime. 2 Today, criminology textbooks continue to acknowledge Lombroso as the “father” of the field, but concerning the nature of his contribution they are vague; and in courses on criminology in the United States, Lombroso and his work are sometimes ridiculed.
