This essay will investigate two criminological theories; classicism and positivism (which are both part of orthodox criminology) and how they relate to the reasons why Justin Rollins committed such violent crimes and how his way of life on the streets and his terrible addiction to alcohol contributed to the deuteriation of his mental and physical wellbeing whilst growing up. Classicism is best described as an approach to crime in a rational way therefore, the risks out way the benefits of committing crime and that every individual has free will and hedonism and if involved in criminal activity they are responsible for their actions (Carrabine et al, 2014).
The classical school of Criminology was developed in the 18th century through the enlightenment. This was where classical thinking was the ‘response to different forms of punishment at the time’. However, the two main people behind this theory of criminology and are also seen as the most important enlightenment classical thinkers and they are Jeremy Bentham and Cesare de Beccaria (Carrabine et al, 2014). They both had different views on crime; Jeremy Bentham believes that “individuals broke the law, in order to gain excitement, money, sex or something else that was valued” (Carrabine et al, 2014: 127). In contrast to this Cesare de Beccaria believed that “It is better to prevent crime than to punish them” (Carrabine et al, 2014: 126). He also states that the crime committed should determine what punishment is given to the criminal and no more than necessary. Therefore, he argued that laws were put in place to ensure the punishment was coherent and in line with the crime (Lawteacher.net 2013). Classical thinking states that criminals make a rational decision and choose to commit crime due to free will and this can be argued that it is also due to maximum pleasure and minimum pain (Lawteacher.net 2013). Overall, there are weaknesses of this school and that is that the thought of all criminals being rational is not generalisable or completely valid to the whole population. This is because there may be other factors that have influenced the individual to commit the crime for example, biological factors that prevent the criminal from being able to think and act rationally (Lawteacher.net 2013). However, positivism states that the individual commits criminal activity due to internal and external influencing factors. It also suggests that people are driven to crime by forces out of their own control. (Carrabine et al, 2014).
The positivist school of criminology opposes the classical school of thinking. Unlike classicism, positivism interprets criminal behaviour as ‘irrational’ and due to influencing factors such as; biological, physical or phycological problems that the individual has while committing the crime (Newburn, T 2017). The father of modern criminology is known as Cesare Lombroso, he believed that a criminal was almost a “separate species” (Newburn, T 2017:133). He stated that criminals have different characteristics (Mental and physical) such as; deviation in the size of the head, large jaw and cheek bones, eye defects, massive ears or sometimes very small. He stated that the characteristics of the face were “like some animals” or also “found in reptiles” (Newburn, T 2017:133). This can be seen that Lombroso doesn’t see criminals as human but as animals instead. He also believed that criminals were born and not made.
Within the Foreword section of the book “The Lost Boyz: A Dark Side of Graffiti” by Justin Rollins, Noel ‘Razor’ Smith states that Justin’s father abandoned the family when he was young, and this meant that when Justin’s mother went to work, him and his sister were left with in the care of childminders “who abused him both mentally and physically” (Smith 2011: 9). The abuse also continued at school about the colour of his skin and this led to Justin having panic attacks and he was made to feel like an alien to the rest of the society. However, it can be argued that this is when Justin decided to take his life to the streets when he ran away at the age of eleven and slept in a bus station for the first time (Smith, 2011). Noel ‘Razor’ Smith states that Justin Rollins didn’t become a criminal through “any desire to get rich or become a ‘gangster’, but because he so easily slipped through the cracks of a society that, mainly through the influence of the tabloid media, was quick to demonise the young as predators and ‘lawless hoodies’” (Smith 2011: 9,10).
The way Justin Rollins explains his anxiety and fear that people want to fight and kill him can be seen as the consequence of the abuse he has suffered as a child. This would have affected his mental health and formed a significant level of trust issues. Justin constantly saw himself and his sister as the “odd ones out” because they were the only Asian kids in the family (Rollins, J 20111:17). Justin stated that around this time of his childhood he “committed a few violent acts on other children and started stealing things such as toys and money” and he says, “I was bloody good at stealing and in my teens, it earned me a nice bit of money” (Rollins, J 2011:20). This supports Jeremy Bentham’s view on crime within the classical school of criminology.
The reasons behind why Justin Rollins committed crime can be seen as a positivist approach as it can be argued that he had ‘influencing factors’, for example receiving continuous abuse as a child and this led him to build mental health issues such as, anxiety, panic attacks, not knowing how to deal with his emotions and anger. When he said, “for no particular reason I armed myself with a pair of scissors and stabbed a boy in the face with them, there you have it first time I stabbed someone, and I was only five years old” (Rollins, J 2011:20). This shows that at such a young age he had developed such an evil and angry mind due to the things he has seen and had to deal with first hand at such a young age. To support this, he states “I know this violent act stemmed straight from the abuse I was being dished out. who could I tell though? I was scared and confused” (Rollins, J 2011:20).
Within the book ‘The lost Boyz’, it is noted that Justin didn’t have the best relationship with his mother as she was out to work a lot of the time and him and his sister were left with an abusive childminder. It is known that the first two years of a child are the most important to gain attachments with their primary caregiver (Bowlby 1951). However, if this is broken it can cause a number of problems in the future. one of them is ‘affectionless psychopathy’. This is when a child has the inability to show affection or apprehension for others and they act on ‘impulse’ with little or no care of the consequences of their actions. This can also result in showing no guilt for any anti-social behaviour (Robertson and Bowlby 1952). Justin states “it shows how delicate a child’s mind can be, a child needs to be loved and protected” (Rollins, J 2011:20). This somewhat shows that he is aware that he is not getting this.
In contrast to this, the reason Justin Rollins committed crime could also be seen as a classicist approach as it can be argued that, he knows right from wrong and that he went out of his own way and committed these violent acts on behalf of his own free will. It is known that children tend to develop moral understanding between the age of two and three (psychologytoday.com). This shows that Justin Rollins knew that stabbing someone in the face with scissors at the age of five and stealing from shops and vandalising train depots was wrong and will result in being punished for it.