Lesson 1 Fundamentals of Criminology
Lesson 1 Fundamentals of Criminology
Lesson 1 Fundamentals of Criminology
FUNDAMENTALS OF CRIMINOLOGY
TOPICS
Criminology Defined
Criminology, Criminal Justice and
Criminalistics
Schools of Thought in Criminology
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
identify the sciences that is related to the study of criminology and its
nature;
identify the nature of criminology; and
recognize the scope and major areas in the study of criminology.
Derived from the Latin crimen, which means “accusation”, and the transliterated Greek logia, which has come
to denote “the study of” which essentially tells itself as the study of crime.
In 1885, Italian Law professor Raffaele Garofalo coined the term “criminology” (in Italian, (criminologia). The
French anthropologist Paul Topinard used it for the first time in French (criminologie) around the same time.
THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF CRIMES AND CRIMINALS IS EXTENDED IN THREE BASIC LINES:
1) nature of criminal law and its administration
2) causes of crimes and behavior of criminals
3) control of crimes and rehabilitation of offenders
NATURE OF CRIMINOLOGY
1) It is an applied science.
In the study of the causes of crimes, anthropology, psychology, sociology and other natural sciences may
be applied. While in crime detection, chemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics, ballistics,
polygraphy, questioned document examination may be utilized. This is called instrumentation.
2) It is a social science.
In as much as crime is a social creation that it exists in a society being a social phenomenon, its study must
be considered a part of social science.
3) It is dynamic.
Criminology changes as social condition changes. It is concomitant with the advancement of other sciences
that have been applied to it.
4) It is nationalistic.
The study of crimes must be in relation with the existing criminal law within a territory or country. The question
as to whether an act is a crime is dependent on the criminal law of a state. It follows therefore that the
causes of crime must be determined from its social needs and standards.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY OF CRIMINOLOGY
1) Study of the origin and development of criminal law
2) Study of the causes of crimes and development of criminals.
3) Study of the different factors that enhances the development of criminal behavior, such as:
a) Criminal demography – the study of the relationship between criminality and population
b) Criminal epidemiology – the study of the relationship between environment and criminality
c) Criminal ecology – the study of criminality in relation to the spatial distribution in a community
d) Criminal physical anthropology – the study of criminality in relation to physical constitution of men
e) Criminal psychology – the study of human behavior in relation to criminality
f) Criminal psychiatry – the study of human mind in relation to criminality
g) Victimology – the study of the role of the victim in the commission of a crime
The first ever educational institution that offered the Criminology course was the Philippine College of
Criminology (PCCR) in Sta. Cruz, Manila, formerly known as Plaridel College established in 1950.
R.A. 6506 - An act that created the Board of Criminologists of the Philippines and for other purposes. It took effect
on July 1, 1972.
RA 11131 - An act regulating the practice of Criminology profession in the Philippines, repealing for the purpose
Republic Act No. 6506, otherwise known as “An act creating the board of examiners for Criminologists in
the Philippines”. The State recognizes the importance of criminology profession in national security, public
safety, peace and order, and in nation-building and development. Hence, it shall develop and nurture
competent, virtuous, productive and well-rounded criminologists whose standards of professional practice
and service shall be excellent, qualitative, world-class and globally competitive through sacred, honest,
effective and credible licensure examinations, coupled with programs and activities that would promote
professional growth and development.
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TOPIC 2: CRIMINOLOGY, CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINALISTICS
A. CRIMINOLOGY
3 PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS OF CRIMINOLOGY
1. Sociology of law — an attempt to offer scientific analysis of the conditions which penal/criminal
laws has developed as a process of formal and social control.
2. Criminal Etiology – it is an attempt to offer a scientific analysis of the causes of the crime.
3. Penology — concerned with the control and prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders.
PROMINENT PERSONALITIES IN THE STUDY OF CRIMINOLOGY
DR. CHARLES GORING — English Statistician who studied the case histories of 2,000 convicts and found
that heredity is more influential as determinant criminal behavior than environmental.
