Classical Criminology Essay -- Crime Deviance Psychology Essays

Classical Criminology The classical school of criminology was around in the eighteenth century. It came abount in a time when the previous dominent spiritual look at defining crime and criminal behaviour was being challenged by a newer naturalistic approach of the social contract theorists. The classical school was the established ideas of monarchs, fedual lords and the fathers of the church. The main pioneers of the classical school were Cesar Beccaria ( 1738-1974) from Italy and Jeremy Bantham from Britain (1948-1832). From them writing their theories in the eighteenth century they established the essential components of the rational actor model. They both shared the idea that crime and criminal behaviour could be understood and controlled by human nature. The classical school was not intrested in studying crime and criminals, it got its theorys from law making and legal processing. The new ideas of '' enlightenment'' philoshefers were Montisque, Rasseau, Voltaire, Thomas Aquins and Locke. The fundermental principles of the classical school are made up of four main things. These are, free will, rationality, self-intrest and responsibility. Free will - People thought that god made people commit the crime, the classical school thought that people are not forced into commiting crimes. They believe that its our choice to behave in a criminal or non criminal way. We have a range of choices, and it is up to us if we want to break the law. Rationality,- This is where we think about each pro and con of each action we take, and we think about what we are doing. Self-intrest.- The classical school believed that we were all born s... ...present the state. In proportion to all this, the law must specify the relationship between law and the punishment given. The Punishment must come very soon and as quick as possible after the crime has been commited. The judge's and the jurys administer the law and punishment and interprate the law. Beccaria's theorys have a huge impact on modern criminal law. The idea of free will is built into many legal codes. Jermy Bantham was a philoshopher and a leading disciple of Beccaria. He too thought that human nature had some place in people becoming criminals. He too was a believer in that people would commit crime to minimalise pain and maximise pleasure. Bantham believed that it was incorect up-bringing that caused people to commit crime. Works Cited Roger Hopkins Burke. An Introduction to Criminological Theory