wa2 summary
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Chapter 3: Schools of Thought Throughout History
-Slides and data in this outline are from Adler, Mueller, and Laufer (2007, 2013 & 2018); Siegel (2015); and modified by Manning (2007, 2013, 2015 & 2018).
Classical Criminology (Rational Choice theory)
vs. Positivism
Classical Criminology (Rational Choice Theory) Cesare Beccaria
• -On Crimes and Punishment
• -Father of Modern Criminology
• -Believed in Utilitarianism & Free Will
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Beccaria’s Principles
• 1. Laws should be used to maintain the social contract.
• 2. Only legislators should create laws.
• 3. Judges should impose punishment only in accordance with the law.
• 4. Judges should not interpret the laws.
• 5. Punishment should be based on the pleasure/pain principle.
• 6. Punishment should be based on the act, not the actor.
•
Beccaria’s Principles Continued
• 7. The punishment should be determined by the crime.
• 8. Punishment should be prompt and effective.
• 9. All people should be treated equally.
• 10. Capital punishment should be abolished.
• 11. The use of torture to gain confessions should be abolished.
• 12. It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them
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Jeremey Bentham’s Utilitarianism
• Bentham was concerned with achieving the “greatest happiness of the greatest number”.
• Utilitarianism assumes all human actions are calculated in accordance with their likelihood of bringing happiness (pleasure) or unhappiness (pain).
• Bentham proposed the felicific Calculus (human calculators). • Human behavior based on happiness
• Punishment as deterrent – certainty over severity
Positivist Criminology
• While classical criminologist – believe people rational choose to commit crime.
• Positivist criminologist see criminal behavior stemming from three factors: • Biological determinism
• Psychological determinism
• Sociological determinism • August Comte (1798-1857) French sociologist said real knowledge of social
phenomena has to be based on positivist (scientific) approach.
• At first didn’t take off.
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Positivist & Biology physical reasons for criminality
• Charles Darwin • Wrote “Origin of Species” (1859)
• Says Animals evolved over time – survival of the fittest.
• In 1871 says he has traced humans origin to apes.
• Future biologist will build on Darwin’s work • Red hair, cripples, and other would soon be viewed with suspicion.
• If two people were accused of a crime the uglier of them did it.
• Bio – criminal are born not made and can be identified by irregularities.
Biological Determinism
• Physiognomy: • The study of facial feature and
their relation to human behavior
• Giambattisti della Porta (1535- 1615) • Believed criminals had large lips &
sharp vision
• Phrenology: • Posited that bumps on the head
were indications of psychological propensities.
• Franz Joseph Gall (1776-1832)
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Cesare Lombroso tied Comte’s positivism to Darwin’s evolutionism
• Theory of the “Born Criminal”
• States that criminals are a lower form of life nearer to their ape-like ancestors than non-criminals in traits.
• Born criminals have atavistic stigmata, physical feature of creatures at an earlier stage of development before they become fully human. • Explore the born criminal women -
Lombroso
Cesare Lombroso Cont’d
• Insane Criminals are not criminals from birth, they become criminals as a result of some change in their brain which interferes with their ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
• Criminoloids make up an ambiguous group that includes habitual criminals, criminals by passion, and other diverse types. • Lombroso’s theories kept alive most by criticism – not agreement
• Except Nazi Anthropologist
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Enrico Ferri
• Best know of Lombroso’s associates
• Attacked the classical doctrine of free-will • Says criminals cannot be held responsible as they do not choose but are
driven to commit crime. • Yet said society must be protected from them
• Which is the purpose of criminal law and the penal code • Death penalty for those unfit for society.
• Was more interested in controlling crime through preventive measures: state control of manufacture of weapons, inexpensive housing, and better street lighting.
• Argued that crime was cause by social, economic, and political determinants.
Raffaele Garofalo
• Law Professor also rejected free-will
• Garofalo followed Lombroso’s work but found many short comings
• Traced the roots of criminal behavior to psychological features which he called “moral anomalies”. • Not physical feature as Lombroso thought.
• Natural crimes are those that offend the basic moral sentiments of probity (respect for property of others ) and piety (revulsion against the infliction of suffering on others).
• Supported the death penalty to rid society of its maladapted members.
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Challenges to Lombrosian Theory
• Charles Goring – studies 3,000 convicts and compared them to Oxford and Cambridge University students, hospital patients, and soldiers. • Says facial features and size of head better predictor of Scottish vs
English educators • Not professor vs criminal.
• Goring’s assistant Karl Pearson • Successfully disputed Lombroso’s claim of the “Born Criminal”.
William Sheldon’s Somatotypes 1970s return to biology
• 1. Endomorph – asthenic, schizophrenia
• 2. Mesomorph – athletic, schizophrenia
• 3. Ectomorph – Pyknic, manic depression • He argued that mesomorph tended to be involved in illegal behavior
more then others.
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Richard Dougdale & Inherited Criminality
• Studied the Jukes family
• Ada Jukes, “mother of criminals”
• Of the 1,000 descendants Dougdale found 280 paupers, 60 thieves, 7 murderers, 40 other criminals, 40 persons with venereal disease, and 50 prostitutes.
• Dougdale argued that they were transmitting a degenerate trait to the next generation. • US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell said in 1927 “It is better for all the
world if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime…society can prevent those who are manifesting unfit…Three generations of imbeciles are enough” (Adler, Muller, & Laufer, 2018, p. 63).
• Some states supported sterilization of habitual offenders.
Bio/Psychology
• While much of the earlier determinist focused on physical feature.
• Isaac Ray (1807-1881) focused on “Moral Insanity”. He questioned if we could hold criminal legally responsible when they committed crimes without intent.
• Henry Mandsley (1835-1918) believed for many crime is an outlet “in which their unsound tendencies are discharged, they would go mad if they were not criminal” (Adler, Mueller, Laufer, 2018, p. 65).
• Later psychological IQ test ran out of favor when a study of criminals scored higher then WWI Veterans.
•
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Sociological Determinism
• Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874) & Andre-Michel Guerry (1802-1860) • Where among the first scholars to refute Beccaria’s free-will.
• It’s the environment not simply a choice. • Poverty, age, sex, race and climate influence human behavior.
Gabriel Tarde rejects Lombrosian Theory
• Sociological Determinism • People are not born criminals – its social environmental factors
• Society causes criminality not decisions of individuals
• Focus on groups rather than individuals
• Poverty, age, sex, race, and climate.
• Learning criminal behavior based on Laws of Imitation. • Interaction based on intensity and frequency
• Inferiors imitate superiors
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Durkheim cohesive vs contemporary society
• Consensus versus opposing structures
• Crime as a normal part of society
• Crime creates social solidarity • When a cohesive society punishes its to reinforce social values (right &
wrong).
• When modern (heterogeneous) societies punish the focus is on righting a wrong done to the victim and reinstating social order.
• Anomie: Normlessness, a breakdown of social order as a result of a loss of standards and values.