ALPHONSE BERTILLON — one who originated a system of classifying criminals according to bodily
measurements. Human skeleton is unchangeable for the period of 20 years.
W.A. BONGER — an international authority in criminology who classified crimes by motives of the offender
as economic crimes, sexual crimes, political crimes, and vengeance as the principal motives.
JEREMY BENTHAM (1823) – he advocate the “utilitarian hedonism” or “Hedonistic Calculus” the theory that
a person always in such a way as to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
CESARE BECCARIA – became known as the Father of Classical Criminology. He is well remembered
for his treatise On Crimes and Punishments (1764), which condemned torture and the death penalty,
and was a founding work in the field of penology and the Classical School of Criminology.
CESARE LOMBROSO – “Father of Criminology”, a famous authority in the field of criminology who
advocated the positivist theory. He classified crime into:
Atavistic – Born criminal
Criminaloids – those who have less physical stamina or lack of control.
Types of Criminaloids
criminaloids or epileptoid - those who are suffering from disorders
habitual - career offenders
pseudo-criminals - those who kills in defense
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Insane criminal - because of their abnormalities or disorder
Occasional criminal - who don’t seek for the crimes but they are drawn into it because of insignificant
reason that forced them to do.
RAFAEL GAROFALO – Italian law professor who coin the term “CRIMINOLOGIA”. In 1885 He developed a
concept of the natural crime and defined it as violation of the prevalent sentiments of pity and probity. Types
of criminal according to Garofalo:
a. murders-satisfied from revenge
b. violent and criminals
c. deficient criminals-commit crimes against property
d. lascivious criminals-crimes against chastity
ENRICO FERRI – believe in the “law of saturation”. Society can tolerate only number crime. Factors of
criminality:
a. physical and geological environment
b. the individual c social environment
DAVID EMILE DURKEIM – He focused on the sociological point of view of the posivitist theory. Includes the
consideration of customs, obligation, laws morality and religious belief as factors to criminality.
SIGMUND FREUD – the use of psychology in understanding behavior. Freud view guilt as a motive for bad
behavior. In his “PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY” he maintains that:
a. Criminal behavior is a form of neurosis
b. Crime is a result of compulsive need for punishment to alleviate guilt and anxiety
c. Criminal behavior is a means for obtaining gratification of need
d. Criminal behavior is a result of traumatic experience.
e. Criminal conduct represents displace hostility.
ROBERT EZRA PARK – Strong advocate of the scientific method in explaining criminality by a sociologist.
The human ecology explain the isolation or segregation, competition, conflict social, contract, interaction and
social hierarchy as factor of criminality.
WILLIAM H. SHELDON – his key ideas are concentrated on the principle of “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST”
as a behavioral science. He combines the biological and psychological explanation to understand the
behavior. He advocated the “SOMATOTYPING THEORY” that explains the belief of inheritances as the
primary determinants of behavior and the body physique is reliable indicator of personality. Classification of
body physique:
a. Endomorph - a type with a relatively predominance of soft, roundness throughout the regions of
the body, they have low specific gravity.
b. Mesomorph - athletic type, predominate of muscle, bone and connective tissue, normally heavy, hard
or firm, strong and tough.
c. Ectomorph - thin physique, flat chest, delicacy, trough out the body, slender, poorly muscled.
EDWIN SUTHERLAND – advocated the “DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY” this maintains that the
society is composed of different group organization. He believes that behavior is learned not inherited.
WALTER RECKLESS – advocate of the “CONTROL THEORY” - it maintains that delinquency is the result
of poor self-concept. The absent of social control leads to criminality.
ROBERT KING MERTON – Primer sociologist of the modern days. Advocated the “STRAIN THEORY”. He
maintains that the failure of man to achieve the higher status caused them to commit crimes in order to attain
their goal.
