Modern criminology began as a pseudoscience that measured facial features to predict criminal behavior
The academic discipline of criminology was founded on the pseudoscientific belief that physical deformities and facial features could accurately predict a person's likelihood of becoming a criminal.
Modern criminology originated in 1885 with the work of Italian professor Raffaele Garofalo, but it was Cesare Lombroso who popularized the field through 'biological positivism.' Lombroso, often called the father of criminology, argued that criminals were evolutionary throwbacks whose 'atavistic' traits—such as large jaws, high cheekbones, or handle-shaped ears—marked them as inherently deviant.
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