CHAPTER 2

SCHOOLS OF CRIMINOLOGY THAT EXPLAINED THE EXISTENCE OF CRIMES

THE SCHOOLS OF CRIMINOLOGY

1. PRE-CLASSICAL SCHOOL (17TH-18TH Century)

• Also known as the Demonological school

• Believed that people who commit crimes are demons so they should be killed and kept away
from society.

• Harsh punishment will be given.

• Prevailing form of government during the emergence of this school was theocracy or “a form of
government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God’s deity’s
laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities.

• There were some who espoused natural crime causation during that period. Foremost of them
was Aristotle, Plato’s student who claimed that “poverty engenders rebellion and crime.”

• Way of dei indicum ( miraculous decision/ God’s invention)

• Trial by Ordeal is a way to decide if someone was guilty or innocent of a crime.

Ordeal by hot water

This ordeal required the accused person to put their hand into a boiling water to retrieve
an object. Those who were guilty would be burned by the boiling water, but the innocent
would not be burned.
Ordeal by fire
It required the accused person to walk in 9ft. (3m) in the fire. Those who were guilty be
burned, but the innocent would not be burned.
Ordeal by combat
2. CLASSICAL SCHOOL
 Human free will
 Responsible for their actions
 Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di Beccaria (Father of classical criminology)
 Criminal law in 18th century, especially Europe, was administered with incredible corruption,
arbitrariness and cruelty worsened by the usual death penalty of the Pre-Classical School.
 Those injustices led to the reform in criminological during the enlightenment period.
  Cesare Becarria- demonstrated the faults and recommended remedies.
 “On Crimes and Punishment” Italian ( Dei Delitti e dela Pene)
all persons who violated a specific law should receive identical punishment regardless
of age, sanity, position or circumstances.
Punishment should be proportionate to the crime and is establish by the law
To deter the offender from committing again and discourage the “would” be offender
from ever committing a crime.
Tortures should never be used against an accused whose guilty has not been officially
established.
its action is more important.
This view was based on the prevailing “utilitarianism”, which emphasized that
behavior occurs when the actor considers it useful, purposeful, and reasonable.

The heritage left by the classical school is still very evidence in today’s perspective on crime and
human behavior. This is seen in the five-principles used by society in reacting to criminal activities:

 The Principle of Rationality – human beings have free will and the actions they undertake
are the results of choice.
 The Principle of Hedonism – pleasure and pain, or reward and punishment, are the major
determinants of choice.
 The Principle of Punishment – criminal punishment is a deterrent to unlawful behavior, and
deterrence is the best justification for punishment.
 The Human Rights Principle – society is made possible by individuals cooperating together.
Hence, society owes to its citizen’s respect for their rights in the face of government action.
 The Due Process Principle – an accused should be presumed innocent until proven
otherwise, and an accused should not be subjected to punishment prior to guilt being lawfully
established.
 Principle of Utility (Great Happiness Principle) Jeremy Bentham
Utilitarianism concept that provides that man balance the pleasure derived from the
illegal acts so that of the pain to be imposed upon him.
Hedonism theory – action is not important but the result of its action is more important.

CLASSICAL THINKERS

Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di Beccaria

  Most important contribution was to consider crime as an injury to society, rather than to the
immediate individual who experienced it that was to direct and determine the degree of
punishment.
 He claimed that although most criminals are punished based upon on assessment of their
criminal intent, they should be punished instead based upon the degree of injury they cause.
 The purpose of punishment, he said, should be deterrence rather than retribution, and
punishment should be imposed to prevent offenders from committing additional crimes.
To achieve deterrence, a number of conditions must be met.
 Severity
 Certainty
 Celerity or swiftness
 He saw punishment as a tool to an end and not an end in itself, and crime prevention was
more important to him than revenge.