ALBERT COHEN (1918) – Advocated the “SUBCULTURE THEORY” and “DELIQUENCY THEORY”. He
includes the explanation of prevalence, origin, process and purpose, as factor to crime.
ERVING GOLFMAN AND HOWARD BECKER (1922- 1982) – the advocate of the “LABELING THEORY”
the theory maintains that interaction cause them to behave criminally when one or both interpretation of the
meaning of such interaction is wrong.
CHARLES DARWIN - his theory maintains that man is an organism which is parasite and has an animalistic
behavior.
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CHARLES BUCK MAN GORING (1870-1919) – An English statistician, who studied the case histories
of 3,000 convicts. He came up with a conclusion that heredity is more influential determiner of criminal
behavior than environment.
ERNEST HOLTON – Accordingly, criminality is cause by heredity and the influence of environment. He
conclude that criminals are originally inferior.
ADOLPHE QUETELET – he discovered on his research that crimes against person increased during
summer while crimes against property increase during winter.
PAUL TORPINARD – a French anthropologist who introduced the term “CRIMINOLOGIE” in 1987.
EMILE DURKHEIM – (1858-1917) - father of anomie tradition, he argued that crime is a normal part of society
as birth and death. Criminal acts reflected society collective. Collective sentiments will reach a universal
degree of acceptance.
WILLIAM BONGER – an international authority in criminology who classified crimes by motives of the
offenders as economic crimes, political crimes, and miscellaneous crimes with vengeance as the principal
motive.
R.H GODDARD – He advocated the theory of “feeblemindedness”. Feebleminded person is unable to
appreciate the consequences of his behavior or appreciate the meaning of the law.
PETER RENIZEL – a private person who, in 1669, establish a work house in Hamburg at his own expense
because he had observed that thieves and prostitutes where made worse instead by better pillory, and he
hoped that they might improve by work and religious instruction in the work house.
AUGUSTE COMTE – First proposed the positivist approach. He viewed the progression of knowledge
as consisting of stage reflect upon the meaning of event.
Metaphysical stage - philosophy sought secular events to provide understanding thru a new spirit of
inquiry.
Scientific stage - combination of the rational spirit of investigation with the scientific method,
emphasizing empiricism or experimentation.
LAVATER – Stated the way to discover the character of a person is by observation and measurement of
outward appearance of an individual especially the face. He said that bald man, beard women, shift
eye, weak chin arrogant nose are criminally inclined (Physiological fragment).
FRANZ JOSEPH GALL/CHARLES CALDWELL/AND JOHANN CHRISTOPHER SPURZHEIM –claimed
that the external formation of the skull indicates that confirmation of the brain and the development of its
various parts the shape of the heads of the criminals differs from that of the non-criminals.
B. CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The Philippine Government has organized and established institutions which serve to maintain peace
and order. These institutions are responsible for preventing crimes, enforcement of laws, and apprehension and
prosecution of those who violate the law. If the courts of law find them guilty of committing a crime, they shall
be confined in order for those people to be rehabilitated and to be reintegrated into the community as law
abiding citizens. These institutions organized by the Government have incorporated themselves in order
to establish a Criminal Justice System. This system is composed of: the Law Enforcement, Prosecution,
Court, Corrections and Community.
Law Enforcement effects the arrest of those people who violated the law.
The Prosecution considers the background to determine whether the person arrested for violating a law
should be prosecuted.
The Court is the cornerstone of the system wherein it determines whether the person charged with a
criminal offense is guilty or not. When the courts of law find an individual guilty of violating the law, a
sentence shall be imposed upon him.
Correction works when a person has been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, he or she must be
placed in confinement for the protection of the criminal and for the community’s welfare. Criminals are
considered prisoners while they serve their sentences imposed by the court for transgressing the law.
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Community get involved in providing assistance and support to crime prevention activities, particularly in
improving the police, detection and prosecution of crime prevention programs.
