Theories of Crime

Key World Events to Consider:

1. The Renaissance2. Age of Enlightenment3. Industrial Revolution 4. French Revolution5. 13 Colonies Revolution

Key World Events to Consider:

1. The Renaissancea. Period between 1300 - 1600; Europe goes through a rebirth of culture and

ideas (a reconnection to Greek and Roman literature, studies, history). Also saw the rise of more central powers (more emphasis on national identities rather than feudal societies). Also the rise of new technologies (mariner’s tools, and printing - Gutenberg Printing press 1436 - spreading of ideas) and the rise of Humanism (studies that broke away from Religious influence).

2. Age of Enlightenment a. Period between 1600 - 1700; known as the Age of Reason. European scientists

question authority and began to believe that humanity could be improved through changes based in rationality. Ideas in political, philosophical, and scientific studies revolutionized how humans study the world.

3. Industrial Revolution (Urban Migration)

4. French Revolution

4. French Revolution (2)

Classical Criminology - Pre-Classical laws were often based on religious beliefs, and because of the government’

lack of accountability to its citizens, laws were used as means of eliminating undesirables

- Private trials, unfounded accusations, torture, arbitrary and excessively harsh punishments weren’t uncommon to reinforce the will of the higher classes

- Although laws were published, many people who were poor did not have the ability to read the laws, or have the education to interpret them

- Urbanization changed the way that the peasant class was treated in the social hierarchy (from the protection of Lords to nothing to lose), and a middle class was being created as Feudalism became something of the past.

Classical Criminologists became concerned with:

- Changing the law to ensure that due process, rule of law, and individual rights were respected in the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Industrial Ages.

Witch hunts...a thing of the past?

Classical Criminology - Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham

Beccaria’s work On Crimes and Punishment (1764), and some of his other works, outlined his ideas for ensuring that proportionality was taken into account in each case:

a. Limit judicial discretion by ensuring that the process of convicting and sentencing a crime (as well as sentencing options) were fully documented. Need for determinate sentences.

b. Ensure that celerity (swift punishment), certainty (follow through), and severity (ensuring a punishment fits a crime - proportionality) are accounted for.

c. Ensure that a criminal’s rights are respected during the process (poor pre-trial detention areas, prison conditions)

Classical Criminology - Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham - While Beccaria of Italy was concerned

with how deterrents were created and enforced, Jeremy Bentham was concerned with deterrents to help contend with people’s hedonistic goals, . However, Bentham and Beccaria’s ideas do have some overlap.

a. Hedonistic Calculus: pleasure vs pain calculator involved with making a (criminal) decision.

Classical Criminology’s long term influence:

1. Ensured that Criminal Justice Systems keep their documents updated for the public to examine

2. Updates criminal offences to be clear in terms of expectations,

3. Ensures that punishments have celerity, certainty, & severity, and

4. Ensures the rights of criminals are protected.

Positivist School- Although the Classical School aimed to create a fair criminal justice system, the Industrial

Revolution was occurring during a time when there was new interest in scientific exploration.

- In Positivist Criminology, there is a biological explanation for a person’s criminal activity.

Classical School Positivist School

- Made up of mostly writers and philosophers

- Aim to make the CJS fair for all through modernizing and civilizing criminal practices

- Criminal justice should ‘combat’ the hedonistic drives of humans

- More likely to be Scientists, Mathematicians, doctors, and astronomers.

- Aimed to explain the world around them (how can we categorize and fix criminals)

Positivist Critique of Classicism

• Critical of Rationality

– The cost- benefit calculation

• Critical of Universal Sentencing

– If the context of choice is different, shouldn’t sentencing differ as well?

• Critical of lack of focus on criminal

– Really a theory of the state, not of the actor

Basis of Positivist Studies

(Jeffery 1960)

• Determinism: crime is caused by factors other than rational decisions (genes, disease)

• Differentiation: criminals are different in some identifiable manner from non- criminals (us and them mentality)

• Pathology: this is something “wrong‟: not just normal variation

Some Positivist ways to categorize crime:- Statistics (begin to emerge as a way to

categorize crime in the 1800’s)

- Biological Studies, such as - phrenology; the belief that bumps on a

head would tell us something about a criminal,

- William Sheldon’s body types (1940’s), - Study of Genetics (Francis Galton)- and some psychological theories have been

used to analyse criminal behaviour (Sigmund Freud)

Some Positivist ways to categorize crime:

Spotlight: Cesare Lombroso (6 November 1835 – 19 October 1909)

- Was a doctor for many years, became a Criminology professor who focused on studies of the human brain

- He conducted observational and biological studies of soldiers, criminals, psychopaths, and the general population in order to find biological factors of criminality.

- Based on these studies, Lombroso concluded that people who had atavistic characteristics (perceived primitive physical features) were likely to commit crime

- This also led to Lombroso promoting the idea of born criminals

Spotlight: Adolphe Quetelet (1796 - 1874)

- Statistical approach to criminality: attempted to explain the noticeably consistent patterns in crime statistics.

- One of the more common ways of tracking criminals.

Influence of Positivist Ideas on Law - what’s the take-away?

Positivist ideas had an enormous impact on Reproductive Rights in Canada.

The changes in classification of mental illness drastically change how the CJS operates.

Positivist Criminology long term positive influence

- With the involvement of science in law: (1) Scientists began to keep records of where and whom crimes were committed by, (2) began to study criminals to see if biological (and other) factors were a cause of a crime, (3) influenced the Criminal Justice System to offer treatments to prisoners rather than punish them.(4) Emphasis on methodology (5) Crime pattern analysis and Crime Reduction Strategies (6) Continued (limited) research into genetic and psychological disposition to crime

Critiques of Positive Criminology

- Lombroso and biological positivism - Physical differences assumed to signal under -evolution - Methodologically flawed - The socially powerful assumed to be superior: dangerous precedent - Relieves society from any responsibility- Expert domain expansion: danger of repressive intervention (eg.

Mussolini) - Generally

- Deterministic / Over -predictive - Ignores social construction of “crime”: uncritical of official definitions

and measurements - Understates range of criminal behaviour and criminality

This week’s case study:1. Read the following article:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/flash-mobs-give-way-to-unsettling-trend-flash-robs-1.677947 2. Create chart that looks like the one below; as we go through each theory of crime,

add in a section. Share with Ruest by Friday of this week. Here is an example: 3. An activity like this might appear on a future test. Practice now...

Theory What Elements of the Crime would the school of thought analyze?

Based on this theory of crime, how would you modify current legal systems to combat the issue?

Classical Criminology

- [Bentham] Risk versus reward; Classical Criminologists would look at the rewards of being involved in “Flash Robs” versus risk (seems minimal considering how easy it is to organize and how quick the crime happens)

- [Beccaria]

- [Bentham] Create ways to ensure that the crime’s risk outweighs its rewards (help small business to protect themselves against Flash Robs)

- [Beccaria]