Classical criminological theory, biological and psychological positivism has had a huge impact on the criminal justice system and how people are being punished by the crime they commit over the years. This essay will compare the above mentioned theories and point out some disadvantages of these theories.
To begin with, classical theory is based on the idea of rationality. Beccaria (1764), in his book of “crime and punishment” expresses his view that people are responsible for their own conduct. Just like all other classical theorists, Beccaria believes that any individual has free will and are entitled to make choices hence making them responsible for their own crime. However, it can be argued that free will mostly results in hedonistic utilitarianism (pleasure minus pain) which creates a solid foundation for classical theory.
Classical approaches dwells on the fact that there should be laws governing a society and punishment should be proportionate to the crime made. Beccaria thought capital punishment was indeed an extreme way to punish an individual so he disliked it. He wrote against it.
Jeremy Bentham, on the other hand, wrote that (1789): ‘Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure…’ His idea is based on hedonistic utilitarianism. He emphasises that, utility demanded that the same principle should be applied to punishment. He also disliked capital punishment. Some writers such as Hart (1983) and Roshier (1989) believe that there is an important difference between Beccaria and Bentham in their approach to crime and punishment. They say that Beccaria’s approach of utility is limited because he considered the dignity of the individual whereas Bentham was prepared to sacrifice the notion if it would benefit a greater amount of the population.
In relation to classism, Neo- classism was also introduced in the mid-19th century. According to the Neo-classical approach and a Neo-classical theorist, they suggest that no one has a total free will. This opposes the work of Beccaria and Bentham but not completely. Neo- classism tells us that an individual’s action is influenced by age, gender, social and economic environment. However, they still draw to the conclusion that everyone is responsible for their own actions.
Classicism made a huge impact on the criminal justice system throughout Europe after the French Revolution. It helped abolished Capital punishment and created an equal administration of justice. It also brought about fairness and rationality of laws and legal processes. Classism makes it clear that crime is attractive when it promises great benefits with little effort to it. According to classicism, the solution to crime is deterrence. It is a situation where by an individual is prevented from committing crime by punishment.
Although people believe in rationality, others believe in determinism. That is the concept of positivism. People believe some individuals are biologically made to be criminals while others consider the psychological aspects of the individual.
Positivism can be traced back to the works of Emile Durkheim, Andre-Michel Guerry and many more. Cesare Lombroso and the Italian school of criminology began to focus on the biology of offenders. They scientifically studied the physical characteristics of individuals. They discovered that body type, genetic characteristics and chromosome abnormality could be used to define a person as a criminal. Also, physiognomy studies proved that, physical characteristics were symptoms of inferiority or superiority. Lombroso (1876), “The criminal man” explained that people with enormous jaws, high cheek bones, insensitivity to pain, irregular teeth, ears of unusual size and scanty beard were likely to be criminals. In order for him to prove his point, he examined three hundred and eighty-three (383) criminals. He also stated in his book that dead bodies of criminals were physically different from normal people. After his examination, he came up with a conclusion that 21% had one characteristics, 43% had five or more characteristics and 30-40% had a stigmata compared to lower levels in other political groups. He also identified two types of criminals. They were the “sane criminal and the criminaloid”. He said the sane criminals had some characteristics of a criminal but they were not born criminals. Rather they became criminals by a brain alteration which affects their moral nature. With addition to that, criminaloids had none of the physical characteristics but they later became criminals as time went by.
However, Charles Buckman, another positivist theorist, opposed Lombroso’s biological theory. He claimed Lombroso was being unscientific. Buckman (1913), “ The English Convict” compared 3,000 convicts and Non-Criminals and found no correlation between them.
Later, Lombroso's work was carried forward by Enrico Ferri 1856-1928). He was best known for his work Criminal Sociology (1881). He argued that crime is caused by different factors which includes race, climate, location,age and many more. Ferri made it clear that crime prevention was far more important than punishment. He came up with ideas that the state would consider to prevent crime. These included birth control and inexpensive houses. He later became a law professor and was asked to draw a new Italian criminal code.
Another major Italian positivist was Raffaele Garofalo. He opposed the idea of free will and stated that crime can only be studied by the use of scientific methodology. In his book Criminology (1885), he attempted to define crime universally. He was an experienced judge and worked under the criminal justice system. He stated that the idea of punishment is irrelevant. He thought that the death penalty should only be used for offenders whose crimes were as a result of a “permanent psychological anomaly which renders the subject forever incapable of social life”.
The correlation between classical theory and positivism is the criminal justice system. They both have the same view of the criminal justice system being able to control crime but the terms in which the goals are achieved are set out differently. Classism considers that individuals are free. They make rational decisions and are likely to break the rules for their own advantage. According to the positivists, free will and right of individuals are the leading cause of crimes. While classical theory prefers punishment positivism does not. Positivism encourages rehabilitation. Additionally, they believe punishment does not correct a criminal but rather taking them to rehabilitation centres will transform them.
A typical disadvantage of positivism is inflexibility. Since positivists believe that everything can be measured, they turn out to be inflexible as they pay no attention to unexplained phenomena.
In conclusion, positivism brought about empirical research which was meant to differentiate between criminals and non criminals. This has resulted in projects all over the world with different theories of criminality. Both classical and positivism approaches are still relevant to