C. CRIMINALISTICS
Criminology and Criminalistics are often mixed up. Comparatively speaking, Criminology is the study of
criminal people while Criminalistics is the study of criminal things or the sum total of the application of all
sciences in crime detection. A criminal commits crime by means of things or weapons which he may left at the
crime scene. Those things he used or that something he left at the crime scene which are the objects of
Criminalistics are known as physical evidence. This physical evidence includes, but not limited to:
1. Blood and bloodstain,
2. Firearms and other deadly weapons,
3. Fingerprints and footprints,
4. Tool marks,
5. Hair, DNA, and many more.
Criminologist – is any person who is a graduate of the degree of Criminology, who passes the
examination for Criminologists and is registered as such by the Board of Examiners of the
Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
Criminalist – a person trained in forensic sciences; in the application of instruments and methods
for the detection of crime.
6 DIVISION OF CRIMINALISTICS
1. Scientific
a. Chemistry – alcohol analysis, toxicology, narcotic and substance abuse testing firearms discharge
residue, chemical development of latent print, and all types of analysis through the use of chemical
reagents.
b. Physics – firearms identification, tool mark comparison, speed and direction of vehicles in case
of traffic and vehicular accidents and use of X-rays in detection of crime.
c. Biology – examination of evidence such as blood, semen, urine, hair, and skin.
2. Technical
a. Firearms Identification – findings whether a bullet or cartridge was fired from one and the same
firearms alleged to have been used in the commission of a crime; tries to find out how far was
the suspect when he shot the victim; identify the make, model, and kind of weapon used by
the perpetrator; and how the weapon was held when it fired the victim.
b. Questioned Document Examination – examination of forged, altered, or suspected documents, in
order to determine whether they are genuine or not; compares ink, pencil, handwriting, typewriting
and erasure using ultra-violet, infrared, transparent and slopping light as well as advanced
photography.
c. Fingerprint Identification – Fingerprint is a positive proof wherein law enforcement agencies look
upon the science as best evidence of positive identification because there are “no two persons having
the same fingerprint.”
3. Others
a. Photography – it is an indispensable method in the field of criminalistics, hence it cannot
be separated from criminalistics because it serves as aid to all evidence.
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b. Lie Detection or Polygraphy – questioning of individual (suspect) for the purpose of detecting
deception or verifying truth of statements through a visual, permanent and simultaneous recording of
a person’s cardio-vascular and respiratory pattern.
A. CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY
This school of thought is based on the assumption that individuals choose to commit crimes after weighing
the consequences of their actions. According to classical criminologists, individuals have free will.
They can choose legal or illegal means to get what they want, fear of punishment can deter them from committing
crime and society can control behavior by making the pain of punishment greater than the pleasure of the criminal
gains.
This theory, however, does not give any distinction between an adult and a minor or a
mentally- handicapped in as far as free will is concerned.
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HIGHLIGHTS OF CESARE BECCARIA’S IDEAS REGARDING CRIMES AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM
“In forming a human society, men and women sacrifice a portion of their liberty so as to enjoy peace and
security.”
“Punishments that go beyond the need of preserving the public safety are in their nature unjust.”
“Criminal laws must be clear and certain. Judges must make uniform judgments in similar crimes.”
“The law must specify the degree of evidence that will justify the detention of an accused offender prior
to his trial.”
“Accusations must be public. False accusations should be severely punished.”
“To torture accused offenders to obtain a confession is inadmissible.”
“The promptitude of punishment is one of the most effective curbs on crime.”
“The aim of punishment can only be to prevent the criminal from committing new crimes against his
countrymen, and to keep others from doing likewise. Punishments, therefore, and the method of inflicting them,
should be chosen in due proportion to the crime, so as to make the most lasting impression on the minds of
men…”
“Capital punishment is inefficacious and its place should be substituted life imprisonment.”
“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. That is the chief purpose of all good legislation.”
