Classicalism vs.

Positivism

Two of the main criminology perspectives are Classical Criminology and Positivist Criminology. Although these two are both studied in the criminology field, their views are distinctly contradictory from each other. These two theories and many others like them all collaborate together and make the field of criminology what it is today.

Criminology is basically the scientific approach to studying criminal behaviour(Siegel 4). It refers to the study of the nature of crime or way that crime occurs. There are many facets of criminology and this definition is the broad umbrella term that covers the main idea. There are three main areas of significance to criminologists: the development of criminal law and its use to define crime, the cause of law violations and the methods used to control criminal behaviour (Siegel 4). Since criminology is a science, it is studied in a scientific way using appropriate research tools and the scientific method. As well as criminology being a science, it is interdisciplinary, meaning that it involves two or more academic fields. Criminology intertwines with sociology, criminal justice, political science, psychology, economics and the natural sciences. One can not come up with the subject of criminology without mentioning what constitutes a crime. A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law (Wikipedia). These crimes may or may not be deviant. There are many ways to describe criminology, some include, an objective vs. subjective approach, deductive vs. inductive logic and the interdisciplinary approach. In using the interdisciplinary approach, the two main theories most looked at are classicalism and positivism.

After the Dark Ages came the Age of Enlightenment also known as the Classicalist Era. During this period of time social philosophers came to rethink the punishment process that currently existed and began putting in place a more rational form of punishment. The main emphasis during the Classicalist Era was on philosophy, there was no science involved. Philosophers such as Baccaria, Bentham found that human beings are rational creatures and they had the free will to determine whether or not to commit crimes. Their view was based on the utilitarian principle that peoples behaviour is motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain (Siegel 648). There are different ways that followers of the classicalist view believe can deter crime. Their punishment philosophy is to use the process of deterrence, retribution and incapacitation. Classicalists are heavily reliant on the deterrence theory which basically states that in order to deter crimes the punishment must be swift, certain and severe in order to be effective. As with mostly every theory, there are some problems and criticisms associated with the classicalist point of view. Classical theoryassumes that rational p people will choose to enter the social contract; thus, anyone who commits crime is pathological or irrational, that is unable or willing to enter into a social contract

(Bohm16). This fails to take into consideration that crime might be rational depending on the persons social status. Another criticism is how classicalists believe that all people have free will and are completely responsible for their own behaviours and actions without any outside influences. Yet another criticism is their belief in deterrence. Research has shown that there is little correlation between punishment and crime, meaning that there isnt a significant amount of information showing that deterrence actually works leading it into a controversial issue. People commit crimes for many different reasons that classicalists fail to acknowledge. Classical criminology was the first big step into what makes up the field of criminology today, dominating around the eighteenth century. A change in the way information was assembled with the emergence of the scientific method challenged the classical perspective and introduced the theory of Positivism.

Positivist criminology emerged in the nineteenth century after people stopped relying on pure thought and reason and started to observe and analyse to understand thewy things worked. Positive philosophy was an explicit repudiation or reaction to the critical and negative philosophy of the Enlightenment [Classicalist] thinkers (Bohm21). Positivism has two main elements: One is the belief that human behaviour is function of forces beyond a persons control [and] the second aspect of positivism is embracing the scientific method to solve problems (Siegel 7-8). . Positivism is known for the use of science and the scientific method in their research. Positivists such as Lombroso, whom is considered the father of criminology, set the stage for examination of external forces that may affect why people commit crimes. The positivist perspective believes that peoples behaviour is determined and not a matter of free will. Positivist criminologists study people who have their free will altered and those alterations have shown links to criminal behaviour. This gave rise to the aggravating/mitigating circumstances. A difference between classicalism and positivism is that positivists believe that society is based primarily on a consensus about moral values but not on asocial contract, as the classical theorists believed (Bohm 25). The positivist punishment philosophy was not to deter or use retribution but to fix the problem at hand. This is one of the many points that classicalists and positivists disagree on. Just like the classicalist theory, positivism has some problems as well. A couple criticisms of this theory are that positivists over predict crime and they ignore the criminalization process. Critics also question their belief in determinism and their belief that social scientists and criminologists can be objective or value-neutral in their work (Bohm 27). These two criminological perspectives, Classicalism and Positivism, although different intertwine to form an interdisciplinary perspective of both which makes up much of the criminology field we know today. Cesare Lombroso became known as the father of criminology. He became famous in the nineteenth century because he claimed to have discovered the cause of crime. Lombroso wrote The Criminal Man that was published in 1876. In his book, Lombroso claimed that the dead bodies of criminals revealed that they were physically different than normal people. He claimed that criminals have abnormal

dimensions of the skull and jaw. Lombroso believed that criminals were born with traits and did not commit crimes on free will as the classical school of criminology would suggest. (Unknown)

If criminality was inherited, Lombroso claimed that certain physical characteristics could be distinguished. These would be large jaws, low sloping forehead, high cheekbones, flattened or upturned nose, handle shaped ears, hawk-like nose or fleshy lips, hard shifty eyes, scanty beard or baldness, insensitivity to pain, and long arms in relativity to the lower limbs. After much successive research and analysis, Lombroso modified his theories. He identified two other types of criminal: the insane criminal and the criminaloid. He concluded that insane criminals bore some of the characteristics but were not born criminals. They became criminal as a result of an alteration of the brain which upsets their moral nature. Criminaloids had none of the physical characteristics of the born criminal but became criminals later in life. (Unknown) These criminaloids also tended to commit less serious crimes. They were further categorized as habitual offenders who became so by contact with other criminals, the abuse of alcohol or other distressing circumstances. Lombroso was also an advocate for humane treatment of criminals. He argued for the removal of born criminals from society for their own and societys protection, for rehabilitation for those not born criminals and was against capital punishment. (Unknown) Each school of thought has impacted the criminal justice system today. They are both in force. Both of these theories did away with the cruel, inhumane treatment of criminals and the reformation of the death penalty. Our Constitution is based on the classical school of thought. The positivist school of thought made it possible to get criminals the help they need to be rehabilitated. The systems sentencing guidelines are based on the classical school of thought with the concept let the punishment fit the crime. (Siegal, 2010)

WORKS CITED Bohm, Robert M. A Primer on Crime and Delinquency Theory, Second Edition. California: Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc., 2001.Crime (disambiguation). Wickipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 6 June Larry J. 2006.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_%28disambiguation%29>.Siegel,

Criminology, Ninth Edition

. California: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.