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INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY
CRIMINOLOGY
-The entire body of knowledge regarding crimes, criminals and the effort of society to prevent and repress them.
-The scientific study of the causes of crimes in relation to man and society who set and define rules and regulations for himself and
other to govern.
NATURE OF CRIMINOLOGY
1. It is an applied science.
2. It is a social science. Crime is a social creation and it exists in a society being a social phenomenon.
3. It is dynamic. Criminology changes as a social condition changes. It is concomitant with the advancement of other science that
have been applied to it.
4. It is nationalistic. The study of crimes must be in relation with the existing criminal law within a territory or country. The
question as to whether an act is a crime is dependent on the criminal law of a state.
A. Criminal etiology = the study of the Cause or origin of crime. It studies the primary reason for crime commission.
B. Sociology of law = attempt at scientific analysis of the condition which the penal/criminal laws has developed as a process of
formal or social control.
C. Sociology = it is the study of human society, its origin, structure, functions and direction.
D. Criminological research = study of the crime correlated to with antecedent variables, state of crime trend.
CRIME
- An act or omission in violation of public law forbidding or commanding it.
SUB-CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES
a. FELONY
- An act or omission punishable by law which is committed by means or dolo (deceit) or culpa (fault) and punishable under the
Revised Penal Code.
b. OFFENSE
- An act or omission in violation of a special law.
c. 3) INFRACTION
- An act or omission in violation of a city or municipal ordinance.
Classes of Crimes
1. Crime Mala In Se = acts that are outlawed because they violate basic moral values such as rape, murder, assault and robbery?
a. Intentional felony (IFI)
b. Non-intentional felony (IFN)
2. Crime Mala Prohibita = acts that are outlawed because they clash with current norms and public opinion, such as tax, traffic and
drug laws.
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ELEMENT OF A FELONY
a) INTENTIONAL FELONIES:
- committed by means of dolo (deceit)
- The act or omission is performed with deliberate intent or malice
1) Freedom or voluntariness
2) Intelligence
3) Intent
b) CULPABLE FELONIES:
- committed by means of Culpa (fault)
- The act or omission of the offender is not malicious and the injury caused by the offender is unintentional, it being the simply the
incident of another act performed without malice
1) Freedom or voluntariness
2) Intelligence
3) Negligence or imprudence (lack of
Foresight or lack of skill)
Cleared crimes = two ways by which crimes are closed: (1) when at least one person arrested, charge, and turned over to
the court for prosecution, (2) by exception means, when some element beyond police control precludes the physical arrest of an
offender e.g. when he/she leaves the country.
Corporative crimes = white collar crime involving a legal violation by corporate entity such as price fixing, restraint of trade,
or hazardous waste dumping.
Crime of reduction = crimes that are committed when the offended party experiences a loss of some quality relative to his
her present standing such as when they becomes victims of robbery or theft, but they may also be victimized if their dignity is
stripped from them when they are taunted by racists.
Crime of repression = crimes that are committed when members of a group are prevented from achieving their fullest
potential because of racism, sexism, or some status bias.
Cyber crime = the commission of criminal acts using the instruments of modern technology such as computers or the
internet.
Economical crime = an act in violation of the criminal that is designed to bring financial gain to the offender.
Enterprise crime = the use of illegal tactics by a business to make profits in the market place.
Expressive crime = a crime that has no purpose except to accomplish the behavioral hand such as shooting someone.
Hate crime = act of violence or intimidation design to terrorize or frighten people considered undesirable because of their
race, religion, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.
Inchoate crime = incomplete or contemplated crimes such as criminal solicitation or criminal attempts.
Mission hate crimes = violent crimes committed by disturbed individuals who see it as their duty to rid the world of evil.
Organizational crimes = crimes that involves large corporations and their efforts to control the market place and earn huge
profits, through unlawful bidding, unfair advertising, monopolistic practices, or other illegal means.
Organized crimes = illegal activities of people and organization whose acknowledge purpose is profit to illegitimate
business enterprise.
Public order crimes = Acts that are considered illegal because they threaten general well- being of society and challenge its
accepted moral principles. Prostitution, drug use, and the sale of pornography are considered public order crimes.
