Here be dragons: Lombroso, the gothic, and social control

‘This is your face on meth’: The punitive spectacle of ‘white trash’ in the rural war on drugs

“…Apart from catastrophic visions of contemporary moral panics, where folk devils retreat from view as quickly as they appear, dangers of the Gothic seem to inhabit the shadows of the everyday, existing as an invisible yet ever-present specter lurking in our midst (Valier, 2002: 326). As we will describe later, ‘before’ and ‘after’ images documenting the journey into abjection, draw unavoidable connections to the Gothic degenerationism of Lombrosian criminal anthropology (see Rafter and Ystehede, 2010). Like the ‘morally insane’ and ‘born criminals’ of old, Gothic visions of a truly monstrous enemy fabricate and mobilize the fear, terror and insecurity characteristic of contemporary capitalist relations (see Neocleous, 2005) and late-modern penal spectatorship.…”

The styles of criminology : writing among the stars.

“…Perhaps, it can be understood by thinking of the gothic as not the antithesis of enlightenment rationality, but its double, its flipside, its dark underbelly" (p. 277). Rafter and Ystehede (2010) suggest that a purely biological and positivist language fits neatly within the words of a rationalized style of horror and danger, that even in Lombroso's scientism his writing of observational science is still couched within a preferential literary aesthetic of Gothicism.…”

“…For example, the early writings of Lombroso heavily contrast with contemporary writing styles in criminology-particularly in the manner that scientific publications are "storied." For instance, Rafter and Ystehede's (2010) analysis of Lombroso's early criminological style and particular narrative techniques examined the deep connection between science and gothic storytelling. Rafter and Ystehede (2010) demonstrate how the gothic styling of Lombroso's writing -"skulls and brains, anatomical and psychological anomalies, cruelty and savagery, deviant sexuality, insane criminals, epileptic criminals, hysterical criminals" (p. 274) -influences and crystallizes representations of the offender.…”

“…For instance, Rafter and Ystehede's (2010) analysis of Lombroso's early criminological style and particular narrative techniques examined the deep connection between science and gothic storytelling. Rafter and Ystehede (2010) demonstrate how the gothic styling of Lombroso's writing -"skulls and brains, anatomical and psychological anomalies, cruelty and savagery, deviant sexuality, insane criminals, epileptic criminals, hysterical criminals" (p. 274) -influences and crystallizes representations of the offender. Lombroso was able to strike fear into the hearts of readers by painting criminality as pathologically transmogrifying people into "freaks of nature, tainted families, moral insanity, and unnatural acts" (Rafter & Ystehede, 2010, p. 274).…”

“…It is not only that the knowledge base and form of methodological investigation alters, but that the writing-as an instrument of knowledge-differs. While Lombroso wrote of monsters and dragons using a gothic storytelling device (Rafter & Ystehede, 2010), contemporary criminology is lofted upon new story devices and narratives techniques, procedures and practices, as well as beliefs about the nature of writing-such as what counts as clarity or evidence.…”