Theories of Crime
Early Beginnings:
- Before the development of more scientific theories of
criminal behavior, one of the most popular explanations
was Demonology (Hagan, 1990).
Demonological Theory
According to this explanation, individuals were
thought to be possessed by good or evil behavior.
Demonological Theory
The theory maintains that criminal behavior was
believed to be the result of evil spirits and demons
something of natural that control his/her behavior.
Pre – Twentieth Century
18th Century (1738 -1798)
In the eighteenth century, criminological literature,
whether psychological, sociological, or psychiatric in
bent, has traditionally been divided into three broad
schools of thought about the causes of crime:
Classical School of Criminology
Is a broad label for a group of thinkers of crime and
punishment in the 18th century and early 19th centuries
Its prominent members:
Cessare Beccaria Jeremy Bentham
Criminal behavior could be understood and controlled
as an outcome of a “human nature” shared by all of us.
Human beings were believed to be hedonistic, acting
in terms of their own self interest.
Hedonism - Man only seeks pleasure and avoids pain.
Classical School
In classical theory, human behavior, including
criminal behavior, is motivated by a hedonistic
rationality, in which actors weigh the potential
pleasure of an action against the possible pain
associated with it.
Classical School
In 1764, criminologist Cesare Beccaria wrote An Essay
on Crimes and Punishments, which set forth classical
criminology theory.
Beccaria presented his key ideas on the abolition of
torture as a legitimate means of extracting confessions.
This book founded the Classical theory of
Criminology which maintains that man is essentially a
moral creature with absolute free will to choose
between good and evil therefore tress is placed upon
the criminal himself; that every man is responsible for
his act.
Freewill
A philosophy advocating punishment severe enough
for people to choose, to avoid criminal acts. It includes
the belief that a certain criminal act warrants a certain
punishment without any punishment without any
variation
Detterence
The prevention of individuals from committing crime
by imposing punishment.
Two Forms of Deterrence:
Specific Deterrence – specific deterrence is applied
to the individual who committed an offense.
General Deterrence – general deterrence applies to
other potential offenders by showing then that a
punished individual would not gain from his or her
offense.
Three Components of Deterrence:
Celerity – Celerity refers to the speed with which a
punishment is applied.
Certainly – Certainly refers to the concepts of making
a punishment sure to happen whenever an undesirable
act is committed.
Severity – Severity refers to the amount of pain to be
inflicted on those who do harmful acts.
Arguments against the Classical Theory
1. Unfair – it treats all men as if they were robot without
regard to the individual differences and the surrounding
circumstances when the crime is committed.
2. Unjust – having the same punishment for first and
recidivists.
3. The nature and definition of punishment is not
individualized.
4. It considers only the injury caused not the mental
condition of the offender.
Classical Theory
Becarria believed the best way to prevent and deter
crime was to:
1. Enact laws that are clear, simple, and unbiased, and
that reflect the consensus of the population.
2. Educate the public.
3. Eliminate corruption from the administration of
justice.
4. Reward virtue.
. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
Beccaria was an Italian philosopher and politician best
known for this treatise Essay on Crimes and
Punishments or Dei Delitti e Delle Pene (1764).
His judiciary reform condemned torture and led to
the abolition of death penalty in Grand Duchy of
Tuscany, the first Italian state taking this measure.
The Classical School was based on utilitarian
philosophy.
Beccaria said, man is fundamentally a biological
organism with intelligence and rationality that control
his behavior.
Before man does something, he tries to determine the
amount of pain he will suffer and the amount of
pleasure he will receive.
His future actions will depend on the algebraic sum of
the two considerations if there will be more pain than
pleasure, he will desist from doing the act (Rational
Calculation).
What is the Essay on Crimes and Punishment?
Proposing reforms to the criminal justice system which we
now take for granted, in particular:
a. The prompt administration of clearly prescribed and
consistent punishment.
b. Well-publicized laws made by the legislature rather than
individual courts or judges.
c. The abolition of torture in prisons.
d. The use of the penal system to deter would-be offenders,
rather than simply punishing those convicted.
Jeremy Bentham (1784-1832)
Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal
and social reformer.
He was a political radical and a leading theorist in
Anglo-American philosophy of law.
Bentham is an early advocator of utilitarianism (the
greatest good for the greatest number) and fair
treatment of animals that influenced the development
of liberalism.
He also invented a prison known as the Panopticon
prison.
Summarized Points of Classical School
The following are the assumptions of Classical School
philosopher:
1. People have free will to choose how to act.
2. Deterrence is based upon the utilitarian ontological
notion because a human being is any of the following:
2.1 Hedonist – Man only seeks pleasure and avoids
pain.
2.2 rational calculator – Man is weighing up the
costs (pains) and benefits (pleasures of the
consequences of each of his action).
3. The more swift and certain the punishment, the
more effective it is in deterring criminal behavior.
4. The more swift and certain the punishment, the
more effective it is in deterring criminal behavior.
Neo-Classical School
This school accepts the fact that the crime in accordance
with the free will of the man but the act of committing a
crime is modified by some causes that finally prevail
upon the person to commit crimes. These causes are:
A. Pathology - the study of the causes and effects of
disease or injury.
B. Incompetence – inability to do something
successfully.
C. Insanity or any condition that will make it possible
the individual to exercise the free will entirely.
In the Philippine legal provision (Revise Penal Code
Book I and II), the aforementioned may serve to
mitigate or exempt a person from the commission of
crime.
Thus, the neo-classical school proposed the value of
mitigating or exempting circumstance.
Positivist School or Italian School of
Criminology
Positivist school presumes that the criminal behavior
is caused by internal and external factors outside of
the individual’s control.
The positivist school introduced the scientific method
of the understanding criminality and was applied to
study human behavior.
Positivist School
Many criminologist use the term “positivism” to
mean approach that studies human behavior through
the use of scientific method.
The focus is on systematic observation and the
accumulation of evidence and objective fact within
a deductive framework (moving from the general to
the specific) (William III & McShane, 2004).
Positivist School
Italian school of criminology was founded at the end
of the 19th century by Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)
and the two of his Italian disciples,
Enrico Ferri (1856-1929) and
Raffaele Garofalo (1851-1934).
Cesare Lombroso Raffaele Garofalo
Enrico Ferri
Positivism can be broken up into three segments which includes
the following:
1. Biological Positivism - Biological Positivism includes the
study of the following theories in relation to criminality:
a. criminal anthropology;
b. phrenology;
c. physiognomy;
d. heredity: Kallikak and Juke family study,
e. criminal body type theories/somatotyping,
f. genetic structure,
g. biochemistry,
h. blood sugar levels,
i. adrenaline sensitivity,
j. allergies and diet, and
k. substance abuse.
a. 2. Psychological Positivism - Psychological
Positivism relates criminality through the study of
the following theories:
a. psychodynamics/psychoanalytic theory,
b. behavioral learning theories,
c. cognitive learning theories
Social Positivism - Social Positivism relates criminality
through the study of the following theories:
a. social disorganization theory,
b. Chicago school theory,
c. anomie theory
The Holy Three (3) in Criminology
Cesare Lombroso (1836- 1909)
Cesare Lombroso was an Italian criminologist and
founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology.
His study proved that a criminal is born with some
physical characteristic as the cause of crime.
Greatest Contributions of Lombroso
A. He rejected the Classical School which held that
crime was a characteristic trait of human nature.
Instead, he uses concepts drawn from the following:
1. Physiognomy - is a practice of assessing a person's
character or personality from their outer appearance
—especially the face.