Reactive hate crime = perpetrators believe they are taking a defensive stand against outsiders who they believe threaten
their community or way of life.
Retaliatory hate crime = offense committed in response to a hate crime, real or perceived.
Statutory crimes =crimes defined by legislative bodies in response to changing social conditions, public opinion, and
custom.
Trill-seeking hate crime = hatemonger who join forces to have fun by bashing minorities or destroying property; inflicting
pain on others gives a sadistic thrill.
Victimless crimes = that violate the moral order but in which there in no actual victim or target in these crimes which
include drug abuse and sex offenses. It is society as a whole and not an individual who is considered the victim.
White – collar crimes = illegal acts that capitalize on a person’s status in the market place. It may involve theft,
embezzlement, fraud, market manipulation restraint of trade, and false advertising.
n. euthanasia = mercy killing or the act or practice of painless putting to death a person’s suffering from incurable and distressing
disease.
o. Involuntary manslaughter = a homicide that occurs as a result of acts that are negligent and without regard for the harm they
may cause others, such as driving while under the influence of liquor or drugs. (also known as negligent manslaughter).
p. Voluntary manslaughter = a homicide committed in the heat of passion or during a sudden quarrel; although intent may be
present, malice is not.
q. Mass murder = the killing of a large number of people in single incident by an offender who is typically does not seek concealment
or escape.
r. Murder = the unlawful killing of human being with malicious intent.
s. serial Murder = the killing of large number of people over time by offender who seek to escape detection.
III. Crimes against Property
a.Acquaintance against robbery = robbery who focus their theft on people they know.
b. Arson = the intentional or negligent burning of a home, structure, or vehicle for criminal purpose such as profit, revenge, fraud or
crime concealment.
c. Arson for profit = people looking to collect insurance money, but who afraid or unafraid to set the fire themselves, hire
professional arsonist.
d. Arson fraud = a business owner burns his or her property, or hires someone to do it, to escape financial problem.
e. Burglary = braking into and entering a home or structure for the purpose of committing a felony.
f. Carjacking = theft of a car by force or threat of force.
g. Churning = a white collar crime in which a stockbroker makes repeated trades to fraudulently increase his/her commission.
h. Commercial theft = business theft that is part of the criminal law; without such laws the free enterprise system could not exists.
i. Grand larceny = theft of money or property of substantial values, punished as a felony.
j. Larceny = taking for one’s own use the property of another, by means other than force or threats on the victim or forcibly breaking
into a person’s home or workplace; theft.
k. Petit (petty) larceny = theft of a small amount of money or property, punished as a misdemeanor.
l. Pilferage = theft by employees through stealth or deception.
m. Robbery = taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force and /or by putting the victim in fear.
n. Shoplifting = the taking of goods from retailed store.
CRIMINAL
-In the legal sense, a criminal is any person who has been found to have committed a wrongful act in the course of the standard
judicial process; there must be a final verdict of his guilt.
-In the criminological sense, a person already considered a criminal the moment he committed a crime.
Professional fence = an individual who earns his or her living solely by buying and retailing stolen merchandise.
Reasoning criminal = according to the rational choice approach, law-violating behavior occurs when an offender decides to
risk breaking the law after considering both personal factors such as need for money, revenge, thrills and entertainment and
situational factors such as how well a target is protected and the efficiency of the local police force.
5) It is uniform in application.
An act described as a crime is a crime no matter who committed it. Wherever committed in the Philippines and whenever
committed. No exception must be made as to the criminal liability. The definition of crimes together with the corresponding
punishment must be uniformly constructed, although there may be a difference in the enforcement of a given specific provision of
the penal law.
