ABSTRACT
In the present chapter we have to deal not as in the previous one with physical disabilities of any conceivable kind, but with certain types of physical irregularities or stigmata which have been regarded as being characteristic of the criminal. The principal method used by the anthropological-biological school of criminology is the typological one. This school has derived its immense strength largely from the support received through the widespread popular belief that, first, criminals are born, not made, and secondly, that they conform to certain physical characteristics which make them look different and easily distinguishable from ordinary human beings. This belief is strongly reflected not only in popular writings but also in several well-known figures in great works of world literature such as Homer's Thersites or Shakespeare's Richard III or in part also in Julius Caesar: Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights; Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look, He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.
