Introduction to Criminology

CRJ 270
Instructor: Jorge Pierrott
Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
 Criminology Today
AN INTEGRATIVE INTRODUCTION
SEVENTH EDITION

CHAPTER 3
Classical and
Neoclassical Thought

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
 Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter, students should be able to answer
the following questions:
•What are the major principles of the Classical School of
criminology?
•What were some forerunners of classical thought in
criminology?
•Who were some important thinkers of the Classical School of
criminology, and what was their legacy?

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
 Chapter Objectives Cont.
• What is neoclassical criminology, and how does it differ
from the classical perspective? How does it build on it?
• What is the role of punishment in neoclassical criminology?
• What are the policy implications of the Classical School and
of neoclassical thought?
• What are the criticisms of classical and neoclassical
perspectives on crime?

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
 Introduction

• Majority of crimes are likely to be

planned, at least to some degree
• This chapter looks at perspectives
based on the believe that at least some
crime is the result of rational choices by
offenders

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
Figure 3-1 Key Principles of Classical and
Neoclassical Criminology
Source: Schmalleger, Frank J., Criminology. Printed
and Electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson
Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
Forerunners of Classical Thought

• All human societies had notions of right

and wrong
• William Graham Sumner - behavior is
governed by:
 Mores
• proscriptions covering potentially serious
violations of a group’s values (e.g.,
murder, rape, robbery)

continued on next slide

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Forerunners of Classical Thought

• William Graham Sumner - behavior is

governed by:
 Folkways
• customs whose violation is less likely to
threaten group survival of the group
(dress codes, social manners)
 Laws
• codified into formal structures for
enforcement purposes
continued on next slide

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Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
Forerunners of Classical Thought

• Mala in se
 Acts said to be fundamentally or inherently
wrong regardless of time or place. (Forcing
someone to have sex against their will or the
intentional killing of children.)

• Mala prohibita
 Acts said to be wrong only because they are
prohibited. (Prostitution, gambling, drug use,
and premarital sex)

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 The Demonic Era

• Humans always preoccupied with good

vs. evil
• Explanations for evil that appears
cosmically-based (plague) include
divine punishment, karma, fate,
vengeful activities of offended gods

continued on next slide

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 The Demonic Era

• Explanations for evil due to individual

behavior (personal victimization, crime,
deviance) include demonic possession,
spiritual influences, temptation by
fallen angels

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 Early Sources of Criminal Law

• King Hammurabi ruled Babylon from 1792

to 1750 B.C. and created a legal code.
• Code of Hammurabi
 Emphasis on retribution
• Hammurabi’s law spoke to issues of:
 Theft
 Property ownership
 Sexual relationships and
 Interpersonal violence

continued on next slide

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Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
 Early Sources of Criminal Law
• Early Roman Law
 Twelve Tables – A collection of basic rules
regulating family, religion and economic life.
 Based on common and fair practices
 Justinian Code included:
• The Institutes
• The Digest
• The Code
• It distinguished between public and private
laws

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 Early Sources of Criminal Law

• Common Law
 Based on shared traditions supported by court
decisions
 Major source of modern criminal law
• Magna Carta (King John of England)
 Barons demanding respect of their traditions.
 Individual rights
 Due process

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 The Enlightenment
(Age of Reason)
• Social movement in the 17th & 18th Centuries
 Thomas Hobbes
• Fear of violent death forces humans into social
contract.
• In exchange the state demands surrender of
certain natural rights and submission to the
absolute authority.

continued on next slide

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 The Enlightenment
(Age of Reason)
• John Locke – Essay Concerning Human
Understanding
• Blank slate
 Expanded social contract concept
• Once government is formed, its obligated to
assume responsibilities toward its citizens.
• Protection, Welfare, Life, Health, Liberty and
Possessions
 Checks and balances

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 The Enlightenment

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
 Humans intrinsically good
 Natural law - rights that individuals
retain in the face of government action
and interests
• Thomas Paine
 Natural rights –
 Thomas Jefferson - “life, liberty,
property”
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 The Classical School

• Enlightenment led to view of humans

as self-determining entities with
freedom of choice
• Led to Classical School of criminological
thought
 Explained crime as resulting from the
exercise of free will
 Moral wrongdoing fed by personal
choice

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 Cesare Beccaria

• Essay on Crimes and Punishments

(1764)
• Philosophy of punishment
 Purpose of punishment – deterrence,
prevention
 Swift, certain
 Only severe enough to outweigh personal
benefits derived from crime
• Opposed to capital punishment, torture
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 Jeremy Bentham

• Introduction to the Principles of Moral Legislation

(1789)
• Two sovereign masters:
 Pain and pleasure
• Hedonistic calculus/utilitarianism
 People act to maximize pleasure, minimize pain
 Therefore, pain from punishment must exceed pleasure
from crime
• Panopticon – model prison