2) THE HITTITES
- The Hittites existed about two centuries after Hammurabi and eventually conquered Babylon
3) CODE OF DRAKON
- knows as the “ultimate in severity”
- codified by Drakon, the Athenian lawgiver of the seventh century BC
Highlight of the Code of Drakon:
- Death was the punishment for almost every offense
- Murderers might avoid execution by going into exile; if they return to Athens, it was not a crime to kill them
- Death penalty was administered with great brutality
4) LAWS OF SOLON
- Solon was appointed archon and was given legitimate powers
- Solon repealed all the laws of the Code of Drakon, except the law on homicide
- Solon was one of the first to see that a lawgiver had to make laws that applied equally to all citizens and also saw that the law of
punishment had to maintain proportionality to the crimes committed
Highlights of the Laws of Solon:
- the thief was required to return stolen property and pay the victim a sum equal to twice its value
- for the crime of temple robbery, the penalty was death
- for rape of a woman, the penalty was a fine of certain amount
CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY
The classical school at criminology grew out of a reaction against barbaric system of law, punishment and justice that
existed. There was no real system of criminal justice in Europe at that time. Some crimes were specified, some were not. judges had
discretionary power to convict a person for an act not even legally defined as criminal.
This school of thought is based on the assumption that individuals choose to commit crimes after weighing the
consequences of their actions. According to classical criminologists, individuals havefree will. They can choose legal or illegal
means to get what they want, fear of punishment can deter them from committing crime and society can control behavior by
making the pain of punishment greater than the pleasure of the criminal gains.
This theory, however, does not give any distinction between an adult and a minor or a mentally-handicapped in as far as
free will is concerned.
“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. That is the chief purpose of all good legislation.”
JEREMY BENTHAM
- founded the concept of UTILITARIANISM - assumes that all our actions are calculated in accordance with their likelihood
of bringing pleasure and pain
- devised the pseudo-mathematical formula called “felicific calculus” which states that individuals are human calculators
who put all the factors into an equation in order to decide whether a particular crime is worth committing or not
- he reasoned that in order to deter individuals from committing crimes, the punishment, or pain, must be greater than the
satisfaction, or pleasure, he would gain from committing the crime
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Rational Choice theory = law violating behavior occurs when the offender decides to risk breaking the law after considering both
personal factors and situational factors.
Offense – specific = means that criminals does not simply engage in random acts of anti-social behavior.
Offender-specific =means that criminals does not simply engage in random acts of anti-social behavior.
Three essential elements in decision making as to commit or not to commit crime:
1) Type of crime
2) Time and place of crime
3) Target
NEOCLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY
This theory modified the doctrine of free will by stating that free will of men may be affected by other factors and crime is
committed due to some compelling reasons that prevail. These causes are pathology, incompetence, insanity or any condition that
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will make it impossible for the individual to exercise free will entirely. In the study of legal provisions, this is termed as their
mitigating or exempting circumstances.
POSITIVIST CRIMINOLOGY
During the late eighteenth century, significant advances in knowledge of both the physical and social world influenced
thinkingabout crime.Forces of positivism and evolutionism moved the field of criminology from philosophical to a scientific
perspective.
Positive theorist was the first to claim the importance of looking at individual difference among criminals. These theorists
focused on biological, psychological and sociological causation of crime.
CESAR LOMBBROSO
- Considered the FATHER OF MODERN CRIMINOLOGY due to his application of modern scientific methods to trace criminal
behavior, however, most of his ideas are now discredited
- He claimed that criminals are distinguishable from non-criminals due to the presence of atavistic stigmata (Atavistic
anomalies) – the physical features of creatures at an earlier stage of development
- He asserted that crimes are committed by those who are born with certain recognizable hereditary traits
- According to his theory, criminals are usually in possession of huge jaws and strong canine teeth, the arm span of
criminals is often greater than their height, just like that of apes who use their forearms to push themselves along the
ground
- Other physical stigmata include deviation in head size and shape, asymmetry of the face, excessive dimensions of the jaw
and cheekbones, eye defects and peculiarities, ears of unusual size, nose twisted, upturn or flattened in thieves, or aquiline
or beaklike in murderers, fleshy lips, swollen and protruding, and pouches in the cheek like those of animal’s toes
- Lombroso’s work supported the idea that the criminal was a biologically and physically inferior person
- According to him, there are three (3) classes of criminals:
1) Born criminals – individuals with at least five (5) atavistic stigmata
2) Insane criminals – those who are not criminals by birth; they become criminals as a result of some changes in their brains
which interfere with their ability to distinguish between right and wrong
3) Criminaloids – those with makeup of an ambiguous group that includes habitual criminals, criminals by passion and other
diverse types.
