1.

CESARE BECCARIA

He was the first criminologist that we know of that looked into theories of crime and society. He lived in
Italy in the 18th Century, and had a career in mathematics and studied economics. He became interested
in crime and was a reformer during the Enlightenment; he spoke out about the death penalty.

His most famous work is “On Crimes and Punishment, “ and it was the first published argument against
the death penalty. His publication also advocates a reform of the criminal justice system. He believed
that punishment should be preventative and that the certainty of punishment had more impact on
deterring criminal behavior than the severity of the penalty.

2. CESARE LOMBROSO

He believed that there were genetic predispositions for crimes, he also thought that physical
characteristics might indicate that someone has criminal tendencies. He brought the term born criminal
into public acceptance. Cesare said that criminals were evolutionary regressions and that the physical
characteristics suggest that the criminal had devolved.

He spent his time compiling anthropological data, measuring different criminals physiological features
and compile scientific methodology for predicting criminal behavior.

Lombroso also categorised criminals into the following types:

CriminaloidsCriminals by PassionBorn CriminalsOccasional Ciminals

3. ENRICO FERRI

He was an Italian sociologist. He was a student of Cesare Lombroso, but he was more interested in the
economics and social factors that caused crimes. He’s beliefs were to tweak economics and social factors
that led to crimes behaviors it can prevent crime rather than punish it. He was a radical and an
outspoken socialist. His famous work was Criminal Sociology, a study what societal factors contribute to
criminal behavior.
The basis of his theories formed the 1921 penal code adopted by Argentina.

4. ALEXANDRE LACASSAGNE

He was a French physician who became interested in crime and psychology through his work.

Alexandre was the creator of the Lacassagne School of Criminology based in Lyon, France. His school was
also the rival of Lombroso in Italy. He said that the social factors had more to do with criminality than
heredity. He divided criminals into different types: thought, act and instinctual. He placed some
importance on phrenology, and that is why his contributions have been overlooked until modern times

5. HANS EYSENCK

When young Hans Eysenck moved from Berlin to England, he opposed the Nazi party and was
determined to get out of Germany. He was a psychology professor.

His primary study was personality and genetic factors that influence personality. He looked at
psychoticism, and that was part of his interest in criminology.

He wrote a book on Crime and Personality and also behavioral therapy and personality as it relates to
intelligence. His theories contributed to knowledge of criminal personalities, and many of his theories
were developed with the help of his wife, Sybil.

6. ROBERT HARE

He considered questions of psychopathology and psychophysiology. He has researched the qualities of a

psychopath, and he wrote a couple of books on the subject. Psychopathy: Theory and Research and
Without Conscience, The Disturbing World of Psychopaths among us.
He said that you might sometimes not be able to identify murderers, but he did develop a checklist to
help psychologist identify psychopaths.

The checklist of Hare is considered the most reliable metric to measure psychopathy.

7. JANE ADAMS

She was born into money, did not care for marriage or to bore a child she was instead interested in the
plights of the less fortunate. She was an activist and a lecturer in the studying of causes of crime and
believed that poverty and society contributed to crime. She encouraged studies of the underlying causes
of crime. She helped found the U.S Settlement House Movement believing that economic security
would help battle crime. She received the Nobel Peace Prize, Adams was the second woman to receive
this prestigious award.

8. EDWIN SUTHERLAND

Edwin Sutherland is one of the most influential criminologists of the 20th century. He was the author of
Principles of Criminology; the textbook was the basics of criminology. He created the term white collar
criminal which today we know as white collar crimes. He said that criminal behavior develops from
associating with those who committed a crime and delinquency was likely the result of learned
behaviors. He suggests that social disorganization and conflict contributes to crime.

9. WILLIAM JULIUS

Julius was a prominent socialist and went to the University of Chicago and Havard. The works of Julius
mostly revolved around race and how that impact the different crime rates.
His books are called “The Truly Disadvantage” and “The Declining Significance of Race.” He studied urban
sociology, and some factors contributed to crime especially urban poverty. He wondered about poverty
amongst blacks and if that may be the reason for the high crime rate. Julius also studied discrimination
and how it relates to crime, housing, hiring, and education.

10. JAMES Q WILSON

He was a High Profile member of the American Enterprise Institute and former chair of the White House
task force on crime. James is a political science professor and is famous for his work on crime. His work
has included preventing delinquency among children and how mortality relates to crime. He was also a
member of the Attorney General’s Task Force on Violent Crime.

http://www.crimeslab.com/the-top-10-criminologists-that-changed-our-view-of-criminal-behavior/

Classical School

Bentham

Beccaria

Legal Aspects of Crime

Doe

Montero

Sociological Aspects of Crime

Tarde

Durkheim

Bonger

Prison Reform

Maconochie

Positive School

Garofolo

Lombroso

Ferri

Goring

Psychiatric Aspects of

Crime

Aschaffenburg
Ray

Maudsley

Prison Architecture

Haviland

Criminalistics

Gross

Another type of classification, based on whether

the pioneer in question was primarily interested in

crime or in the individual offender can be made in

this way:

Crime

Bentham
Beccaria

Montero

Durkheim

Bonger

Individual Offender

Lombroso Doe

Garofolo Maudsley

Ferri Maconochie

Goring Tarde

Aschaffenburg Gross

Ray Havila