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25 Loy. L. A. L. Rev. 1343 (1991-1992)
The XYY Supermale and the Criminal Justice System: A Square Peg in a Round Hole

handle is hein.journals/lla25 and id is 1367 raw text is: THE XYY SUPERMALE AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE I. INTRODUCTION In 1911 Cesare Lombroso, an Italian criminologist, published his book Crime: Its Causes and Remedies 1 in which he associated the crim- inal type with certain physical characteristics. According to Lombroso a typical criminal proffle included individuals with a low slanting fore- head, long ear lobes (or none at all), a large jaw with no chin, heavy ridges above the eye socket, and either excessive body hair or an abnor- mally small amount of body hair.2 This view was but one proffered by early biological determinists-people who believed not that such physical characteristics caused crime, but rather that such characteristics identi- fied the born criminal.3 Under this theory, an individual who possessed certain physical characteristics could not be expected to refrain from crime unless the circumstances of his or her life were exceptionally favorable.4 While modem thought generally rejects this theory, the belief that criminality may be at least in part, genetically predetermined or influ- enced by biological characteristics, has been resurrected by a new aware- ness and sensitivity in the fields of medicine, psychiatry and psychology.5 Today the legal profession is advancing defenses to criminal conduct based on biological determinants such as postpartum depression and psy- chosis,6 premenstrual syndrome7 and genetic determinants such as XYY syndrome.8 The American criminal law system is founded on the assumption that all individuals are equally able to perceive what is right and to act freely in accordance with that perception.9 The system is also founded on 1. CESARE LOMBROSO, CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES (1911). 2. Id. at xviii-xxx. 3. Id. at xii. Biological determinists believed that the causes of human conduct were to be found in the physiological and mental characteristics of an individual. Id. Additionally, they believed that human criminal conduct was the result of a number of factors including climate, seasons, geology, race, hair color and religion. Id. at 2-23. 4. Id. at xxxii. 5. See infra notes 231-33 and accompanying text. 6. See infra notes 231-32 and accompanying text. 7. See infra note 231 and accompanying text. 8. See infra note 63 and accompanying text. 9. See generally PETER W. Low ET AL., CRIMINAL LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS 1-28 (2d ed. 1986) (describing basis of criminal law system and rationale underlying punishment). 1343

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