DIFFERENT APPROACHES UNDER THE POSITIVIST CRIMINOLOGY
A) BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
this explanation for the existence of criminal traits associates an individual’s evil disposition to physical disfigurement or
impairment.
PHYSIOLOGY OR SOMATOTYPE
-this refers to the study of the body build of a person in relation to his temperament and personality and the type of
offense he is most prone to commit. It became popular in the 1 st half of the 20th century
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a) Asthenic – lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders; their crimes are petty thievery and fraud
b) Athletic – medium to tail, strong, muscular, coarse bones; they are usually connected with crimes of violence
c) Pyknic – medium height, rounded figures, massive neck, broad face; they tend to commit deception, fraud and
violence
2) WILLIAM SHELDON
- formulated his own group of somatotype:
b) Mesomorphic – with relative predominance of muscles, bones and motor organs of the body with large wrist and hands
Romotonic – active, dynamic; walks, talks and gestures assertively and behaves aggressively
c) Ectomorphic – relative pre- dominance of skin and its appendages which includes the nervous system; it has fragile and delicate
bones; with droopy shoulders, small face and sharp nose, fine hair
cerebrotonic –introvert prone to allergies, skin troubles, chronic fatigue, insomnia, sensitive skin and sensitive to noise and with
relatively small body
2) HENRY GODDARD
- he studied the lives of the KALLIKAK FAMILY and found that among the descendants from MARTIN KALLIKAK’s relationship with a
feeble-minded lady, there were 143 feeble-minded and only 46 normal, 36 were illegitimate, 3 epileptic, 3 criminals, 8 kept brothels
and 82 died of infancy; his marriage with a woman from a good family produced almost all normal descendants, only 2 were
alcoholics, I was convicted of religious offense, 15 died at infancy and no one became criminal or epileptic.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DETRMINISM
This explains the psychological determinants which define behavior of a person. This idea has long been hatched by
thinkers who were consumed by the belief that it is the psychological equivalents that prod the person to act the way he does.
There are many ways to classify psychological theories emphasize emotional problems, mental disorders, sociopathy and
thinking patterns. But the common assumption of these theories is that there is something wrong with the mind of the offender
which caused him to commit crimes.
From among the many theories regarding the relationship of psychology and crime, the psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund
Freud is the most notable:
a) ID – this stands for instinctual drives; the primitive part of the individual’s mental make-up present ay birth; it is governed by the
“pleasure principal”; represent the unconscious biological drives for pleasure; the id impulses are not social and must be repressed
or adapted so that they may become socially acceptable
b) EGO – this is considered to be the sensible and responsible part of an individual’s personality and is governed by the ”reality
principle”; it is developed early in the demands of the id by helping the individuals guide his actions to remain within the
boundaries of accepted social behavior; it is the objective, rational part if the personality.
c) SUPEREGO – serves as the moral conscience of an individual; it is structured by what values were taught by the parents, the
school and the community, as well as belief in God; it is largely responsible for making a person follow the moral codes of society. It
is divided into two parts: conscience (tells what is right or wrong) and ego ideal (direct the individual to morally acceptable and
responsible behaviors, which may not be pleasurable).
COMPULSION – a repetitive behavior that is thought to produce or prevent something that is thought to be magically
connected to the behavior
c) PHOBIA – excessive and unexplainable fear of something; generally exaggerated fear of things that normal people do not
fear with the same degree
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d) DEPRESSION – extreme feeling of low morale, sadness loneliness, self-pity, despair, rejection, boredom and pessimism; a
person is said to be depressed if these feelings become pervasive and can already affect all aspect of a person’s life
e) IMPULSE DISORDER – an excessive or unreasonable desire to do or have something; an irrational or irresistible motive;
examples of this are kleptomania, pyromania, dipsomania and others
2) PSYCHOSES
-a more serious type of mental disorder, which can be organic or functional
- psychotic people lose contact with reality and have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy
- the most common type of psychosis are the following:
a) SCHIZOPRENIA – also called dementia praecox; characterized by distortion or withdrawal from reality, disturbances of
thought and language and withdrawal from contact.
b) PARANOIA – gradual impairment of the intellect, characterized by delusions or hallucination.