2)JEREMY BENTHAM
- founded the concept of UTILITARIANISM – assumes that all our actions are calculated in
accordance with their likelihood of bringing pleasure and pain
- devised the pseudo-mathematical formula called “felicific calculus” which states that individuals are
human calculators who put all the factors into an equation in order to decide whether a particular crime is
worth committing or not
- he reasoned that in order to deter individuals from committing crimes, the punishment, or pain, must be
greater than the satisfaction, or pleasure, he would gain from committing the crime
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C. CHICAGO SCHOOL
The Chicago School of Criminology is identified with neighborhood studies of crime and delinquency that focus
particularly on the spatial patterns of such behavior, especially as reflected in maps of their spatial
distributions. Chicago School sociologists adopted a social ecology approach to studying cities and postulated
that urban neigborhoods with high levels of poverty often experience breakdown in the social structure and
institutions such as family and schools. This results in social disorganization, which reduces the capability of these
institutions to control behaviour and creates an environment ripe for deviant behaviour.
The Chicago School arose in the early 20th century, through the work of Robert Ezra Park, Ernest Burgess
and other urban sociologists at University of Chicago.
2. CESARE LOMBROSO
considered the FATHER OF MODERN CRIMINOLOGY due to his application of modern
scientific methods to trace criminal behavior, however, most of his ideas are now discredited
he claimed that criminals are distinguishable from non-criminals due to the presence of atavistic
stigmata – the physical features of creatures at an earlier stage of development
he asserted that crimes are committed by those who are born with certain recognizable hereditary
traits
according to his theory, criminals are usually in possession of huge jaws and strong canine teeth, the
arm span of criminals is often greater than their height, just like that of apes who use their forearms
to push themselves along the ground
other physical stigmata include deviation in head size and shape, asymmetry of the face, excessive
dimensions of the jaw and cheekbones, eye defects and peculiarities, ears of unusual size,
nose twisted, upturned or flattened in thieves, or aqualine or beaklike in murderers, fleshy lips,
swollen and protruding, and pouches in the cheek like those of animal’s toes
Lombroso’s work supported the idea that the criminal was a biologically and physically inferior person
according to him, there are three (3) classes of criminals:
1) Born criminals – individuals with at least five (5) atavistic stigmata
2) Insane criminals – those who are not criminals by birth; they become criminals as a result of some
changes in their brains which interfere with their ability to distinguish between right and wrong
3) Criminaloids - those with makeup of an ambiguous group that includes habitual criminals,
criminals by passion and other diverse types
4) Criminal by Passion – individuals who are easily influenced by great emotions like fit of anger.
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5) Occasional Criminals – those who commit crime due to insignificant reasons that pushed them to
do a given occasion
6) Pseudo-Criminals – those who kill in self-defense
3. ENRICO FERRI
He was the best known Lombroso’s associates
His greatest contribution was his attack on the classical doctrine of free-will which argued that
criminals should be held morally responsible for their crimes because they must have made a rational
decision to commit a crime
4. RAFAELLE GARAFALO
He rejected the doctrine of free-will and supported the position that the only way to understand crime
was to study it by scientific method
According to his theory “Moral Anomalies”, natural crimes are found in all human societies regardless
of the views of the law and no civilized society law afford to disregard them
4) CHARLES GORING
- Also studied phrenology or craniology which deals with the study of the external formation
of the skull indicating the conformation of the brain and the development of its various parts which is
directly related to the behavior of the criminal.
- He believed that criminal characteristics were inherited and recommended that people with such
characteristics should not be allowed to reproduce.
- According to him, people with epilepsy, insanity and feeblemindedness were among those
who should not be allowed to have children.
5) JOHANN KASPAR SPURZHEIM (1776-1832)
- German phrenologist who was the assistant of Gall
- He was the man most responsible for popularizing and spreading phrenology to a wide audience
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PHYSIOLOGY OR SOMATOTYPE
- This refers to the study of the body build of a person in relation to his temperament and personality and
the type of offense he is most prone to commit.
- This study which searches the relationship of body build to behavior became popular during the first half of the
twentieth century.
