Classical Criminology
The classical school of criminology was around in the eighteenth century. It came abount in a time when the previous dominent spiritual look at defining crime and criminal behaviour was being challenged by a newer naturalistic approach of the social contract theorists.
The classical school was the established ideas of monarchs, fedual lords and the fathers of the church. The main pioneers of the classical school were Cesar Beccaria ( 1738-1974) from Italy and Jeremy Bantham from Britain (1948-1832). From them writing their theories in the eighteenth century they established the essential components of the rational actor model. They both shared the idea that crime and
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They believed that each one of us is a potential criminal, and that crime provides a short cut way to getting what we need. Responsibility- the classical school believed that if we do something wrong or do something at the expence of someone we should be able to own up and take responsibilty for our own actions. Also they believed that punishment was a good way to show potential offenders what would happen to them if they behaved in a criminal way. They believed that anyone who breaks the law should be punished to pay the price. They thought that the crime and he punishment must be linked. They believed that the punishment should be in proportian to the crime in order for the offender to think about what he has done. for example, if someone is caught steeling 3000 pounds, then he should be made to pay back 4000 pound fine back. Or stay in prison for the same ammount of time that the person would have taken to earn the 3000 pounds. Cesear Beccaria believed that there should be a fixed punishment for crimes written into the law and not be changed. He believed that all people should be trated equally and the punishments should not be changed from person to person. His theory can be summerised into the following 13 propositions (taken from an 2nd edition introduction into criminogical theory by Roger Hopkins Burke). 1) In order to escape social chaos, each member of sociey must sacrifice
The classical perspective founded by Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham; stated that at people choose to commit crime after they considered the pros and cons that could be associated with a crime, and believed that the pros outweighed the cons (Tonry,2014). The theory relied on deterring criminal acts by assuring that the consequences of crime are absolute, harsh, and quickly administered (Tonry,2014).
His theory argues that individuals make individuals make bonds to society. He believed that there were four types of bonds. They are attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Most of the criminals have little to no conventional ties to the societies they live in. most of the criminals have little to no real attachment to the societies they live in because they are only looking out for themselves. If they did have families they put them second to partying with alcohol and drugs. They are not committed to any bonds because most of them have no jobs, families, or real friends. They have only committed to themselves and no one else. They may have people that they hang out with and party but at the end of the day they would not help them out if they needed it unless it benefitted themselves. They have no involvement in society because the only thing they care about themselves so no one else matters to them. This is why they will burglarize homes within their own neighborhood. The burglars also do not have any belief bonds with society. The society has morals and beliefs and these burglars did not agree with them so they kept burglarizing.
Criminology and the criminal justice system have framed a “taken-for-granted, common-sense” understanding of ‘crime’ and the ‘criminal’ (Tierney, 2010). ‘Crime’ is commonly understood as a violation of the criminal law; originating from religion and the sin of God and then moving towards Classicalism. Classicalism rests on the assumption of free will and recognises rational choice of the individual. It influences much of our system of justice today; especially aspects of due process. It argues that criminality is therefore part of nature; and order is maintained through law and punishments. We can see this through Beccaria’s approach of certainty, celerity and severity (Beccaria, cited in Newburn, 2013, pp116). Positivism, associated with theorists such as Lombroso, offered more of a scientific approach in identifying the causes of crime and could recognise impaired ability such as mental illness. It argues that ‘crime’ is
Cesare Beccaria is the “Father of Classical Criminology” and justified punishment on the principle of utility. Beccaria focused on reforming the Criminal Justice System and believed that punishment should be for the better good for society, as well as the individual, and deter others from committing crime and prevent criminals from recommitting crime. He believes effective punishment must certain, swift, and severe to get the desired effect on society and the offender (Robert, Cullen, and Ball 2015). He is also the author of his book Of Crime and Punishment, which discussed his philosophy on the purposes
