- Classical thinkers were concerned with the changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution (beginning in the late 1600’s with the invention of the Steam Engine and changes to how governments were run);

- Urbanization changed the way that the peasant class was treated in the social hierarchy (from the protection of Lords to nothing to lose), and a middle class was being created.

- Pre-Classical laws were often based on religious beliefs, and because of the government’ lack of accountability to its citizens, laws were used as means of eliminating undesirables

- Private trials, unfounded accusations, torture, arbitrary and excessively harsh punishments weren’t uncommon to reinforce the will of the higher classes

- Although laws were published, many people who were poor did not have the ability to read the laws, or have the education to interpret them

- While Jeremy Bentham was concerned with deterrents to help contend with people’s hedonistic goals, Beccaria of Italy was concerned with how deterrents were created and enforced. However, Bentham and Beccaria’s ideas do have some overlap.

- Beccaria’s work On Crimes and Punishment (1764), and some of his other works, outlined his ideas for ensuring that proportionality was taken into account in each case:a. Limit judicial discretion by ensuring that the process of convicting and sentencing a

crime (as well as sentencing options) were fully documented. Need for determinate sentences.

b. Ensure that celerity (swift punishment), certainty (follow through), and severity (ensuring a punishment fits a crime) are accounted for.

c. Ensure that a criminal’s rights are respected during the process (poor pre-trial detention areas, prison conditions)

- Although the Classical School aimed to create a fair criminal justice system, the Industrial Revolution was occurring during a time when there was new interest in scientific exploration.

- In Positivist Criminology, there is a biological explanation for a person’s criminal activity.

Classical School Positivist School

- Made up of mostly writers and philosophers

- Aim to make the CJS fair for all through modernizing and civilizing criminal practices

- Criminal justice should ‘combat’ the hedonistic drives of humans

- More likely to be Scientists, Mathematicians, doctors, and astronomers.

- Aimed to explain the world around them (how can we categorize and fix criminals)

- Statistics (begin to emerge as a way to categorize crime in the 1800’s)- Biological Studies (such as phrenology)- William Sheldon’s criminal body types (1940’s)

- Was a doctor for many years, became a Criminology professor who focused on studies of the human brain

- He conducted observational and biological studies of soldiers, criminals, psychopaths, and the general population in order to find biological factors of criminality.

- Based on these studies, Lombroso concluded that people who had atavistic characteristics (perceived primitive physical features) were likely to commit crime

- This also led to Lombroso promoting the idea of born criminals

Theory What Elements of the Crime would the school of thought analyze?

Based on this theory of crime, how would you modify current legal systems to combat the issue?

Classical Criminology

- [Bentham] Risk versus reward; Classical Criminologists would look at the rewards of being involved in “Flash Robs” versus risk (seems minimal considering how easy it is to organize and how quick the crime happens)

- [Beccaria]

- [Bentham] Create ways to ensure that the crime’s risk outweighs its rewards (help small business to protect themselves against Flash Robs)

- [Beccaria]