Biological Factors Of Juvenile Delinquency

Words: 252
Pages: 2

The question posed this week asked if juvenile justice personnel pay enough attention to potential biological factors when considering juvenile delinquency. I do not believe it currently gets enough attention. However, this may be due to earlier unproven scientific theories that were thought to predict criminality. For example, Cesare Lombroso believed physical characteristics (which match closely to what we know today as features of fetal alcohol syndrome) were tell-tale signs of a criminal due to what he believed to be biological inferiority (Lecture 2). It may also have to do with ever-changing theories and the fact that juvenile justice personal relies upon potentially biased and conflicting testimonies of psychology professionals. These