Does facial width-to-height ratio predict male offender aggression?
Journal of Criminal Psychology
ISSN: 2009-3829
Article publication date: 14 September 2017
Issue publication date: 19 October 2017
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the previously observed link between greater facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) and interpersonal aggression in men (see Haselhuhn et al., 2015), the purpose of this paper is to test whether fWHR could differentiate among male offenders as a function of the relative aggressiveness of the crime for which they had been convicted.
Design/methodology/approach
fWHR measurements (n=550) were computed based on a large subset of male offenders available on a public domain database. Each offender’s index offense and possible confounding variables such as age, ethnicity, and body mass index were also recorded.
Findings
Multiple analyses yielded no evidence of a relationship between male fWHR and the comparative level of violence of their conviction offense.
Originality/value
Establishing an empirical basis for probable parameters of an unknown offender’s facial structure could have a considerable practical value for criminal profiling purposes. fWHR – at least as it has been most frequently assessed – does not appear to be a facial parameter that is useful for this purpose, however.
Keywords
Citation
Burris, C. and Edwards, S. (2017), "Does facial width-to-height ratio predict male offender aggression?", Journal of Criminal Psychology, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 280-286. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-03-2017-0013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited