Difference Between Classicism And Positivist Criminology

Positivist criminology emerged in the nineteenth century after people stopped relying on pure thought and reason and started to observe and analyze to understand the way things worked. “Positive philosophy was an explicit repudiation or reaction to the critical and ‘negative’ philosophy of the Enlightenment [Classicalist] thinkers” (Bohm 21). Positivism has two main elements: One “is the belief that human behavior is a function of forces beyond a person’s control [and] the second aspect of positivism is embracing the scientific method to solve problems” (Siegel 7-8). . Positivism is known for the use of science and the scientific method in their research. Positivists such as Lombroso, whom is considered the father of criminology, set the stage for examination of external forces

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

The two schools of thought being the classical and positivist, are critical concepts that strongly present theories and ideas in relation to the discovery of the victim, the shift in focus from the offender to the offence, what causes crime, as well as the policy changes over the last 30 years.  The classical school of

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

Many vulnerable individuals perform or act according to the dominant norms of the society, however, biological positivism specifies unlawful acts to be the cause of inherited characteristics. The biological positivist theory of criminology consists of different concepts, mainly focusing on whether genetic factors are influences to criminals and anti-social behaviour. The first concept, ‘biochemical abnormality’, designates abnormalities inside the organs and the

Theories of the past justify interventions but did not help in controlling individuals, the conservatism of the 1980s gave new life to the basis of the classical school of criminology which dispute that people have free will to choose to commit crimes and the positivist school of criminology which argue that criminals are born, not made.

The Classical School of Criminology was developed by two utilitarian philosophers, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham during the early 17th century. The Classical School of Criminology is an important theory in the framework of criminal behavior, with principle themes that include: criminal acts are of individuals free will and rational deliberation, calculating, and hedonistic beings. Criminals make a rational choice and choose criminal acts due to maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. As well as minimizing crime, the would be offender must be convinced that the likely punishment for the crime would be swift, certain and proportionately (Paternoster & Bachman, 2001, p. 11).

Classical criminology was started in the late 1700s and early 1800s when the legal system was not working well. The legal systems were corrupt and harsh (Torrence, 2016). During the Classical time, the idea was that humans were rational beings and that crime was the result of free will that was affected by risk versus reward (Torrence, 2016). During this time, the idea was that legislatures should define the crimes and set the punishment for specific crimes instead of laws to be vague and left at the discretion of the judicial system (Torrence, 2016). The idea that the punishment of a crime should be proportionate to the crimes seriousness was a major role during this time.

In this paper I will be addressing and discussing the two schools of criminology, which respectively are the classical school and the positivist school. I will begin by comparing and contrasting the historical background of both schools using the founders of each school. I will then continue the paper by comparing their assumptions, their findings and their key policy implications. I will do this by explaining each school’s purpose and goal. I will then argue and explain how the classical school is respectively stronger than the positivist school for being straight forward, concise and unbiased.

For critical criminology, the thought process of criminological thinking is believed to be traced back to as early as

This essay will be comparing the competing ideologies of two key thinkers in criminology; Cesare

1. The Classical School of Criminology was developed by scholars Jeremy Bentham and Cesare de Baccaria. Classical criminology is a theory of crime suggesting that criminal behavior is a matter of personal choice, made after the individual considers its costs and benefits, and that the criminal behavior reflects the needs of the offender ( Siegel). In the middle ages punishment was about getting even, and toucher was often a punishment. The Enlightenment Period in 18th century brought about the Classical School of Criminology.

Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminals. Criminological theories have provided empirical insight into factors that explain crime. However, as research developed they noticed that not just one theory can adequately explain crime and delinquency. In the early stages of research, they found the neoclassical theory that evolved from the classical school theory that made the assumption of “free will,” and that humans acted on rational choice. It was later developed that biological theories rejected the idea of “free will” and believed that human behavior could be due to genetics or human development starting at a young age. I will be going into better detail about the theories and their underlying assumptions, and how both theories play a significant role into our current knowledge of crime today.

In positivist criminology, a person commits a crime because outside factors influenced them. For example, a person is more likely to commit a crime if they live in poverty. In today’s society, it is easier for someone to rob or steal rather than to get a job and work for their money. Not to mention, it is harder for those who live in poverty to get jobs since most employers only want the best of the best working for their company. Living in poverty can also affect a person’s mentality. Trying to figure out how to overcome poverty can be stressful, and this can take a toll on people’s mental health and cause them to commit acts that they wouldn’t have committed if they were in their normal state of mind.

In the field of criminology, there are many different theories to explain the phenomena of crime within a given society. In the late nineteenth century individualist, psychological and biological positivist theories dominated the approaches to explain or rationalize crime. In sharp contrast to the Darwinistic idea or beliefs of the time, sociologist Emile Durkheim and the theory of anomie brought a return to the use of statistical and ecological theories began to rise.