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 Neoclassical Criminology

• Positivism began to dominate in 20th

century
 Use of scientific method to study crime
 Based on hard determinism - belief
that crime results from forces beyond
individual’s control

continued on next slide

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 Neoclassical Criminology

• Assumptions undermined in 1970s

 Studies suggesting failure of
rehabilitation
 Fear of crime  “get tough on crime”
policies
 Reaffirmation of belief in rationality

continued on next slide

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 Neoclassical Criminology

• Resurgence of classical ideals in 1970s

– middle ground between total free will
and hard determinism
• Key influences
 Robert Martinson’s survey of
rehabilitation programs leading to
“nothing-works doctrine”

continued on next slide

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 Neoclassical Criminology

• Key influences
 James Q. Wilson – crime is not a result
of social conditions and cannot be
affected by social programs
 David Fogel’s justice model – criminals
deserve punishment because of their
choices

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
 Rational Choice Theory (RCT)

• Criminals make a conscious, rational

choice to commit crime
• Cost-benefit analysis
 Behavior result of personal choices
made after weighing costs and benefits
 Crime will decrease when opportunities,
limited, benefits reduced, costs
increased

continued on next slide

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

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 Rational Choice Theory (RCT)

• Two main varieties

 Routine activities theory
 Situational choice theory

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 Routine Activities Theory

• Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson

 Lifestyle and changes in society
contribute to volume, type of crime
• Elements needed for crime:
 Motivated offender
 Suitable target
 Absence of capable guardians

continued on next slide

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 Routine Activities Theory

• Lifestyles that contribute to criminal

opportunities likely to result in crime
because increase risk of potential
victimization

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 Situational Choice Theory

• Ronald V. Clarke and Derek Cornish

• Soft determinism
 Crime is a function of choices and
decisions made within a context of
situational constraints and opportunities
 Crime requires motivation and
opportunity
• Reduce crime by changing the
environment
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 Situational Crime Control
Objectives
• Increase the effort involved in crime
• Increase the risks associated with crime
• Reduce the rewards of crime
• Reduce the provocations for crime
• Remove the excuses that facilitate
crime

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 The Seductions of Crime

• Jack Katz explains crime as the result

of positive attractions of the experience
of criminality
 Crime is often pleasurable for offenders,
which is a major motivation behind
crime
 Crime is sensually compelling

continued on next slide

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 The Seductions of Crime

• Suggests criminology be redirected to

situational factors that directly
precipitate crime and reflect crimes’
sensuality

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Situational Crime-Control Policy

• Situational crime prevention shifts the

focus away from the offender and onto
the context in which crime occurs
• Begins with opportunity structure of
crime – reduce opportunities to reduce
crime
• Focus on context of crime as alternative
to traditional offender-based crime
prevention policies
Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Critique of Rational Choice Theory

• Overemphasis on individual choice,

relative disregard for the role of social
factors in crime causation
• Assumes everyone is equally capable of
making rational decisions
• Displacement may occur as a result of
situational crime prevention strategies

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

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 Punishment and Neoclassical
Thought
• Classical School emphasizes deterrence
as purpose of punishment
• Neoclassical view adds retribution
 Someone who chooses to violate the law
deserve to be punished
 Criminals must be punished to curtail
future crime

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 Just Deserts

• Just deserts model of sentencing -

offenders deserve the punishment they
receive and punishments should be
appropriate to type/severity of crime
• Justice is what the individual deserves
when all circumstances are considered

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 Deterrence

• Types of deterrence
 Specific – goal of sentencing seeking to
prevent a particular offender from
engaging in repeat criminality
 General – seeks to prevent others from
committing similar crimes

continued on next slide

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 Deterrence

• For punishment to deter, it must be

swift, certain, and sufficiently severe
• High recidivism rates suggest specific
deterrence does not prevent repeat
crime

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

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Figure 3-5 The Crime Funnel
Note: Includes drug crimes.
Source: Statistics derived from Kathleen Maquire, ed., Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics,
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook (accessed May 12, 2013).

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
 Capital Punishment

• Brings together notions of deterrence,

retribution and just deserts
 Considerable disagreement over the
efficacy of death as a criminal sanction
 Much research into efficacy, fairness of
capital punishment

continued on next slide

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 Capital Punishment

• Capital punishment and race

 Opponents cite research suggesting it
has been imposed disproportionately on
racial minorities
 Advocates more concerned with whether
penalty is fairly imposed

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Policy Implications of Classical
and Neoclassical Thought
• Determinate sentencing
 Mandates a specific and fixed amount of
time to be served for each offense
category
• Truth in sentencing
 Requires judges to assess and make
public the actual time an offender is
likely to serve

continued on next slide

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
Policy Implications of Classical
and Neoclassical Thought
• Incapacitation
 The use of imprisonment to reduce the
likelihood that an offender will be able
to commit future crimes

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A Critique of Classical Theories

• Represents more a philosophy of justice

than a theory of crime causation
• Lacks explanatory power over criminal
motivation – does not really explain
how choices for/against crime are made
• Little empirical scientific basis for
claims of Classical School

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved
 Activity

Your instructor will place you in groups and assign you a public
venue (a library, a grocery store, a video store, an office building,
etc.). Your group is to inspect the location and answer the
following questions:
 What situational crime prevention techniques are in use in this
location? What types of crime do they attempt to prevent? (For
example, metal detectors help prevent the theft of library books.)
 What additional crime prevention techniques could be used to
reduce crime in this location?

Criminology Today, 7th Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Frank Schmalleger All Rights Reserved