Criminological theories - Durkheim, Beccaria, Lombroso

‘A Peacemaking Approach to Criminology’ was written by Louis J. Gesualdi, and published in 2013. It contains a review of different writings, which relate to criminology. The main argument of Gesualdi lies in promoting a humane way of handling crime and deviants. The book proposes a peaceable way of dealing with offenders in a manner that accords respect to human rights. Further, Gesualdi notes that the criminal justice system is concentrated on inflicting harm on the offenders by punishing them. He argues that the system is fixated on the notion of reacting to crime rather than prevention. Hence, the book proposes an approach where restorative justice and prevention of crime can be accommodated in the criminal justice system. The main

Throughout the 18th and 19th century, criminal justice has been widely theorised in an attempt to understand crime and punishment. There are a wide variety of theories and influential figures who have helped with this, giving their ideas in order gain a deeper understanding of the subject. One theory is the classical school of criminology. Developed during the Enlightenment, the classical school of thought came as a response to the violent punishments that were given to criminals. The theory suggested that torture, a popular punishment until this point, was impractical as it did nothing to deter criminals (Study.com, 2017).

The paper introduces the assumptions that people have that punishing criminals by death will deter future crimes. The paragraph further explains how human behavior is related to acts of crime.

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

The way that we deal with criminals today is center and established based on how Cesare Beccaria defined and stated it. Who is Cesare Beccaria? Cesare Beccaria is an Italian scholar born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy on Saturday March 14, 1738. He died at the age of 56 in the same city on Friday, November 28, 1794. Cesare Beccaria was an Italian criminologist, a jurist, a philosopher, and a politician who is widely considered as the most talented jurist [3] and one of the greatest thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Recognized to be one of the fathers of classical criminal theory and modern penology, he is well remembered for his writings on “On Crimes and Punishments” written in 1764, which condemned torture and the death penalty, and was a founding work in the field of penology and the Classical school of criminology by promoting criminal justice. (citation)

A review of the career and works of Cesare Beccaria, as well as the influence of those works, reveals that the author and social thinker was unabashedly the father of the field of criminology. Central to the support of this claim is the definition of the term criminologist which is simply a person who studies the inter-workings and ramifications of crime, and its effect on the penal and social systems in place. In this respect, Beccaria advanced a number of notions that were fairly revolutionary for his time, and which helped to refine analysis of crime and the penal justice system and their relationship with society to a science. Because of this fact, and the strong influence that the author's tenets had upon the surrounding Western world, he most assuredly is the first criminologist.

Beccaria’s theory of Crime when it was developed was revolutionary as it was based on enlightenment thinking and not faith and nature before him. In the book it states,” Beccaria and related thinkers pictured the ideal citizen as someone who engages in a cost-benefit calculation before deciding to engage in or avoid criminal behavior, a person capable of reasoned judgment, deliberation, and a clear understanding of the law” (Rafter, Brown). Criminals in Beccaria’s theory are rational, their rationality is what makes them dangerous as they know the consequences, yet decide that crime is more beneficiary to them.

This paper defines and analyzes Beccaria's concept of deterrence and the three key elements of punishment. The concept of deterrence is a classical school and rational choice model that emphasis punishment in order to deter crime. The three key elements of punishment used in order to deter crime include: the swiftness of punishment, the certainty of punishment, and the severity of punishment. It discusses which of these elements Beccaria thought was the most and least important, as well as my personal opinions. Also included in this paper are real-life examples of deterrence and the elements of punishment that they use.

This essay will outline how crime theories are able to assist in recognizing the causes of criminal activity, as well as demonstrating two criminological theories to two particular crimes. Overviews of trends, dimensions and victim/offenders characteristics of both crime groups will be specified. The two particular crimes that will be demonstrated throughout this essay are; Violent Crime (focusing on Assault) being linked with social learning theory and White Collar crime (focusing on terrorism) being linked to General Strain theory. In criminology, determining the motive of why people commit crimes is crucial. Over the years, many theories have been developed and they continue to be studied as criminologists pursue the best answers in eventually diminishing certain types of crime including assaults and terrorism, which will be focused on.

In this paper, I will explain the utilitarian and retributivist theories of punishment and what each theory claim is the reason to punish criminals and how does each theory set the punishment for crimes. I will also discuss the merits and problems for each theory and which on would be a better approach to the issue of punishment. The utilitarian theory claim to the punishment of criminals is based solely on applying the punishment to fit the crime they have committed with the hope that the criminal can be reformed and return to society and become a productive member of society. One way this can be achieved is by education, most criminals often do not have the opportunities to pursue higher education so they resort to criminal activities to survive.

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

In this essay I will produce a biography of Emile Durkheim and outline his contribution to criminological thought. “Emile Durkheim is one of the most influential figures in Western sociology.” He is accountable for authenticating society as a focus of study and for institutionalising sociology as an academic subject. Durkheim demonstrated that sociology has its own distinctive subject matter that could be studied scientifically. His work influenced many areas, in particular, his idea of society as a moral construct has had a great impact on anthropology, history, religion, law and political theory. Although he was known for his advanced work in sociological theory, Durkheim took an interest in criminology. He believed that society was than social interaction between its members, instead he argued that it was a reality that exists over and above individuals.

An influential figure in the 18th century, Cesare Beccaria was an Italian philosopher, politician and economist. Beccaria had a great impact on the criminal justice system and was interested in approaches to punishing crime and how criminals should be punished (Newburn, 2007). His writings on criminology and economics are believed to have been well ahead of their time (McLaughlin, Muncie, 2006). Cesare Beccaria expressed his ideas in writing in his influential title ‘on crimes and punishments’ in 1764. This essay will cover a summary of Beccaria’s work and arguments.

To some extent the new criminal code shows signs of a stronger authority of retributive concepts, even if they are only addressed in terms of arguments. There are, according to research, communal needs for just responses to any crime. This is a need that must be addressed in