Chapter 8: Early Theory Flashcards
What was the earliest theory for crime based in
Religion! Either you were prone to sin, or you were possessed by a DEMON!!! Sometimes you were a witch, and this mainly applied to economically independents women, the disabled, children, and the elderly. The powers that be accused these people of being witches because they either thought they were a burden to society, or that they wanted their land! They would develop “scientific” solutions for determining who is a witch, which resulted in a dead woman either way! When people figured out why this was dumb, the powers that be started kidnapping women and torturing them until they confessed that they were witches. If they confessed early, they would begin the “mercy” of being strangled before they were burned at the stake
Describe Beccaria’s Classical school of criminal theory
Based off of the belief that all people are rational, and think through their actions. They commit crime because they believe it is in their best interests to do so. Create a swift, certain, severe enough punishment for crimes and people will be deterred, because it’s no longer in their best interests. Contributions:
Contributions: Legal Reform: Beccaria brought in ideals of a social contract in regards to legal principles. Public agrees to give up a certain degree of sovereignty and the government agrees to protect its people
Limitations: Individual circumstances are not considered, punishment fits the crime, not the person
What is Neoclassical Criminology?
Looked at classical theory and wanted a more flexible approach. Proposed individual treatment in consideration of age, mental competence, etc.
Describe the Statistical School of Criminology
Takes social structures into consideration. The situations we live in are conducive to crime!
Searched for correlates in criminal statistics as far as what social conditions cause crime. Uncovered the regularity of crime on all scales. Uniquely sociological contribution!
What is the positivistic school of criminology?
Headed by Lombroso, who was CRAZY. Said that some people are simply born to be less evolved than others, and are “born criminals”. This is based off the idea of “social darwinism”, that based off of social selection, some people evolve to a different degree than others. There were traits that could help you to tell, called atavistic traits
Women were naturally criminals, but their evil traits were balanced out but things like maternal instinct and lack of passion.
6 types of criminals
1. Born Criminals: Ya just can’t help it
2. Occasional Criminals
3. Epileptics: On top of seizures, your genetics make you more prone to crime + atavistic traits
4. Criminals of Passion: Good people, who committed crime for noble purposes
5. Criminaloids: Anyone else….
Contributions:
1. Punishment should fit the criminal. Those who did it for good reasons for be released, and those who are in for a long time should be treated well because they’re neutralized. Gave the ideas of probation and parole
What are some biological theories of the 20th century
Goring: Disproved Lombroso on the atavistic features front. He found a high correlation between criminality and LOW intelligence, and believed that mental inferiority should be fixed through education! The problem was that he only looked at labelled criminals, leaving out an entire population of unfounded criminals
Houston: Founded the basis of the eugenics movement, stating that criminals were biologically and socially inferior. Used lots of circular reasoning
William Sheldon: Somatotype theory: 3 body types
- Endomorphs: Fat, round, easygoing
- Ectomorphs: Tall and lean, very anxious and nervous
- Mesomorphs: Well-built, muscular, aggressive, sensitive to pain and quick acting. Most likely to be criminals
Goddard: Famous Study, looked at the legitimate and illegitimate kids of a naval officers, and determined that the children of the “feeble-minded” barmaid were more often degenerates. There was NO consideration of social factors. Had an IQ test where anyone with a mental age lower than twelve was an imbecile and shouldn’t reproduce except… too many people were labelled morons. Cutoff was lowered to 9
