Criminological Schools of Thought Flashcards
What was the criminal justice system that preceded the classical school? And what were the changes the school tried to implement?
The system was often arbitrary and excessively harsh in punishments. The classical school sought to humanize punishments.
What was the role of “judicial discretion” in the classical school? Who should decide punishments for crime according to the classical theorists?
Judicial discretion should not exist according to Cesare Beccaria. Legislative bodies decide punishments for crime.
What was Jeremy Bentham’s major contribution to current U.S. criminal justice practices?
Contributed to development of prisons – “Panopticon Prison” (all seeing circular prison)
What are the core principles of the classical school?
Assumes people’s end goal is pleasure (Human nature– hedonistic); human nature = rational; assumes free will, choice, utilitarian principle; punishing the crime, not the criminals (crimes of same type treated equally)
In theory, what three conditions are needed to ensure that punishments are effective deterrents against crime? Why does the theory often break down in practice?
Celerity (swiftness), certainty, severity; current criminal justice fails all three of these (criminal justice funnel)
specific deterrence vs. general deterrence
s = individual impact on punishment for future behavior to prevent recidivism
g = to the population for potential offenders
According to Stafford and Warr, who experiences specific and general deterrence? How does “punishment avoidance” factor into deterrence theory according to Stafford and Warr?
Everyone experiences both; punishment avoidance is what is attempted to be achieved through the deterrence theory
How is the positivist school of criminology different from the classical school?
Has a scientific view; deterministic view(crime is caused by forces beyond individual choice); says that human behavior(free will and rationality) is constrained by psychological, biological or social forces
How are criminals and non-criminals different according to positivists?
Criminals are different—they’re inferior; seen as prehuman state in evolution; “criminal types” classification
purpose punishment serves for positivists vs classical theorists
c - deter
p - rehabilitate/incapacitate
What does atavism mean? How is atavism a positivist theory of crime?
Used to describe organisms resembling ancestral prehuman forms of life; was used to create physical markers of what a criminal looked like—a biological viewpoint
“born criminal”
According to post-positivist school of criminology, where does crime emerge from? How is this perspective different from the positivist school? In other words, what makes it “post” positivist?
Crime emerges from social/political systems; rejects pure scientific underpinnings and causal determinism; focuses a lot more on power and social status dynamics
