THE EARLY SCHOOLS OF
CRIMINOLOGY :
CLASSICAL VIEW AND
POSITIVISM
THE CLASSICAL SCHOLARS
 Modern criminology is
the product of two main
schools of thought: The
classical school
originating in the 18th
century, and the
positivist school
originating in the 19th
century.
PRE-CLASSICAL NOTIONS OF CRIME &
CRIMINALS
Prior to the eighteenth century,
explanations of a wide variety of
phenomena tended to be of a religious or
spiritual nature.
Demonological explanations of crime
began to wane in the 18th century with
the beginning of a period of historians
call The Enlightenment, which was
essentially a major shift in the way
people began to view the world and their
place.
PRE-CLASSICAL NOTIONS OF CRIME &
CRIMINALS
 Enlightenment thinkers focused on the
dignity and worth of the individual.
 A view that would eventually find expression
in the law & the treatment of criminal
offenders.
THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL:
CESARE BECCARIA AND REFORM
 The father of classical criminology is generally
considered to be Cesare Beccaria.
 Dei Delitti e della Pene (On Crimes and
Punishment) (1764): This book is an
impassioned plea to humanize and rationalize
the law and to make punishment more just and
reasonable.
The Classical School:
Cesare Beccaria and Reform
 Beccaria believed that laws should be
designed to preserve public safety and
order, not to avenge crime.
 To ensure a rational and fair justice
system, punishments for specific crimes
must be decreed by written criminal
codes,
 the discretionary powers of judges should
be severely reduced.
JEREMY BENTHAM AND HUMAN NATURE
 Principles of Morals and Legislation
(1789) is a philosophy of social control
based on the principle of utility, which
prescribed “the greatest happiness for
the greatest number.”
 Any human action at all should be
judged moral or immoral by its effect on
the happiness of the community.
 Hedonism: A doctrine with the central
tenet that the achievement of pleasure or
happiness is the main goal of life.
Jeremy Bentham and Human
Nature
 Rational behavior is behavior that
is consistent with logic.
 Hedonism and rationality are
combined in concept of the
hedonistic calculus, a method by
which individuals are assumed to
logically weigh the anticipated
benefits of a given course of
action against its possible costs.
Jeremy Bentham and Human
Nature
 Free will enables human beings
to purposely and deliberately
choose to follow a calculated
course of action.
 If crime is to be deterred,
punishment (pain) must exceed
the pleasures gained from the
fruits of crime.
THE LEGACY OF THE CLASSICAL
SCHOOL
 All modern criminal justice
systems in the world assume the
classical position that persons are
free agents who deserve to be
punished when they transgress
the law.
THE LEGACY OF THE CLASSICAL
SCHOOL
 Many of the ideas championed by Beccaria
are contained in the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms and other documents at the heart
of Western legal systems today. :
 the right to a speedy trial,
 freedom from cruel and unusual
punishment,
 the right to confront one’s accusers, and
 equality under law,
WHAT IS POSITIVISM?
 In the 19th century criminologists began to
move away from the classical assumptions,
especially the assumption of free will as it is
commonly understood, and toward a more
scientific view of human behavior.
 The increasingly popular view among
criminologists of this period was that crime
resulted from internal and/or external forces
impinging on individuals, biasing, or even
completely determining, their behavior
choices.
WHAT IS POSITIVISM
This position became known as
determinism, and its adherents were
known as positivists.
 Positivistic criminologists were more
concerned with discovering the biological,
psychological, or social determinants of
criminal behavior than with the classical
concerns of legal and penal reforms.
CESARE LOMBARSO (1835 – 1909)
• Italian physician and psychiatrist
What did he think/do?
• Studied cadavers of executed criminals in an
effort to determine scientifically whether
criminals were physically any different from noncriminals
BIOLOGICAL POSITIVISM: CESARE
LOMBROSO AND THE BORN CRIMINAL
 Cesare Lombroso’s Criminal Man (1876)
is considered the first book devoted
solely to the causes of criminality.
 Lombroso’s basic idea was that many
criminals are born criminal, and they are
evolutionary throwbacks to an earlier
form of life.
 He believed that facial features of
criminals included things like enormous
jaws and strong canine teeth.
Pictures of
murderers
that
Lambarso
believed
carried facial
features
tied to
criminal
activity.
Murderer
Sean Penn
See any similarities!?
Does this mean Sean Penn is a Criminal?
Those in group "A" are all shoplifters, "B" are swindlers, "H" are purse snatchers, "E" are
murderers, etc
BIOLOGICAL POSITIVISM: CESARE
LOMBROSO AND THE BORN CRIMINAL
Lombroso distinguished different types
of criminals:
1. Insane criminal: Not born criminal,
but rather become criminals as a
result of an alteration of their brain.
2. Criminaloids: Categorized as
habitual criminals, who become so by
contact with other criminals.
THE LEGACY OF POSITIVISM
 The legacy of the positivist school was the
shift from the armchair philosophizing
about human behavior to utilizing the
concepts and methods of science.
 Positivism did not disprove or destroy
classical principles; it simply shifted
emphasis from crime and penology to the
individual offender.
RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
 Building on classical theory, the Rational
Choice Theory views crime as a choice
that is influenced by its costs and benefits
(pleasure vs. pain)—that is, by its
“rationality.”
 Crime will be more likely to be deterred if
its costs are raised (e.g., more punishment
applied)
 The costs or punishments must be certain
and immediate.
RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
 Rational choice theorists believe that
factors such as poverty, IQ,
impulsiveness, or broken homes are
not required to explain crime.
 The choice is made in context of
personal and situational constraints
and the availability of opportunities.
DETERRENCE AND CHOICE: PAIN VERSUS
GAIN
Deterrence: The prevention of criminal acts by the
use or threat of punishment.
Specific deterrence refers to the effect of
punishment on the future behavior of the person who
experiences the punishment.
Deterrence and Choice: Pain
versus Gain
General deterrence: the preventive effect of the
threat of punishment on the general population; it
is aimed at potential offenders.
Recidivism: Committing another crime after
previously being punished for one.