Introduction to Criminology - Classicism and Positivism Flashcards
What did classical criminology proceed from?
The assumption of free will - criminal activity was the result of rational choice and impulses from individuals.
What was used as a means of securing confessions in the pre-enlightenment period?
Torture
What did Garland 1994:25 say modern criminology consists of?
Consists of a body of accredited transmitted forms of knowledge, approved procedures and techniques of investigation.
It was a shift from feudal to industrial society. What is a feudal society?
Its based on land ownership and the concentration of wealth and power into relatively few hands, rested on a combination of traditions and harsh, repressive systems of justice.
Where did legal regulation come from?
the rise of the industrial society
What are the core principles of classical jurisprudence as outlined by Beccaria in 1764?
- The law should restrict the individual as little as possible
- The law should guarantee the rights of the accused at all stages of the criminal justice process.
- Punishment is only justified to the extent that the offender has infringed the rights of others or injured the public good. ( Beccaria - ‘It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them’ )
- Educate the public
- The seriousness of the crime should be determined by the harm it inflicts on others
- The severity of the criminal law must be drastically curtailed. Penalties should be proportionate to the crime committed, and no more than what is necessary to deter both the offender and other from committing crimes.
- Excessive punishment is inefficient in that it not only fails to deter, but is also likely to increase crime.
- The written law should clearly advertise what acts are forbidden, as well as the different sanctions imposed for committing each crime.
- Punishment must be inflicted swiftly and with certainty, in order to create a close association in people’s minds between a crime and its inevitable penalty.
- The infliction of punishment upon an offender must be free of corruption and prejudice.
- Reward virtue
- The same punishment for the same crime
Positives about theories by criminologists?
- Helps us to understand past thinking
- Links to varying viewpoint
- Provides a framework for making sense of crime and criminal behaviour
- Helps design reponses to crime and criminal behaviour
How do understand and revise theory?
- Know the history - time of theory
- Acknowledge assumptions - nature of crime and social reaction
- Understand the scope - levels of theory =micro - individual, medo - process, macro - structure (highest)
- Define your terms - what do the terms mean in the context of the idea
- Respect the research - know about the theories (contextualise yourself)
- Theory/practice problem - funding?
- When in doubt - map it
What are examples of criminological theory?
- Classical theories
- Individual differences
- Process theories
- Structural theories
- Theories of crime and criminal justice
- Integrated theories
Who supported Positivists?
- Lombroso - born criminal, activistic features
- Goring - intelligence and stature (mental deficiency)
- Sheldon - Samotypes
What did these individuals focous on?
The offenders themselves rather than the crime and factor causing criminality.
Determined that individual behavior is not a product of choice or individual control.
How dose individual pathology cause crime?
They don’t confirm to established societal morals and values because of personal deficits.
What is the response to crime?
Individualised and focused on the deficit, neural scientific approach, measurement and evaluation.
What is the position on crime prevention?
Early diagnosis - intervention through diagnosis and classification, pessimistic about crime prevention due to individualised deficits.
Examples of crime prevention
indeterminate sentences, mental health treatment and crime statistics.
