Limitations Of Classicism

Criminology is a field that has been researched prolong. Most of the information explaining crime and delinquency is based on facts about crime (Vold, Bernard, & Daly 2002, p.1). The aim of this paper is to describe the theories of crime and punishment according to the positivists Emile Durkheim and Cesare Lombroso, and the classical criminologist Marcese de Beccaria. The theories were developed as a response to the industrialisation and the modernisation of the societies in the 18th and 19th centuries and were aiming to create a rational society and re-establish social solidarity (Vold et al 2002, p.101). The criminological perspectives of crime and punishment will be discussed in a form of dialogue between the three theorists exploring

The classical school of criminology is foundationally based upon the history of crime and punishment. Throughout history, crime was dealt with in an extremely harsh and inhumane manner. Criminals and suspected criminals were quartered, burnt at the stake, tortured, and subjected to other forms of extreme violence. These methods were used to get a confession or punish people for even minor crimes such as theft. The people of the Enlightenment period of the late 1600 's paid attention to this behavior and this is why a

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)

Beccaria is known for being the founder of the Classical School. He wrote An Essay on Crimes and Punishment that was based on transforming punishment to corrections. He proposed reorientation of criminal laws toward more humanistic goals. On page thirteen of our textbook it shows the four of his newer ideas that were incorporated into the French Code of Criminal Procedures and in the French penal Code.

Over the years, crime has been prevalent in society. Today’s Criminal Justice System adopted Cesare Beccaria’s reform from the Classical School of Theology. Beccaria’s ideas have been implemented into the reformed criminal justice system to exercise effective punishment. When a crime has been committed, the punishment is to equal the crime committed. The idea of effective punishment in today’s society has one goal of deterring others and to be for the public good of society. Beccaria believed in utilitarianism and thought of it as a more rational approach for crime and punishment. Utilitarianism purpose is the produce happiness and prevent pain and it was the ideal goal for society. Despite the influence of Beccaria’s idea on the criminal justice system, certain procedures have been incorporated that do not fit his criteria of effective punishment such as plea bargaining.

However, Classical school also emphasize new principles of criminal justice, including social system of penalty, legitimacy and legality of crimes. In this sense, no punishment without laws, individualization of punishments, legislative criminalization of acts, and fixed punishments graded in proportion to the gravity of crime. Many arguments were made on crimes and punishment, concerning

“What is equality?” one might ask. We all have different views on specific topics and can describe what something truly means to one’s self like in the 3 text, “I have a dream,” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (published; 8/28/1963, genre; narrative and argumentative), “If we must die,” by Claude Mckay (published; 1919, genre; narrative and lyric), & “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (published; October 1961, genre; satirical & dystopian science-fiction short story). In all 3 texts the authors are giving their touch on equality. Equality can convey being treated the same when a colored and a white man/woman are next to each other as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr says. You can also see equality as Mckay who thinks it’s being on the same level of strength and worth as a white man being in the shoes of a colored man. Or equality can be being exactly the same in every way as anyone around you in every exact way in Vonnegut’s eyes. All these 3 authors have a particular view on how to answer “What is equality?” and we can compare their ideas.

Which Classical School theorist do you think contributed the most to the advancement of criminological theory? Explain why you choose that particular theorist over the other Classical School theorist of the time? I believe that Beccaria contributited the most to the classical school of thinking. As we can see today some of his theories still hold true. People should be treated equally and punished based on the crime and not the person. Now we still see Hollywood actors and actresses get away with more than a normal person would but I think as a whole Americans are ok with this. Professional athletes get DUI’s and drug charges all the time but in the military one DUI or drug charge and your being kicked out. You lose your job for one mistake when we allow professional athletes and entertainers that we see in the media frequently get away with the stuff. This I don’t agree with and we need to be better on it. No one is above the law and we need to improve on this. Also Beccaria is the theorist that had the idea that every criminal should be treated as innocent until proven guilty. We still have this in our criminal justice system. In my opinion though depending on who you are and the crime such as in the military you are guilty until proven innocent. To me this is an injustice to determine someone’s guilt based on color or sex or even religion. I agree with his thought process of the

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.

Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) is probably most well known as the founding father of the school of classical criminology. He protested against the current legal system and pushed for those in power to see that individuals are rational beings and deserve rational repercussions. In his most popular work; Essay on Crimes and Punishments, he protested against the cruel punishments and suggested that they must only be equal to that of the crime itself and revolutionised the criminal justice system with his ideals on how to make the most effective punishment, without maximum damage of the individual. He believed that “Punishment is only justified to the extent that the offender has infringed the rights of others or injured the public good.” (Newburn, 2013) Although Beccaria viewed crime as an act of free-will and rational choice he did see that some individuals were pre-rational (meaning they were unable to be rational), for example children and also that there are sub-rational people (individuals with some rationality but not a full rational mind), this for example can be people with mental afflictions or diseases. Moreover he did not see that there can be a cause for crime which is due to situational problems, i.e. a big change in a person’s life which can cause them to commit crime, like death, financial problems, and birth of a child, family altercations and much more. Although Beccaria was not always right with his beliefs he was the

The conventional accounts of Justice normally begin by stating a fundamental rule of Aristotle – Justice is to treat equals equally and unequals unequally, and that unequal treatment should be in proportion to the inequality. In everyday life though, justice is seen as an attribute of law, while all laws are not necessarily just. Many great socio- political movements of the world have focused from time to time on unjust laws eg Apartheid laws in South Africa and Caste laws in India. Impartiality and fairness are understood to be the two aspects of justice. But it would be misleading to suggest that Justice refers solely to the fair application of a rule.

Criminology earliest development traces back to the early 1700s, however did not fully bloom until the 1800s when criminal laws were being made and enforced (Altrichter, 2015). With this in mind, the first school to be developed through criminology was the classical school. The classical school was founded upon the thoughts and ideas of Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham (Altrichter, 2015). Cesare Beccaria implicated the idea that a crime is to be punished depending on its severity and rather not the criminal (Altrichter, 2015). Jeremy Bentham contributed to the classical school by stating that through a series of weighing the pleasure and pains of their results, this would increase or decrease the chances that a criminal would create a crime (Altrichter, 2015). The most notable idea that developed through the classical school is that criminals have a free will and can thinking

Classicism is associated with the works of Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794), the father of the classical school of criminology and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) (Walklate, 2007). Both reformers of the classical school were demanding for more effective, rational and fixed system of justice. Brown, Esbensen and Geis (2012) highlights that, as classicists intended to reform the system and administration of justice, one of the key concepts was Beccaria’s doctrine of Egalitarianism. This refers to equality before the law, where offenders must first be convicted by the court of law to be subjected to punishment (White and Haines, 2004). As all individuals are equal before the law, this led to the rejection of individualised punishment, in which to eliminate judicial discretion; there cannot be individualised punishments (Mantle, Fox and Dhami, 2005).

In the 18th century Cesare Beccaria- an Italian philosopher, doomed the concept of torture and death penalty by introducing the term "criminology" to the world. At present, nearly all countries in the world have adopted the criminal justice system. Criminal justice consists of two tools: Law and Order. On the road to maintain Law and Order, penalty like Prison Term has been espoused. Prison Term could be defined as the length of incarceration for an offender, where the legnth varies from few days to months in a prison. It also embraces life terms in case of serious crimes like manslaughter, rape, murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping. However in the past two decades, increase in a crime rate and prisoners in incarceration indicate the

It should be noted however that the classical school of thought has had an enduring influence as many legal systems are built on some of its key precepts. The idea of intent for example, emphasizes the importance of the state of mind of the individual and their capacity for making choices. Notions of proportionality in relation to punishment are