2) WILLIAM SHELDON
- Formulated his own group of SOMATOTYPE:
TYPE OF PHYSIQUE TEMPERAMENT
a. endomorphic - relatively large digestive viscerotonic – generally relax and
viscera; round body; short, tapering limbs; comfortable person, loves luxury and
small bones; smooth, velvety skin. essentially extrovert
b. mesomorphic – with relative predominance romotonic – active dynamic; walks, talks and
of muscles, bones and motor organs of the gestures assertively and behaves aggressively
body with large wrist and hands.
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- He claimed that since families produce generations of criminals, they must have been transmitting
degenerate traits down the line.
2) HENRY GODDARD
He studied the lives of the KALLIKAK FAMILY and found that among the descendants from
MARTIN KALLIKAK’s relationship with a feeble-minded lady, there were 143 feeble-minded and only 46
normal, 36 were illegitimate, 3 epileptics, 3 criminals, 8 kept brothels and 82 died of infancy; his marriage
with a woman from a good family produced almost all normal descendants, only 2 were alcoholics, 1 was
convicted of religious offense, 15 died at infancy and no one became criminal or epileptic
a) ID – this stands for instinctual drives; it represents our unconscious biological needs for food, water,
sleep, sex and other life sustaining necessities including aggression as well as primitive needs that
are present at birth; this pleasure seeking part of human personality is concerned about gratification
of one’s wishes; it is governed by the “pleasure principle”; the id impulses are not social and
must be repressed or adapted so that they may become socially acceptable
b) EGO – this is considered to be the sensible and responsible part of an individual’s personality and is
governed by the “reality principle”; it is developed early in life and compensates for the demands of
the id by helping the individual guide his actions to remain within the boundaries of accepted
social behavior; it is the objective, rational part of the personality
c) SUPEREGO – serves as the moral conscience of an individual; it is that part of an individual’s
personality that allows the person to feel pride, shame and guilt; it is structured by what values
were taught by the parents, the school and the community, as well as belief in God; it is largely
responsible for making a person follow the moral codes of society.
- This position holds that criminals are driven by unconscious thought patterns, developed in
early childhood, that control behaviors over the life course
- Some people encounter problems during their early development that cause an imbalance in their
personality
- Crime is a manifestation of feelings of oppression and people’s inability to develop the proper
psychological defenses to keep these feelings under control.
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2) RAFAELLE GAROFALO
- Proposed that people commit crime due to some psychic or MORAL ANOMALY, a deficiency in
moral sensibilities.
- He believed that certain people are morally less developed than others due to environmental,
circumstantial and organic reasons.
E. SOCIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
Sociological factors refer to things, places and people with whom we come in contact with and which play
a part in determining our actions and conduct. These causes may bring about the development of criminal
behavior.
1) EMILE DURKHEIM
- One of the founding scholars of sociology
- published a book, “The Division of Labor in Society”, which became a landmark work on the
organization of societies
- According to him:
a) Crime is as normal a part of society as birth and death
b) Crime is part of human nature because it has existed during periods of both poverty and
prosperity
c) As long as human differences exists, which is one of the fundamental conditions of
society, it is but natural and expected that it will result to criminality
- One of his profound contributions to contemporary criminology is the concept of anomie, the
breakdown of social order as a result of loss of standards and values
- According to him, the explanation of human conduct and human misconduct lies not in the individual
himself but in the group and social organization
- His ideas had become what is known as the ANOMIE THEORY
2) GABRIEL TARDE
- Introduced the Theory of Imitation, which governs the process by which people become criminals
- According to him, individuals emulate behavior patterns in much the same way that they copy styles
of dress
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- The Theory of Imitation is explained by the following patterns:
a) Pattern 1: individuals imitate others in proportion to the intensity and frequency of their
contact
b) Pattern 2: inferiors imitate superiors
c) Pattern 3: when two behavior patterns clash, one may take the place of the other
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