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"For Crime, Is Anatomy Destiny?"

By Douglas A. Berman

The question in the title of this post is the headline of this interesting new piece from the New York Times.  Here are excerpts: Poverty, greed, anger, jealousy, pride, revenge. These are the usual suspects when it comes to discussing the causes of crime. In recent years, however, economists have started to investigate a different explanation for criminal activity: physical attributes. A small band of economists has been studying how height, weight and beauty affect the likelihood of committing ? or being convicted of ? a crime. Looking at records from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, they have found evidence that shorter men are 20 to 30 percent more likely to end up in prison than their taller counterparts, and that obesity and physical attractiveness are linked to crime...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 11, 2010 (boomark / email).