JEREMY BENTHAM (1748-1832)

 He is an English Utilitarian philosophers and lawyer who wrote the Introduction to the Morals
and Legislation (1789), where he argued “nature has placed mankind under the governance of
two sovereign master, pain and pleasure.”
 Advocated a philosophy of social control based on what he called the “principle of utility”.
This guiding principle was for government to seek to obtain “the greatest happiness for the
greatest number.”

Utilitarianism/ Hedonistic Calculus

Bentham’s perspective on human behavior had its roots in the concept of utilitarianism, which
assumes that all of the person’s actions are calculated. Utilitarianism is the doctrine that the purpose
of all actions should be to bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
Bentham stated that an act possesses utility if it “tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good
or happiness or to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil or unhappiness to the party whose
interest is considered.

The term ‘hedonistic calculus’ refers to people acting in accordance with their desire to maximize
pleasure and minimize pain.

The basic elements of hedonistic calculus can be summarize into the following:

 In every society, people have free will to choose criminal or lawful solutions to meet their
needs or settle their problems.
  A person’s choice of criminal solutions may be controlled by his or her fear of punishment
 The more severe, certain, and swift the punishment, the better able it is to control criminal
behavior.
 His major distribution to Criminology was his suggestion that prison be design along the lines
of what he called “Panopticon House” , which was to be a circular building with cells along
the circumference that are clearly visible from a central location staffed by guards.

3. THE NEO-CLASSICAL SCHOOL

 Begun during the French revolution
 Contends that classical doctrine was correct in general, it should be undefined in some details
because children and lunatics cannot calculate pleasure and pain they should not be regarded
as criminals or to be punished.
 Introduced the mitigating circumstances in imposing penalties;
 Their action to crime is no longer punitive. Punishment was imposed in some law breakers but
not on others by recognition of the exception.

Arguments of Neo- Classical

1. Children under 7 years of age were incapable of making their own choices.
2. The insane and the feebleminded were incapable of freedom of action.
3. The court should take into account factors such as mitigating circumstances, incompetence,
pathology and the past record of offenders
Just Deserts Model
The notion that criminal offenders deserve the punishment they receive at the hands of the law and
that punishment should be appropriate to the type and severity of crimes similar to the one for which
a particular offender is being sentence.

Specific Deterrence
A goal of criminal sentencing, which seeks to prevent a particular offender from engaging in
repeated criminality.

General Deterrence
A goal of criminal sentencing which seeks to prevents others from committing crimes similar to the
one for which particular offender is being sentence.
4. THE POSITIVIST SCHOOL
 Also known as the Italian School
 Doctrine of Determinism.
 New philosophers like Lombroso, Garofalo, and Ferri emerged to refute the classical view
that crimes are basically a choice by the offender. This thinkers were mostly Italians who
considered themselves as scientist because of their contention that crime causations can
be measured and studied.
 Positivism was an offshoot of Augoste Comte’s philosophy.
 Comte held that human thought had passed inevitable through a theological stage into a
metaphysical stage and was passing into a positive or scientific stage.
 Criminological positivists stress on the criminal actor rather than the criminal act.
 Application of the scientific method,
 Discovery and diagnosis of pathology (sickness), and
 Treatment (therapy or corrections).