DELUSION OF GRANDEUR – a false belief that you are greater than everybody else
DELUSION OF PERSECUTION – a false belief that other people are conspiring to kill harm or embarrass you
Albert Adler (1870-1937) = founder of individual psychology and called the term “inferiority complex” --- people who have them
feelings of inferiority and compensate for them with a drive for superiority.
Erik Erikson (1902-1984) = described the so called “identity crisis” --- a psychological state in which youth face inner turmoil and
uncertainty about life roles.
August Aichorn= he conclude that societal stress, though damaging, could not alone result in a life of crimes unless a predisposition
existed that psychologically prepared youth for antisocial acts. He called this mental state the latent delinquency, found on youth
whose personality requires acting in the following ways: (1) seek immediate gratification, (2) consider satisfying their personal needs
more important than relating to others, and (3) satisfying instinctive urges without considering right and wrong (they lack guilt)
Isaac Ray = an acknowledged American psychiatrist who popularized the concept of “moral insanity” in his book, “A Treatise on the
Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity”.
c) SOCIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
- sociological factor refers to things, places and people with whom we come in contact with and which play a part in
determining our action and conduct. These causes may bring about the development of criminal behavior
1) EMILE DURKHEIM
- one of the founding scholars of sociology
- published a book “Division of Social Labor”, which become a landmark work on the organization of societies according to
him:
a) crime is as normal a part of society as birth and death
b) crime is part of human nature because it has existed during periods of both poverty and prosperity
c) as long as human differences exists which is one of the fundamental conditions of society, it is but natural and expected
that it will result to criminality
One of his profound contributions to contemporary criminology is the concept of anomie, the breakdown of social order as
a result of loss of standard and values
3) ADOLPHE QUETELET
- He repudiated the free will doctrine of the classicists
- He founded what is known as the CARTHOGRAPHIC SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY, together with ANDRE MICHAEL GUERRY
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- This study used social statistical data and provided important demographic information on the population, including
density, gender, religious affiliations and social economic status
- He found a strong influence of age, sex, climate condition, population composition and economic status in criminality
4) ENRICO FERRI
- a member of the Italian parliament
- he believe that criminals could not be held morally responsible because they did not chose to commit crimes but was driven to
commit them by conditions of their lives
SOCIAL NORMS
- Also called rules of conduct
- shared standard of behavior which in turn require certain expectations of behavior in a given situation
- Socially accepted and expected behavior or conduct in society
- set of rules that govern an individual’s behavior and action
SOCIALIZATION
- refers to the learning process by which a person learns and internalizes the ways of society so that he can function and become an
active part of society.
CULTURE
- refers to the system of values and meanings shared by a group of individuals including the embodiment of those values and
meanings in material object
- refers to the way of life, modes of thinking, acting and feeling
- it is a design of living that is transmitted from one generation to the next
A) SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORY = views that disadvantage economic class position is a primary cause of crime
Shaw and Mckay = works on social ecology (environmental forces that have a direct influence on human behavior) as
influence by urban sociologist Robert Ezra Park and Ernes’t Burgess was focused on social how their breakdown influences deviant
and anti-social behavior. He popularized social disorganization theory.
2) STRAIN THEORY
- holds that crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they can use to legally obtain them
- argues that the ability to obtain these goals is class dependent: members of the lower class are unable to achieve these goals which
come easily to those belonging to the upper class
- Consequently, they feel anger, frustration and resentment, referred to a STRAIN
- The commission of crimes with the aim of achieving these goals results from this conflict
Cultural transmission = the concept that conduct norms are passed down from one generation to the next so that they become
stable within the boundaries of a culture.
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Social bond = ties a person has to the institutions and process of society: according to Hirchi, elements of the social bond
include commitment, attachment, involvement, and belief.
Containment theory = according to Walter Reckless, it is the idea that strong self-image insulates a youth from the
pressures and pulls of crimogenic influences in the environment.