Word: crime
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...likely to draw heavy fire are the freewheeling ruminations on body types and IQs. The authors cite studies showing that criminals tend to be more mesomorphic (muscular) and less ectomorphic (linear) than the general population. The authors think this finding points to a link between body type, temperament and crime. Other studies indicate that muscularity is associated with an extroverted, high-energy, domineering temperament, while an inhibited, restrained person who is likely to internalize the rules of society and steer clear of crime tends to be thin...
Criminologists acted rashly in the 1930s, the authors say, by deciding to ignore low IQ as a significant factor in crime. "For four decades," they write, "large bodies of evidence have consistently shown about a ten-point gap between the average offender and nonoffender in Great Britain and in the U.S." Though the authors make much of this difference, it may mean only that low-IQ criminals tend to get caught more often than their smarter colleagues. But for the authors, the important finding is that low IQ is associated with a particular kind of crime: impulsive acts with...
...authors have been careful to discount race as one of the constitutional factors that might affect crime rates. They write that studies show "race is far less important than age, sex, intelligence and the other individual factors that vary within races." That may not be enough to mollify some liberals in the field, who are already beginning to call Crime and Human Nature a right-wing book for a right-wing age. "This has nothing to do with the conservative times," Wilson insists. "Do not put the book in that framework...
...book, in fact, is not overwhelmingly convincing, but it is in tune with the times, and may help restore some balance in its field. Wilson admits that the case for biological factors in crime was jettisoned in the early 1960s partly because of the shifting temper of the country. It may catch on again now because of a different national mood...
...events brought a quick response from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party. At the Tories' annual conference in Blackpool, which opened two days after the Tottenham disturbance, Home Secretary Douglas Hurd proposed a law making the commission of a crime while carrying a firearm punishable by life imprisonment. The rioters and looters, Hurd declared, were motivated by "greed and the excitement of violence." In her speech to the delegates, Thatcher concurred, saying, "This is crime masquerading as social protest...