THE HOLY TRINITY

1. CESARE LOMBROSO (1835-1909)

 Was the founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology
 “Father of Modern Criminology”
 He wrote “ The Criminal in Relation to Anthropology, Jurisprudence and Psychiatry”
 Criminals are biological throwback to a primitive or atavistic stage of evolution.
 started reoriented thinking to the study of criminology by focusing on the offender, not the
offense from crimes to criminals.
 Lombroso, in his book in 1876, “The Criminal Man, came up with the following
classifications of criminals;
Born Criminals – people with atavistic characteristics (Atavistic- manifesting physical
characteristics considered throwbacks to an earlier form of evolutionary life like
unusual size of ears, sloping foreheads, excessively long arms, receding chins, and
twisted nose.)
Insane Criminals - individuals who are idiots, imbeciles, and paranoiacs, included
also are the epileptics and alcoholics
Occasional Criminals or Criminaloids – those who commit crimes by reason of
opportunity, who also possess innate traits that predispose them to commit crime
 Criminals by Passion – those who commit crimes because of anger, love or honor
and usually propelled to commit crime due to “irresistible force”.
Pseudo-criminals - are those who kill in self-defense
2. ENRICO FERRI (1856-1929)
 He was the best-known Lombroso’s associate. 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 a rational decision to commit the
crime.
 He was a member of Italian parliament who believed that criminals could not be held
morally responsible because they did not choose to commit crimes but was driven to
commit them by conditions of their lives.
 Published in 1878 “The Theory of Imputability and the Denial of Free-will” which published
in original sociology in 1884. Ferri emphasized the following social factors;
physical factors including geographical climate and temperature;
the anthropological factors including the psychological being of the individual; and
The social factors including economic and political factors as well as age, sex,
education, and religion.
3. RAFFAELE GAROFALO
 “Father of Classical Criminology”
 An Italian lawyer and legislator, Garofalo became a prominent spokesman for the
Italian School of Criminology.
 Agreed with Lombroso that biological characteristics could help in the
identification of serious and persistent criminals.
 Garofalo focused on the brain rather than the external facial and skeletal
features, arguing, for example, that criminals had greater development in the rear
portions of their brains and slighter developmental of the frontal regions.
 In addition, Garofalo suggested that most of the deficiencies exhibited by
criminals would ultimately involve “moral abnormalities” rather than physical
abnormalities.
 He rejected the classical principle that it should fit the criminals, with the only
question to be considered at sentencing being the danger the offender posed to
the society.
 To understand the criminal, it is necessary to have meaningful definition of crime.
Distinguishes between two types of crimes:
 a. Natural Crimes – those that violate two basic “altruistic sentiments”
(altruism is unselfish regards for a devotion to the welfare of others.
 Pity – revulsion against the involuntary infliction of sufferings on
others
 Probity – respect for the property rights of others.
b. Police Crime – do not offer altruistic sentiments but are called crimes by
law.

Precursors of Positivism (Hagan, 2002)

1. Astrology- used to predict human behavior by studying the alignment of the stars.
2. Phrenology- an attempt to determine intelligence and personality based on the size and
shape of the skull.
3. Physiognomy- human personality is affected by measuring facial and other body
characteristics.
4. Palmistry- involves in analyzing one’s character and future by examining the lines on the
palm.

Characteristics of the Positive School

1. Denied the individual responsibility and reflected as essential non-positive reaction to crime
and criminality.
2. They contend that crimes are natural phenomenon like tornado, a flood, a stroke of lightning or
striking of a snake.
3. Criminals which cannot be reformed were to be segregated or to be held.
4. Denial of individual responsibility seriously affects the accused criminal’s right to judicial trial, to
counsel, to confront witnesses, and to other safeguards of the due process of law.

Positivist’ Theories

Many of the positive thinkers contradicted or modified the “free will” concept of the Classical School
because they emphasized the factors such as biological, medical, and environmental. Specifically,
positivists emphasized that criminal behaviors are caused by physical stigmata, atavism, and
biological inheritance. Biological inheritance includes the following;
 1. Mental deficiency
2. Feeblemindedness
3. Physical Inferiority
4. Somatotype-mesomorphs
5. Brain disorders
6. Twin studies
7. XYY Syndrome
8. Physiological Disorder

Results of Italian School

1. Treatment began to be based from the study of the criminal. Punishments comes only after
studying the ability and skills of the offender as well as the punishment to be meted or suited to
him.
2. Old purpose of punishment was changed; rehabilitation and reformation of the criminal instead
of revenge. Moreover, it resulted to the following;
a. Retribution was eliminated,
b. Rehabilitation was emphasized but applied the discrimination to certain classes such as
minors as mitigating circumstances,
c. Protection of society seems to be the primary purpose or treatment that is to reform
criminals by segregating them, and
d. Prevention of crime by early treatment of juvenile delinquent hoping that reformed
young delinquent in order that crime will be prevented.

