Criminological study on thieves’ digit length (fars race) in Birjand Jail

Criminology is considered as a young, superior and effective knowledge in Iran which is not respected competently. Thus, necessary researches are not conducted and the only option for domestic criminologists has been restudying western researches. Criminological studies need a national will, thinking and holistic thought. Although we are confronting modern criminal thoughts, our combat against it is traditional. Anthropometry is a branch of biometry which only involves human. Different aspects such as ecology, plants, nutrition, age and gender impact on the dimension and diameters of human body (Gilbert, Scott, 2009, p. 530). Therefore, one cannot extend anthropometry of other parts of the world to a certain country or the racial groups of other regions. In the meantime, anthropometric studies are conducted on a certain age, gender and racial group and in different geographical regions. The main purpose of present research is to study and compare the age and anthropometric features of professional thieves’ digits length and a controlled group without any criminal background. In present study, the anthropometric sizes of right and left hands of professional 20-40 year – old male thieves in Southern Khorassan who had no trauma or deficiency in their digits and the anthropometric sizes of ordinary males’ digits in Southern Khorassan were measured. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 16. Finally, it was concluded that there is a significant association between the anthropometric sizes of right/left hands of 20 – 40 year-old ordinary people and professional thieves and the average length of thieves’ right/left hands is longer than ordinary people.