Burton, Chase Smith (Author)
Tomlins, Christopher (Advisor)
This dissertation examines the history of and cultural influences on positivist criminology in the United States. From Benjamin Rush to the present day, the U.S. has produced an extensive corpus of empirical and theoretical studies that seeks to discern an objective, scientifically-grounded basis for criminal behavior. American positivist criminology has drawn on numerous subfields and theories, including rational choice / economic theory, biology, and psychology, but in all cases, maintains that a purely scientific explanation of offending is possible. This study proceeds from the perspective that divisions between scientific and non-scientific thought are untenable. Drawing on scholarship in literary criticism and sociology, I argue that positivist criminology confronts an inherent contradiction in purporting to develop a purely scientific account of phenomena that are defined by the moral and cultural sentiments of a society. I thus hypothesize that positivist criminology is in fact reliant on the irrational and fictive cultural tropes and images of crime that it claims to exorcize. The dissertation proceeds by reviewing the literature on the history of criminology, developing a set of functional types or tropes for character analysis, and then examining four separate periods in the development of scientific criminology: eighteenth century studies of rational action, nineteenth century studies of defective reasoning, early twentieth century studies of race and crime, and the development of scientifically informed criminalistics programs. Each of these cases captures a different period and focus in the development of scientific criminology. In threading continuity between these cases, I show how criminological positivism is consistently reliant on culturally informed tropes and characters to render itself sensible and coherent.
...More
Chapter
Luca Tedesco;
(2019)
Un parricidio mancato. La ricezione della "Donna delinquente, la prostituta e la donna normale" in Italia tra Otto e Novecento
(/isis/citation/CBB186825209/)
Book
Livio Sansone;
(2022)
La Galassia Lombroso
(/isis/citation/CBB789501643/)
Chapter
Riccardo Cavallo;
(2019)
«Sposa affettuosa, madre sublime e donna delinquente». Socialismo giuridico e criminalità femminile
(/isis/citation/CBB246025070/)
Article
Rosagemma Ciliberti;
(2023)
Experiences from the past. Comparative research between hospital archive sources and human remains
(/isis/citation/CBB741987012/)
Chapter
Matteo Loconsole;
(2019)
Dalla donna normale alla criminale-nata. La natura femminile nel dialogo tra Paolo Mantegazza e Cesare Lombroso
(/isis/citation/CBB244703956/)
Chapter
Liliosa Azara;
Luca Tedesco;
(2019)
La donna delinquente: teorie lombrosiane e pratiche politico-istituzionali in Italia tra Otto e Novecento
(/isis/citation/CBB305262674/)
Chapter
Mary Gibson;
(2019)
Cesare Lombroso and the Gendered Prison
(/isis/citation/CBB059362876/)
Book
Liliosa Azara;
Luca Tedesco;
(2019)
La donna delinquente e la prostituta: L’eredità di Lombroso nella cultura e nella società italiane
(/isis/citation/CBB265080867/)
Chapter
Annacarla Valeriano;
(2019)
«Avide dello scandalo». La devianza femminile in manicomio
(/isis/citation/CBB606589982/)
Book
Wallach, Jennifer Jensen;
(2013)
How America Eats: A Social History of U.S. Food and Culture
(/isis/citation/CBB001202133/)
Book
Essig, Mark Regan;
(2003)
Edison and the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death
(/isis/citation/CBB000450004/)
Book
Becker, Peter;
Wetzell, Richard F.;
(2006)
Criminals and Their Scientists: The History of Criminology in International Perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB000772059/)
Article
Lessard, Rénald;
Tésio, Stéphanie;
(2008)
Archives and Artifacts / Archives et artefacts de la pratique médicales. Les enquêtes des coroners du district de Québec, 1765--1930: une source en histoire médicale et sociale canadienne
(/isis/citation/CBB000933093/)
Book
Johannes Feichtinger;
Franz L. Fillafer;
Jan Surman;
(2018)
The Worlds of Positivism: A Global Intellectual History, 1770–1930
(/isis/citation/CBB298923215/)
Article
Elisabetta Sirgiovanni;
(2017)
Criminal Heredity: The Influence of Cesare Lombroso's Concept of the Born Criminal on Contemporary Neurogenetics and its Forensic Applications
(/isis/citation/CBB024707325/)
Article
Silvia Iorio;
(2019)
Voices from the Past Defending Criminal Anthropology
(/isis/citation/CBB894279648/)
Book
Paolo Mazzarello;
(2019)
L'inferno sulla vetta
(/isis/citation/CBB428414510/)
Article
Beirne, Piers;
(1987)
Adolphe Quetelet and the origins of positivist criminology
(/isis/citation/CBB000033495/)
Book
Pietro Ficarra;
(2016)
La modernizzazione in Italia e Lombroso. La svolta autoritaria del progresso (1876-1882)
(/isis/citation/CBB424815764/)
Article
Lorenzo Leporiere;
(2023)
Lombrosian Creatures: Literary Devices for an Effective Popularisation of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB180612452/)
Be the first to comment!