Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman [Paperback]

Cesare Lombroso (Author), Guglielmo Ferrero (Author), Nicole Hahn Rafter (Author), Mary Gibson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 16, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0822332469 | ISBN-13: 978-0822332466

Cesare Lombroso is widely considered the founder of the field of criminology. His theory of the “born” criminal dominated discussions of criminology in Europe and the Americas from the 1880s into the early twentieth century. His book, La donna delinquente, originally published in Italian in 1893, was the first and most influential book ever written on women and crime. This comprehensive new translation gives readers a full view of his landmark work.

Lombroso’s research took him to police stations, prisons, and madhouses where he studied the tattoos, cranial capacities, and sexual behavior of criminals and prostitutes to establish a female criminal type. Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman anticipated today’s theories of genetic criminal behavior. Lombroso used Darwinian evolutionary science to argue that criminal women are far more cunning and dangerous than criminal men. Designed to make his original text accessible to students and scholars alike, this volume includes extensive notes, appendices, a glossary, and more than thirty of Lombroso’s own illustrations. Nicole Hahn Rafter and Mary Gibson’s introduction, locating his theory in social context, offers a significant new interpretation of Lombroso’s place in criminology.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Cesare Lombroso created the field of criminology, but there has been a lack of available textbooks making his arguments accessible to today’s students of history, law, and sociology. This volume fills that void. Offering work previously not translated along with a scholarly introduction and new visual evidence, it reveals Lombroso’s argument without distorting the peculiar and genuinely contradictory character of his reasoning.”—Peter Becker, European University Institute

“Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman is a major publishing landmark in criminology. Nicole Hahn Rafter and Mary Gibson have achieved a remarkable feat in translating this pivotal work and presenting it for scholars to study in a well-edited text. It gives new insights into positivism and the history of the subject. It will be required reading for anyone interested in developments in the field. It may even lead to new evaluations of Lombroso’s contribution, not least by feminist scholars.”—Frances Heidensohn, Goldsmiths College, University of London

About the Author

Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), an internationally famous physician and criminologist, wrote extensively about jurisprudence, psychiatry, human sexuality, and the causes of crime.

As a young law student, Guglielmo Ferrero (1871–1942) assisted Lombroso with research.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (January 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822332469
• ISBN-13: 978-0822332466
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #536,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 'Born to Be Evil':One of the Earliest Scientific Criminology, March 15, 2005

By 

Tsuyoshi (Kyoto, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman (Paperback)

You are watching a new English translation of Cesare Lombroso's book first published in 1893 in Italy. Lombroso's 'Criminal Woman,' which argues the idea of 'Born Criminal,' still remains very intriguing, if not convincing, to anyone who is interested in Western culture of the late 19th century, especially the criminology. Lombroso, famous Italian criminologist, is regarded as one of the first ones to apply the scientific methods to the analogy of crimes, and his prolific writings include 'Criminal Man' of which new translation, the editors Nicole Rafter and Mary Gibson promise, is forthcoming in 2005.

[ABOUT THIS TRANSLATION] The original book was soon translated into English in 1895, but the translated book 'The Femele Offender' was heavily cut and censored. According to the editors, this book restores the balance of the original's chapters, in order to give a full coverage of the author's idea. However, this new translation is also abridged to make it readable and accessable, deleting the repetitions and overlappings in the original book.

As the title of the book suggests, Lombroso and his co-worker Guilielmo Ferrero researched the field of crimes commited by females, and they tried to establish a theory about the origins of their supposedly anti-social behaviors. As I am not a criminologist myself, I should not summerize his quite curious (so I thought) theory, but his methods are worth noting here.

As is the case with many scientists of the 19th century, Lombroso often categorize his subject into several groups -- like 'The Criminal Woman' 'The Normal Woman' and 'The Prostitutes' (he considered prostitution as an independent type of crime) and further subdivides them (like 'Born Prostitutes' and 'Occasional Prostitutes') to compare the physical or psychological traits of the females.

What is more strange (and ridiculous, you may say) to the reader today is that when he tries to explain the characteristics of females among the 'normal' group, Lombroso even includes the female animals (including insects), with numerous examples that seem to belong to zoology, not anthropology now. So you will read a section 'Love among Animal Species' in which he quotes a female spider devouring the male after mating, along with the examples of cruel felony commited by female persons. You might not believe me, but the book has a section about the 'Crimes in the Animal World.'

And interestingly, in spite of his methods, not all his illustrations are not scientific, because his examples sit uncomfortably beside his quotations from popular proverbs and the reference to the literature (Tennyson, Sand, and most frequently, Zola). It's like reciting poetry in the class of biology.

More unsettling idea (which would invite the severest attack for being extremely politically incorrect if written by modern writers now) is the part in which Lombroso deals with the 'anomalities' of the crminals. Here is one of the examples you read in the book: Lombroso writes, 'Murderers, poisoners, and arsonists have the most prominent cheekbones ....' You see? With many photos and illustrations, Lombroso shows the 'abnormal' traits of the female criminals, claiming here is a new type among us.

So you will read this book as one of the historical proof that shows you how people thought about the things immediate to them. To those who are interested in criminology and sociology this book will be most useful, particularly if you want to know something about the then prevalent idea of degeneration.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, December 22, 2008

By 

Arminius - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman (Paperback)

Great book,a milestone from a long gone era and a masterpiece from a criminology expert.