300 - Your Looks Are Criminal

This week's podcast in on Cesare Lombroso, an Italian anthropologist and criminologist that had the unfortunate assertation that criminality was inherited and could be directly identified through physical traits.  While we now know that some congenital abnormalities can affect brain function and lead to psychological issues, most of Lombroso's assertations have been proven wrong.  The most unfortunate aspect of Lombroso's ideas was the inherent racism at the root of many of the ideas of what made someone physically, and thus mentally primitive. This led to a lot of the ideas later being adopted by the fascists and their thoughts of racial supremacy.  While the ideas were incorrect and often hurtful, ironically a lot was learned over the years in proving them wrong.