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CCJ 3014
June 8, 2006
What is crime? What makes people commit crimes and how can we stop it?
These, and many other questions similar to these, are asked by criminologists everyday.
Criminology is an ever growing field, mainly because there is more and more research
occurring and new theories linking people and crime coming out everyday. Below the
main field of criminology there are many subfields that have different theories and
philosophies on what they believe link criminal behavior. 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
(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 behavior (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
science, psychology, economics and the natural sciences. One can not come up with the
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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
As one goes through the history of crime and criminology, it can be seen that
criminal codes have existed for thousands of years dating back to dark ages where
punishments for crimes were extremely harsh, mainly using different forms of torture.
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, Hobbes and Locke 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 people’s behavior
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
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 theory…assumes that rational
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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” (Bohm
16). This fails to take into consideration that crime might be rational depending on the
person’s social status. Another criticism is how classicalists believe that all people have
free will and are completely responsible for their own behaviors 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 is
not 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.
relying on pure thought and reason and started to observe and analyze to understand the
way things worked. “Positive philosophy was an explicit repudiation or reaction to the
21). Positivism has two main elements: One “is the belief that human behavior is a
function of forces beyond a person’s 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
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believes that people’s behavior is determined and not a matter of free will. Positivist
criminologists study people who have their free will altered and those alterations have
believe that society is based primarily on a consensus about moral values but not on a
social 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
When one thinks of criminology, there tends to be a notion that it is strictly based
on crime, criminal behavior and the law. While these features are important and included
in the field, there are a lot more aspects involved in the study of criminology. As
mentioned before, this field is interdisciplinary and involves the cohabitation of many
views including those of the classicalist and the positivists. True, the two subfields have
different views on what contributes to crime and preventative measures but just as in
research, it is better to use multiple methods in order to come up with theories that will
satisfy the needs of the field. Criminology does this by using the interdisciplinary
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method, taking points from each perspective in order to come up with the most recently
updated, best possible research. Criminology today as we know it would not be the same
without both the Classicalist view and the Positivist view. Differences between the two
have contributed to newer subfields taking parts of both in order to come up with yet
any industry and both Classical criminology and Positivist criminology are the roots that
sociology, it delves into people’s personalities, trying to figure out what makes people,
specifically criminals, behave the way they do. It is important to have a field that deals
with social norms and to have some understanding of causes and correlations in order to
come up with preventative measures. Crime, although it is mostly depicted as so, is not
criminology, “if crime did not exist, it would mean that everyone behaved the same way
and agreed on what is right and wrong. Such universal conformity would stifle creativity
and independent thinking” (Siegel 9). The classicalist and Positivist perspectives were
the stepping stones onto what criminology is today and have created the opportunity for
other forms of research on society and the social norms. Although there have been
criminal codes existing in mostly all societies dating back thousands of years, the field of
criminology is constantly growing and becoming more vast. With all the research being
done and new ideas coming out everyday, the future outlook for criminology and careers
stemming from it, only seem to look positive and only time will tell what new
WORKS CITED