A Theory Explaining Biological Correlates of Criminality
| Author | Lee Ellis |
| Published date | 01 July 2005 |
| Date | 01 July 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370805054098 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
A Theory Explaining Biological
Correlates of Criminality
Lee Ellis
Minot State University, USA
ABSTRACT
Despite major advances in understanding the biological basis of human behav-
iour, the most popular theories of criminal behaviour remain restricted to those
that consider only learning and social environmental variables. All of these
strictly environmental theories have difficulty explaining why neurological,
hormonal, and other biological factors would be related to criminal behaviour,
yet evidence for links between such biological factors and criminality has grown.
This article puts forward a theory that takes account of biological as well as
environmental factors, and predicts that variables such as age, gender and social
status will be associated with offending probabilities. It is argued that male sex
hormones operating on the human brain increase the probability of competitive/
victimizing behaviour. This type of behaviour (or behavioural tendency) is hy-
pothesized to exist along a continuum, with ‘crude’ (criminal) forms at one end
and ‘sophisticated’ (commercial) forms at the other. Individuals with the great-
est capacities to learn and plan will move rapidly after puberty from criminal to
non-criminal forms of competitive/victimizing behaviour. The theory predicts
among other things that serious criminality will be concentrated in adolescent
and young adult males of low social status. Evidence is reviewed on links
between criminality and various biological variables, including testosterone,
mesomorphy, maternal smoking during pregnancy, hypoglycemia, epilepsy,
altered heart rate and skin conductivity, cortisol, serotonin, monoamine oxidase,
and certain brainwave patterns.
KEY WORDS
Biological Correlates / Criminological Theory / Evolution / Female Choice / Sex
Differences / Social Status.
Volume 2 (3): 287–315: 1477-3708
DOI: 101177/1477370805054098
Copyright © 2005 European Society of
Criminology and SAGE Publications
London, Thousand Oaks CA, and New Delhi
www.sagepublications.com
A theory explaining biological correlates of criminality
This article will summarize the evidence showing that various biological
factors are associated with criminal behaviour and will offer explanations
for these links. It is probably because they have little training in biology,
that most criminologists have little awareness of these biological factors.
That needs to change in light of growing evidence that human behaviour,
including behaviour defined as criminal, is heavily influenced by each
individual’s uniquely functioning brain as well as hormonal factors which
alter brain functioning.
I begin by offering a theory of criminal behaviour that takes in to
account both biological and social environmental influences. Next, I make
deductions from the theory to explain why several biological variables
would be associated with criminality.
The evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory of criminal
behaviour
The theory presented here, termed the evolutionary neuroandrogenic
theory (ENA), chiefly aims to explain offences that directly harm others
either by injuring them physically or by depriving them of their property.
The theory does not specifically aim to explain victimless crimes.
Two main propositions lie at the heart of ENA theory. The first
proposition addresses evolutionary issues by asserting that aggressive and
acquisitive criminal behaviour evolved as an aspect of human reproduction,
especially among males. The second proposition is concerned with iden-
tifying the neurochemistry responsible for increasing the probability of
aggressive and acquisitive criminal behaviour among males relative to
females. The theory maintains that sex hormones alter male brain function-
ing in ways that promote what will be called competitive/victimizing
behaviour, which includes criminal behaviour directed at others along with
a range of non-criminal behaviours to be specified below.
The concept of competitive/victimizing behaviour is illustrated in
Table 1. At one end of the continuum are acts that intentionally and
directly either injure fellow societal members or dispossess them of their
property. In all societies with written laws, these obviously harmful acts are
criminalized (Ellis and Walsh 2000: 8). At the other end of the competitive/
victimizing continuum are acts that make no profits on the sale of goods or
services, although those who administer and maintain the organizations
under which they operate usually receive much higher wages than do those
who provide most of the day-to-day labour. In a purely socialist economy,
288 European Journal of Criminology 2(3)
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