The Classical and Positivist School Compared

CLASSICAL SCHOOL POSITIVIST SCHOOL

 Legal Definition of crime  No to legal definition of crime
 Punishment fit the crime  Punishment fit the criminal
 Doctrine of free will  Doctrine of determinism
 Death Penalty allowed  Abolition of death penalty
 No empirical Research  Inductive method
 Definite sentence  Indeterminate sentence

5. FRENCH SCHOOLS
 It emphasized the interaction between the social and psychological factors; the importance of
biological and physical factors in crime causation. It posited that crime was socially defined and that it
was socially determined.
According to Triplett (2018), in contrast to Lombroso’s Italian School of Criminal Anthropology, the
general viewpoint of the French School was shaped less by the evolutionary theory of Darwin and
more by that of Jean-Baptiste Lamark. It emphasized the possible of environmental causes of human
behavior. In essence, the French School is better described as a multidisciplinary tradition that
accepted sociological determinants, bio-psychological propositions, and even a degree of free will.
MAJOR THINKER OF FRENCH SCHOOL
Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904)
 He was a French Lawyer and sociologist
 He emphasized that social factors were sufficient to explain why crime varied overtime within
each society.
 Tarde contended that some people learn to engage in crime much as other people learn
legitimate occupations and social customs.
Major Tenets
1. Criminal behavior is largely learned from what he called laws of limitation. This meant that
people imitate others with whom they have frequent contact essentially the same way people
copy and come to prefer different styles of clothing.
2. Viewed the professional criminals (murderer, pickpocket, and swindlers) as an individual who
goes through a long period of apprenticeship in much the same way as lawyer, physician, or
nurse.

6. SOCIALIST SCHOOL

Based on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Siegel, 1998) that began around 1850, they
emphasized economic determinism. It concentrates on the need for quality among all citizens. Their
theories are based upon the basic idea that poverty causes people to be inclined to criminal activities.

Poverty- mean the condition of that group only whose income is low and therefore, the standard of
living is not enough to sustain normal health and efficiency.

Cartographic School

This school (Siegel, 1998) is concerned primarily with the distribution of crimes in certain areas, both
geographical and social. This school viewed crime as a necessary expression of social conditions.
One of these alternative ways was associated with looking for geographical patterns in criminal
behavior. Scholars who frequently employ maps and other geographical information in their research
are called cartographers.

MAJOR THINKERS OF CARTOGRAPHIC SCHOOL

Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet (1796-1874)

  L.A.J Adolphe Quetelet was e Belgian mathematician who began, together with a French man,
Andre – Michel Guerry, the cartographic school of criminology.
 This approach made of social statistics that were being developed in Europe in the early
nineteenth century.
 He was one of the first social scientists to use objective mathematical techniques to investigate
the influence of social factors, such as season, climate, sex and age on the propensity to
commit crime.
 Used shaded areas of maps in explaining variations in French official crime statistics. His
findings: wealthier areas had higher property crime in which he concluded that higher crime
rates were due to greater opportunity. He also proposed the “thermic law” of crime where he
stated that in areas with equatorial climate, crimes against person are more prevalent, whereas
in colder places, property crimes are more prevalent.
 Man have greater propensity for crimes than women; younger greater than old.

Andre – Micheal Guerry (1802 – 1866)

 A second prominent contributor to the cartographic school, he was a French lawyer.
 Guerry meticulously shaped maps of various regions of France according to their crime rates.
 He was the first person known to objectively test the hypothesis that crime was most prevalent
among the poor and uneducated.
 He concluded that property crimes were higher in wealthy areas but violent crimes were much
higher in poor areas.