Organic Deficiency Theory – Positivist Approach Cesare Lombroso is the main exponent of this approach. He explained the concept of Atavism.

Lombroso’s general theory suggested that criminals are distinguished from non criminals by multiple physical anomalies. He postulated that criminals represented a reversion to a primitive or subhuman type of man characterised by physical features reminiscent of apes, lower primates, and early man and to some extent preserved, he said, in modern “savages”. The behaviour of these biological “throwbacks” will inevitably be contrary to the rules and expectations of modern civilized society. Through years of post mortem examinations and anthropometric studies of criminals, the insane, and normal individuals, Lombroso became convinced that

the “born criminal” (“reo nato”, a term given by Ferri) could be anatomically identified by such items as a sloping forehead, ears of unusual size, asymmetry of the face, prognathism, excessive length of arms, asymmetry of the cranium, and other