Biological/Individual Positivism was developed as a theoretical approach to criminology in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and was founded by key figures Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri and Raffaele Garofalo. These criminological positivists were the first to worry about discovering and eliminating the causes of crime and criminality. To discover and eliminate the causes of crime and criminality, positivists used methods of scientific, rather than philosophical, analysis. The main argument of biological/individual positivism is that crime occurs because the offender has not been sufficiently or effectively socialized or educated in the values ​​of society. The core tenets of positivism include the doctrine of determinism, focus on the actor and not the act, and treatment and not punishment. Other core concepts of individual positivism include the rejection of metaphysical or risky approaches and the adoption of scientific methods. The innovation of biological/individual positivism introduced a set of new ideas and practices that contributed significantly to the growth of criminology. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Biological positivism represents the first manifestation of individual positivism and is associated with the Italian School of positivist criminology inspired by the work of Cesare Lombroso. Lombroso was famous in the 19th century because he claimed to have discovered the causes of crime. Lombroso's theory suggested that "criminals are distinguished from non-criminals by the manifestation of physical anomalies that represent an atavistic or degenerative origin." Atavism means hereditary transmission from previous generations and ancestors. Atavism was a term used by Lombroso to describe individuals who were not fully developed. Lombroso believed that the criminal was almost a separate species who demonstrated a variety of mental and physical characteristics that separated him from the rest of society. “In particular, he stated that criminals have abnormal skull and jaw sizes.” Lombroso's theoretical approach was to believe that becoming a criminal should somehow be explained through the identification of specific characteristics of individuals. Based on Lombroso's arguments he constructed and classified criminals into four main categories. First, born criminals who are distinguished by their atavistic physical characteristics. Secondly, crazy criminals labeled as idiots, imbeciles and alcoholics. Third, casual criminals are those who have been driven to commit crimes by their environment or situation. Finally, passion criminals are those motivated to commit crimes by love, anger, honor, or other emotional factors. Lombroso argued that criminology should focus primarily on the scientific study of criminals and criminal behavior. At the end of the 19th century it was argued that criminality is inherited in the same way as physical characteristics. The effort to identify evidence of genetic transmission for criminal purposes has focused on three areas: family studies, twin studies and adoption studies. Goring conducted a study with 3,000 prisoners who had a history of long and frequent sentences and a control group of noncriminals. According to the findings, the “prisoners were inferior to the control group in terms of physical size and mental ability, while strong associations were found between the criminality of children and their parents and among siblings.” Osborn and West also found that approximately 40% of children ofCriminal fathers were themselves criminals, compared to a figure of 13% for children of noncriminal fathers. The twin study method has been widely used to try to determine the influence of heredity in intelligence, for example, but also in disorders such as alcoholism, depression and schizophrenia. Lang examined a group of 30 men, consisting of 13 identical twins and 17 fraternal twins who all had criminal records. Lange found that in 77% of cases of identical twins the other sibling also had a medical history. This percentage ratio is called criminal concordance, meaning that both members of a pair have a particular attribute. According to the results of previous studies, identical twins generally showed a much higher degree of criminal concordance than fraternal twins. However, criminal concordance was higher for both categories in which more serious crimes, such as murder, had been committed. An alternative strategy to using twins is to study adopted children. “The assumption of this work is that if adopted children resemble biological rather than adoptive parents in some important respects, then this is potentially evidence of genetic influence.” Hutchings and Mednick's research found evidence that adoptees with criminal records had a higher percentage of biological mothers and fathers with criminal records than adoptees without criminal records. The researchers concluded that there was an inherited trait passed on from criminal parents to their children that increased the likelihood that the children would develop criminal behavior. Compared to the classicist approach, positivism argued that criminals did not voluntarily choose to commit a crime, but instead were determined into the crime by factors outside of the criminal's control. Therefore, behavior is determined within individuals. Positivists called it the doctrine of determinism. As the positivism approach grew over time, biological and hereditary concepts were narrowed down, and psychological and environmental factors received more attention. “Focus on the actor, not the act” is another core concept of positivism, as its beliefs were to focus on the criminal rather than the crime. Bradley and Walters also recognized that “if crime is the result of factors beyond the control of the individual, then the criminal cannot be considered responsible but rather irresponsible.” The positivist aspect was not to punish criminals but to rehabilitate them. The necessary steps to be taken would be to identify the causes of the crime committed by an individual and then address them. “Therefore, it was the expert's job to identify these factors and then design ways to treat them.” “Positivism was founded on the belief that there were other factors innate in the individual or found in the immediate environment which could be identified and which would help distinguish the criminal from the non-criminal.” Burke recognized how the Italian Positivist School denied the concept of free will and the equality approach expressed by the classist approach. Positivists replaced this with the assumption of determinism. Today people consider Lombroso's work condensed and somewhat ridiculous. However, Lombroso and other key figures made significant contributions to the development of modern criminological theory. 'It should be remembered that these ideas led to somewhat more liberal interpretations of punishment.' Burke recognizes that Lombroso demonstrated the importance of examining clinical and historical documents need for multifactorial explanations of crime that include not just factors.