SOCIOLOGY OF CRIMES AND ETHICS

Part 1.2 (INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY)

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN CRIMINOLOGY:

- this refers to a group of beliefs or ideals that support a specific theory.

THEORY  is a set of statement devised to explain behaviour, events or phenomenon, especially one that has been repeatedly tested and widely accepted. 

1. DEMONOLOGICAL THEORY - asserts that a person commits crimes because he was possessed by demons.

2. CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham) - asserts that individuals commit crime due to their free will. It grew out of a reaction against the barbaric system of law, punishment and justice that existed. This school of thought is based on the assumption that individuals choose to commit crimes after weighing the consequences of their action.

3. NEOCLASSICAL THEORY - 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 will make it impossible for the individual to exercise free will entirely. In the study of legal provisions, this is termed as either mitigating or exempting circumstances.

4. POSITIVIST SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY - refers to a method of analysis based on the collection of observable facts.
- Positivists believe that the causes of behaviour can be measured and observed. It demands facts and scientific proof, thus, changing the study of crimes and criminals into the scientific approach. Positivist Theorists were the first to claim the importance of looking at the individual difference among criminals. These theorists who concentrated on the individual structures of a person stated that people are passive and controlled whose behaviours are imposed upon them by biological and environmental factors.

PERSONALITIES BEHIND THE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN CRIMINOLOGY

Cesare Beccaria (Cesare Bonesana Marchese di Beccaria) 1738-1794 - known for his essay, "On Crimes and Punishments", which presented key ideas on the abolition of torture as legitimate means of extracting confessions. His book contains almost all modern penal reforms but its greatest contribution was the foundation it laid for subsequent changes in criminal legislation. This book was influential in the reforms of penal code in France, Prussia, Russia and it influenced the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. He also believed that:
- people want to achieve pleasure and avoid plain.
- crime provides pleasure to the criminal.
- to deter crime, he believed that one must administer pain in an appropriate amount to counterbalance the pleasure obtained from the crime.
- "Let the punishment fit the crime."
*HIGHLIGHTS OF BECCARIA'S IDEAS REGARDING CRIMES AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:
1. In forming a human society, men and women sacrifice a portion of their liberty so as to enjoy peace and security.
2. Punishments that go beyond the need for preserving public safety are in their nature unjust.
3. Criminal laws must be clear and certain. Judges must make uniform judgments in similar crimes.
4. The law must specify the degree of evidence that will justify the detention of an accused offender prior to his trial.
5. Accusations must be in public. False accusations should be severely punished.
6. To torture accused offenders to obtain a confession is inadmissible.
7. The promptitude of punishment is one of the most effective curbs in crime.
8. The aim of punishment can only be to prevent the criminal from committing new crimes against his countrymen, and to keep others from doing likewise. Punishments, therefore, and the methods of inflicting them, should be chosen due to proportion to the crime, so as to make the most lasting impression on the minds of men.
9. Capital punishment is inefficacious and its place should be substituted for life imprisonment.
10. It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. That is the chief purpose of all good legislation.