Criminology - the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior and law enforcement.
3 Main School of Thought
1. Classical school
2. Positivist school
3. Chicago school
Classical school - based on utilitarian philosophy developed in the 18th century. This
school of thoughts argues:
1. That people have free will to choose how to act.
2. Deterrence is based upon the notion of the human being as a hedonist who seeks
pleasure and avoid pain and a rational calculator weighing up the cost and benefits of
the consequences of each action.
3. Punishment of sufficient severity can deter people from crime as the cost (penalties)
outweigh benefits and that the severity of punishment should be proportionate to the
crime.
4. The more swift and certain the punishment, the more effective it is in deterring
criminal behavior.
Prominent Philosophers of Classical school
1. Cesare Becarria - author of crimes and punishment.
2. Jeremy Bentham - inventor of the panopticon - type of institutional building
designed to allow an observer to observe inmates of an institution without them
being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.
Positivist school - presumes that criminal behavior is caused by internal and external
factors outside of the individuals control.
Positivism can be broken in 3 segments which include:
1. Biological
2. Psychological
3. Social - - one of the largest contributors
to biological positivism and founder of
the Italian school of criminology is Cesare
Lombroso.
Italian School
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Cesare Lombroso - an italian doctor and sometimes regarded as the father
of criminology. Considered also as the founder of criminal anthropology. He
suggested that physiological traits such as the measurement of the checkbones or
hairline or a cleft palate, considered to be throwbacks to neanderthal man, were
indicative of "atavistic criminal tendencies". This approach has been superseded by
the beliefs of Enrico Ferri.
Enrico Ferri - a student of Lombroso, believe that social as well as biological factors
played a role and held the view that criminals should not be held responsible when
factors causing their criminality were beyond their control.
Sociological positivism - suggest that societal factors such as poverty,
membership of subcultures or low levels of education can predispose people to
crime.
1. Adolphe Quetelet - made use of data and statistical analysis to gain insight into
relationship between crime and sociological factors. He found that age, gender,
poverty, education and alcohol consumption were important factors related to crime.
2. Rawson W. Rawson - utilized crime statistics to suggest a linkbetween population
density and crime rates with crowded cities creating an environment conducive for
crime.
3. Joseph Fletcher and John Glyde - also presented papers to the statistical society
of London on their studies of crime and its distribution.
4. Henry Mayhew - used empirical methods and an ethnographic approach to address
social questions and poverty.
5. Emile Durkheim - viewed crime as an inevitable aspect of society with uneven
distribution of wealth and other differences among people.
Chicago school - arose in the early 20th century, through the work of Robert Park, Ernest
Burgess and other urban sociologist at the university of Chicago. Park and Burgess identified
five concentric zones that often exist as cities grow, including the zone in transition which
was identified as most volatile and subject to disorder.
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Edwin Sutherland - suggested that people learn criminal behavior from older, more
experienced criminals that they may associate with. (differential association).
2 Main difference between the classical and positivist schools ofcriminology
Classical school
Positivist school
1.Free will
1. Determinism
2. Philosophy
2. Scientific methods
De minimis - is an addition to a general harm principle.The general harm principle fails to
consider the possibility of other sanctions to prevent harm, and the effectiveness of
criminalization as a chosen option.
Thanatos - a death wish.
Tagging - like labeling, the process whereby an individual is negatively defined by agencies
of justice.
Criminology Consists of 3 Principal Divisions
1. Sociology of Law - which is an attempt at scientific
analysis of the conditions under which criminal law
influences society.
2. Criminal Etiology - which is an attempt at scientific
analysis of the study of causes or reasons for
crime.
3. Penology - concerned with control crime by
repressing criminal activities through the fear of
punishment.
Crime - is a wrong doing classified by the state as a felony or misdemeanor.
Felony - is a serious crime punishable by at least one year in prison.
Misdemeanor - is a crime for which the punishment is usually a fine and/or up to one year
in jail.
*Crimes are defined and punished by statutes and by
the common law.
Etiology - study of causes and reasons for crime.
Atavism - the view that crime is due to a genetic throwback to a more primitive and
aggressive form of human being.
Elements Necessary For A Crime To Occur
1. Desire or motivation on the part of the criminal.
2. The skills and tools needed to commit the crime.
3. Opportunity.
Spree killer - is someone who embarks on a murderous assault on 2 or more victims in a
short time in multiple locations.
Spree killing - killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between
murders.
Spree murder - two or more murders committed by an offender/offenders without a
cooling off period.
Serial murder - two or more murders committed by an offender/offenders with a cooling
off period.
Mass murderer - are defined by one incident with no distinctive time period between the
murders.
Thrill killing - a premeditated murder committed by a person who is not necessarily
suffering from mental instability and does not derive sexual satisfaction from killing victims
or have anything against them and sometimes do not know them but instead motivated by
the sheer excitement of the act.
Victimology -studies the nature and cause of victimization.
Psychology - the scientific study of the human mind and its functions.
Psychiatry - the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis andtreatment of mental
disorders.
Ecology - the environment as it relates to living organisms.
Demography - the branch of sociology that studies the characteristics of human
populations.
Epidemiology - the branch of medical science dealing with the transmission and control of
disease.
Anthropology - the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of
humans.
Impulse - a sudden strong urge or desire to act.
Kleptomania - is an irresistible impulse to steal in the absence of economic motive.
Prototype - is a standard or typical example.
Pathological - is caused by or evidencing a mentally disturbed condition.