Criminological theories - Durkheim, Beccaria, Lombroso

This essay will outline how crime theories are able to assist in recognizing the causes of criminal activity, as well as demonstrating two criminological theories to two particular crimes. Overviews of trends, dimensions and victim/offenders characteristics of both crime groups will be specified. The two particular crimes that will be demonstrated throughout this essay are; Violent Crime (focusing on Assault) being linked with social learning theory and White Collar crime (focusing on terrorism) being linked to General Strain theory. In criminology, determining the motive of why people commit crimes is crucial. Over the years, many theories have been developed and they continue to be studied as criminologists pursue the best answers in eventually diminishing certain types of crime including assaults and terrorism, which will be focused on.

The way that we deal with criminals today is center and established based on how Cesare Beccaria defined and stated it. Who is Cesare Beccaria? Cesare Beccaria is an Italian scholar born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy on Saturday March 14, 1738. He died at the age of 56 in the same city on Friday, November 28, 1794. Cesare Beccaria was an Italian criminologist, a jurist, a philosopher, and a politician who is widely considered as the most talented jurist [3] and one of the greatest thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Recognized to be one of the fathers of classical criminal theory and modern penology, he is well remembered for his writings on “On Crimes and Punishments” written in 1764, which condemned torture and the death penalty, and was a founding work in the field of penology and the Classical school of criminology by promoting criminal justice. (citation)

Cesare Beccaria is the “Father of Classical Criminology” and justified punishment on the principle of utility. Beccaria focused on reforming the Criminal Justice System and believed that punishment should be for the better good for society, as well as the individual, and deter others from committing crime and prevent criminals from recommitting crime. He believes effective punishment must certain, swift, and severe to get the desired effect on society and the offender (Robert, Cullen, and Ball 2015). He is also the author of his book Of Crime and Punishment, which discussed his philosophy on the purposes

‘A Peacemaking Approach to Criminology’ was written by Louis J. Gesualdi, and published in 2013. It contains a review of different writings, which relate to criminology. The main argument of Gesualdi lies in promoting a humane way of handling crime and deviants. The book proposes a peaceable way of dealing with offenders in a manner that accords respect to human rights. Further, Gesualdi notes that the criminal justice system is concentrated on inflicting harm on the offenders by punishing them. He argues that the system is fixated on the notion of reacting to crime rather than prevention. Hence, the book proposes an approach where restorative justice and prevention of crime can be accommodated in the criminal justice system. The main

The paper introduces the assumptions that people have that punishing criminals by death will deter future crimes. The paragraph further explains how human behavior is related to acts of crime.

Introduction Although punishment might have been very harsh in 18th and 19th century, instead of doing away with it, its harshness was just reduced to make it more appropriate over the years. Even in the periods where reformative approaches were very prominent, punishment was still embraced by the penal system. Fox (2013) noted that punishment’s main objective was deterrence. If its harshness and the suffering it caused on offenders could make them fear repeating similar offences, then that was a good thing for the society.

Stated from (Tibbetts, 2010, p.47-54) Cesare Beccaria is known in the criminal justice world as the leader or father of criminal justice. He created the classical theory, which he stated, “Crime occurs when the benefits outweigh the costs when people pursue self-interest in the absence of effective punishments. Crime is a free-willed choice”. His theory greatly affects the issue being presented. This theory explains that criminals calculate the cost and benefits, which is why they choose to commit the crime. The criminals are observing it is simple to infringe the government in millions of dollars without a proper punishment. An example of this would be a past case that I happened to work on brought my attention to was a RINs

The theory indicates that people have free will over their decisions and thus, if the punishment deterred people from committing crimes, they would choice not to. It comes from a utilitarian perspective and suggest that in order to protect the majorities rights, punishments are needed (Julianhermida.com, 2017). The theory believes that punishment should swiftly follow the crime, should fit the crime and should help deter people. One influencer of the classical school is Cesare de Beccaria. Beccaria (1738-1794) strongly believed that punishment is not the answer, and instead it is more beneficial to focus on deterrence, stating “it is better to prevent crimes than punish them (Lawteacher.net, 2017).”

An influential figure in the 18th century, Cesare Beccaria was an Italian philosopher, politician and economist. Beccaria had a great impact on the criminal justice system and was interested in approaches to punishing crime and how criminals should be punished (Newburn, 2007). His writings on criminology and economics are believed to have been well ahead of their time (McLaughlin, Muncie, 2006). Cesare Beccaria expressed his ideas in writing in his influential title ‘on crimes and punishments’ in 1764. This essay will cover a summary of Beccaria’s work and arguments.

This article discusses the deterrence of crime through sanctions, and begins with a brief history of how much do we really know about criminal deterrence. Although, two Enlightenment philosophers, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham created the conceptual foundation for deterrence and rational theory, interest in deterrence and rational choice based theories of criminal offending, was later eclipsed by biologically and psychologically based explanations. Interest in deterrence theory and the deterrent effect of legal sanctions was not rekindled until the mid- 1960s. This article discusses the particular and important role of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology in publishing the works of both those who were highly critical of deterrence theory and those who wished to keep it

In this paper, I will explain the utilitarian and retributivist theories of punishment and what each theory claim is the reason to punish criminals and how does each theory set the punishment for crimes. I will also discuss the merits and problems for each theory and which on would be a better approach to the issue of punishment. The utilitarian theory claim to the punishment of criminals is based solely on applying the punishment to fit the crime they have committed with the hope that the criminal can be reformed and return to society and become a productive member of society. One way this can be achieved is by education, most criminals often do not have the opportunities to pursue higher education so they resort to criminal activities to survive.

Beccaria’s theory of Crime when it was developed was revolutionary as it was based on enlightenment thinking and not faith and nature before him. In the book it states,” Beccaria and related thinkers pictured the ideal citizen as someone who engages in a cost-benefit calculation before deciding to engage in or avoid criminal behavior, a person capable of reasoned judgment, deliberation, and a clear understanding of the law” (Rafter, Brown). Criminals in Beccaria’s theory are rational, their rationality is what makes them dangerous as they know the consequences, yet decide that crime is more beneficiary to them.

A review of the career and works of Cesare Beccaria, as well as the influence of those works, reveals that the author and social thinker was unabashedly the father of the field of criminology. Central to the support of this claim is the definition of the term criminologist which is simply a person who studies the inter-workings and ramifications of crime, and its effect on the penal and social systems in place. In this respect, Beccaria advanced a number of notions that were fairly revolutionary for his time, and which helped to refine analysis of crime and the penal justice system and their relationship with society to a science. Because of this fact, and the strong influence that the author's tenets had upon the surrounding Western world, he most assuredly is the first criminologist.

To some extent the new criminal code shows signs of a stronger authority of retributive concepts, even if they are only addressed in terms of arguments. There are, according to research, communal needs for just responses to any crime. This is a need that must be addressed in

In this essay I will produce a biography of Emile Durkheim and outline his contribution to criminological thought. “Emile Durkheim is one of the most influential figures in Western sociology.” He is accountable for authenticating society as a focus of study and for institutionalising sociology as an academic subject. Durkheim demonstrated that sociology has its own distinctive subject matter that could be studied scientifically. His work influenced many areas, in particular, his idea of society as a moral construct has had a great impact on anthropology, history, religion, law and political theory. Although he was known for his advanced work in sociological theory, Durkheim took an interest in criminology. He believed that society was than social interaction between its members, instead he argued that it was a reality that exists over and above individuals.