He believed in prevention and deterrence of the punishment and discussed that any crime is in a relation with a social issue. For instance, if someone has stolen something, it is for his poverty that is a social problem. Therefore, if the government solves the poverty, the problem of stealing in the society would be solved automatically, to a great extant. And if someone steals something, there must be a punishment which fits the crime; since, if the punishment would be the same for all the crimes, the criminal would choose the worst crime. That is to say, if in a society, the punishments for all the crimes are the same, the criminal would think that he will be punished with the worst punishment whether he steals a little food or kills many people and robs their money. Consequently, he will choose the worst crime to harmonize between his punishment and the crime. Maybe the criminal thinks that if he want to be punished, it is better that he benefit from the crime as much as possible before the arrest. Voltaire, in fact, tried to argue that the criminal law must support the
In opposition to all previous perspectives is Marxism. These theorists claim that humans are social beings and are products of their own history. As a result, it does not resolve conflicting approaches, but suggests crime is a justifiable adaptive behaviour for some groups that have been criminalised by more powerful societal members. This entails the problem of specificity, where it focuses on the whole society instead of on individuals or groups. Comparing the paradigm of human nature to Feeley and Simons’ (1992) New Penology, the notion
He argued that the death penalty and torture are not useful because they are not make amends of the wrong that was done and offered no safeguard to society in the prevention
This essay will be comparing the competing ideologies of two key thinkers in criminology; Cesare
In accordance with Marxist theory, it is the views of the powerful that dominate, as they have the ability to make their views prevail. It would then appear that what constitutes a crime is open to debate; moreover, the criminals who we choose to despise, are they no more than mere victims of our own perceptions. Our own social conditioning? To see why this is, we must look to the very basis of society and how it decides what is right or wrong.
Yet another criticism is their belief in deterrence. Research has shown that there is little correlation between punishment and crime, meaning that there is not a significant amount of information showing that deterrence actually works leading it into a controversial issue. People commit crimes for many different reasons that classicalists fail to acknowledge. Classical criminology was the first big step into what makes up the field of criminology today, dominating around the eighteenth century. A change in the way information was assembled with the emergence of the scientific method challenged the classical perspective and introduced the theory of Positivism.
Beccaria believed in replacing the harsh physical punishments with confinement and having the length of confinement fit the particular crime. This Classical Theory approach to punishment was very appealing to the community leaders and quickly spread from state to state and into the prison systems. This was the first major step in prison reform as we know it today.
There are many different aspects of criminal justice policy. One in particular is the different theories of crime and how they affect the criminal justice system. The Classical School of criminology is a theory about evolving from a capital punishment type of view to more humane ways of punishing people. Positivist criminology is maintaining the control of human behavior and criminal behavior. They did this through three different categories of Biological studies, which are five methodologies of crime that were mainly focused on biological theories, Psychological theories, which contains four separate theories, and the Sociological theories, which also includes four different methods of explaining why crime exists. The last theory is
Crime have existed over many centuries, different eras affect the flow of crime and within those eras. Furthermore amongst individuals, there was different way of thinking into how to reduce and eliminate occurred. The act of crime cannot be eliminated, as different individuals have different perspectives of crime and for theses reasons, have different methods of advocating and eliminating crime. This essay will firstly explore the views of Classical Theory, by looking at Cesane Beccaria, the father of Classical theory and Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarian and explore how there influences are incorporated into laws and regulations, around the world. Secondly, Positivism theory explores the biological, psychological and environment
What were some forerunners of classical thought in criminology? Some forerunners of classical thought in criminology are that societies have notions of right and wrong William Graham Sumner used the terms: mores, folkways and law. These terms describe three forms of behavior. Mores consist of proscriptions covering potentially serious violations of a groups values. Folkways are time-honored customs; although they carry the force of tradition, their violation is less likely to threaten the survival of the social group. As well as mala in se, which are acts that are fundamentally wrong, and mala prohibita which are acts that are wrong, but only because they are prohibited.
It is through this that philosophers, government and prison officials have arrived at the five traditional goals of punishment which replicates elements of criminal punishment. They are retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, restoration and incapacitation. Retribution, rehabilitation and deterrence are however the three most frequently used in today’s modern society, as they are the main justifications for punishment.