Classicalism vs. Positivism

In that case, punishment is ineffective and treatment and rehabilitation are what is needed. The issue with positivism is that an assumption is made that only the undersocialised commit crime. However, crime can be committed by individuals from all areas of society. Positivism does not take into account human agency and the creativity that can be found in human beings; it only reduces the crime problem to a simple predictable, set out from the start, destiny.

Criminology and the criminal justice system have framed a “taken-for-granted, common-sense” understanding of ‘crime’ and the ‘criminal’ (Tierney, 2010). ‘Crime’ is commonly understood as a violation of the criminal law; originating from religion and the sin of God and then moving towards Classicalism. Classicalism rests on the assumption of free will and recognises rational choice of the individual. It influences much of our system of justice today; especially aspects of due process. It argues that criminality is therefore part of nature; and order is maintained through law and punishments. We can see this through Beccaria’s approach of certainty, celerity and severity (Beccaria, cited in Newburn, 2013, pp116). Positivism, associated with theorists such as Lombroso, offered more of a scientific approach in identifying the causes of crime and could recognise impaired ability such as mental illness. It argues that ‘crime’ is

Individual positivism and social positivism are institutions in which modern criminology is grounded. The term ‘modern criminology’ might sound odd, as modern criminology is regarding 18th century period and its rational principles to control society to bring composure and order (Garland 1996, 2000). Modern criminology with rational system of control; where the rule of law based on the belief people exercise choice. “The ethos of productivity was rejected in the age & society of leisure. Mind expanding drugs, permissive sexuality, the new rock music & transcendental poetry all articulated the peaceful principles of a ‘flower power’ whose opposition was committedly non-violent ” (Sumner, 1994:200).

Theories of criminology were developed centuries ago so people can go in depth to seek what cause crime and why. In some cases these theories can eve go to the extent to prevent the crimes from happening again. Over the years more theories have been developed and the theories that have already been developed have been added to so they fit a larger spectrum. What cause a person to commit a crime and why would they commit a certain crime over another? These theories that have been developed give us an insight to the answer of these questions. These theories are used so Criminologist can have a better understanding of crime such as the Ferguson, Missouri riots that took place after the August of 2014.

Criminology is a complex subject chock-full of theories that attempt to explain crime and criminal behavior. Each base theory has several branches of theory which expand upon and compliment their predecessors. Even some of the sub-theories have branches of theories.

Classical criminological theory was introduced in 1764. The tenants of this theory became the backbone for the development of all criminological theories to come. After over 200 years have passed since its conception, is classical criminological theory still relevant to today’s society in explaining the causes of crime? This essay will address this question by discussing the major components of classical criminological theory while highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. The essay will also examine a more modern criminological theory, Merton’s anomie/strain theory, and decipher major differences between the two theories. This essay will also explain the aspects of classical criminological theory that are applicable or outdated in their

Criminology is a study of crime, criminals and criminal justice. Ideas about criminal justice and crime arose in the 18th century during the enlightenment, but criminology as we know it today developed in the late 19th century. Criminology has been shaped by many different academic disciplines and has many different approaches. It explores the implications of criminal laws; how they emerge and work, then how they are violated and what happens to those violators. Laws are relative and historically shaped; they vary from time to time and from place to place (Carrabine et al, 2009).

Criminology Edwin Sutherland defined criminology as ‘the study of the making of laws, the breaking of laws and societies reaction to the breaking of laws’. Criminologists study why we have crimes within society, approaches to dealing with crime and theories of explaining crime. (Hall S, 2012) There are two main schools of thought within criminology, Classicism and Posivitism. Classicism came about during the 1700’s a key thinker during this time was Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)

The study of criminology is a complex approach to the criminal justice system that uses preemptive theories as a means to decipher why criminals commit crimes. When law enforcement agents begin to think about criminal behavior in the perspective of the criminal they begin to surface the reasons why an individual would decide to break the law. The study of criminology focuses both root cause of the deviant behavior and the effects that crimes have on society (American Military University, last visited Apr 10, 2018). The primary focuses points of criminology are the locations times and frequency of crimes in relations to consequence and reactions these crimes have on an individual and society as a whole (What is Criminology?, Retrieved April

Within this field, there are three types of ideas of why crime is caused, biological, psychological, or sociological reasons. Among the types there are many sub-theories, and these form the basis of reasons for criminal activity. Most types of criminals and criminal activity can be placed in one of these groups, however as our society advances so do the theories so what is a reason one day, may be completely or partially disqualified based on new evidence or findings of what works and doesn’t work to reduce a relapse, which is one of the main functions of the

The Classical school of criminology can be known as the free will to act at one’s own discretion, where an individual chooses to break the law upon a desirable choice. The Classical emphasizes how the system was organized, punishments for crime, and how authorities should react to crime. On the other hand, positivist school was created to see what influences an individual to break the laws, based on human beings’ behavior. Positivist school is simply trying to analyze who, what, and how crime is initiated. This study will identify the schools’ argument, and if they complement each other, the advantages and disadvantages, and the different approaches or points of view from multiple criminologist regarding the schools and theories.

1). Criminology arose from the social scientific community over the year and has since come into its own discipline, it examines the entire process of lawmaking, law breaking, and law enforcing” (as cited in Akers, & Sellers, 2013). Criminology seeks to discover the depth of crime at both the micro and macro levels, from the individual’s natural biological and psychological characteristics, the nurturing of social and structural institutions, to policy, prevention and control.

There are many different aspects of criminal justice policy. One in particular is the different theories of crime and how they affect the criminal justice system. The Classical School of criminology is a theory about evolving from a capital punishment type of view to more humane ways of punishing people. Positivist criminology is maintaining the control of human behavior and criminal behavior. They did this through three different categories of Biological studies, which are five methodologies of crime that were mainly focused on biological theories, Psychological theories, which contains four separate theories, and the Sociological theories, which also includes four different methods of explaining why crime exists. The last theory is

1. Three eras that characterize the field of criminology over the last 100 years was launch by John H. Laub. The first era went from 1900 to 1930, known as the “Golden Age of Research”. This time was mostly focused on criminal behaviors and gathering data on crime. The second era was “The Golden Age of Theory” which went from 1930 to 1960. This time they did not link criminology research to any theory being developed because the work was not organized. The third era which went from 1960 to 2000, this era the time was extended. This time scientific used it to examine criminology theories from the era that was advanced previously.

In positivist criminology, a person commits a crime because outside factors influenced them. For example, a person is more likely to commit a crime if they live in poverty. In today’s society, it is easier for someone to rob or steal rather than to get a job and work for their money. Not to mention, it is harder for those who live in poverty to get jobs since most employers only want the best of the best working for their company. Living in poverty can also affect a person’s mentality. Trying to figure out how to overcome poverty can be stressful, and this can take a toll on people’s mental health and cause them to commit acts that they wouldn’t have committed if they were in their normal state of mind.