THEORIES OF CRIME
CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF
CRIMINOLOGY
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Presented by – Sweety
Parveen
Ph.D., (Gold Medalist)
• A criminological perspective developed in the 18th centaury.
• It had its roots in the Enlightenment and held that men and women are
rational beings and that crime is the result of the exercise of free will and
personal choices based on calculations of perceived costs and benefits.
CLASSICAL • Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1762) published The Social Contract, which, along
with similar works, formed the basis of the classical school of criminology.
SCHOOL OF • The two foremost representatives of classical criminology are Cesare
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CRIMINOLOGY Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham.
• The arbitrary administration of justice and the cruel punishments in
medieval Europe, which continued into the eighteenth century,
provided fertile ground for the emergence of the classical school of
criminology.
CLASSICAL
• Punishment should fit the crime
• Deterrence , rather than harsh punishment is the primary focus of the
SCHOOL OF classical theory of classical school.
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CRIMINOLOGY • Punishment- Swift, Severe and Certain
• He was born in Milan, Italy.
• He is known as the father of Classical School of Criminology
• He wrote an essay - Dei deliti e delle pene (On Crimes and
Punishments), which was published in 1764.
• Beccaria was against the use of capital punishment
• He felt that death penalty was not an efficient and effective method
Cesare Beccaria • He thought a punishment that was quick , such as death penalty could
- not be as effective as a drawn out penalty
(1738-1794)
Concept of Deterrence and Key elements of punishments
The purpose of punishment, Beccaria said, should be deterrence rather
than retribution, and punishment should be imposed to prevent
offenders from committing additional crimes.
Beccaria suggested 3 characteristics of punishment
1. Celerity (swiftness)
Cesare Beccaria 2. Certainty
- 3. Severity
(1738-1794)
Swiftness
The more promptly and the more closely punishment follows upon the commission of a
crime, the more just and useful it will be.
Certainty
As the perceived certainty of punishment increases, the probability of norm violations
declines
Key elements of
punishment
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Severity
For a punishment to be effective , the possible penalty must outweigh the potential
benefits of a given crime. Any punishments that largely exceed the reasonable punishment
for a given crime are inhumane and may lead to further criminality.
General Deterrence
Designed to influence the behavior of individuals other than those punished
Specific Deterrence
Also called special, individual and particular deterrence
Seeks to discourage the sanctioned individual from engaging in future misconduct
Types of Deterrence
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• British philosopher trained in law
• He expressed admiration for Beccaria’s work and shared many of Beccaria’s views,
while contributing his own ideas to the classical school.
• Utilitarianism: “greatest happiness principle.”
• According to this principle, actions should be judged according to whether, on
balance, they contribute to the happiness and benefit of humankind
• Felicity or hedonistic calculus: Weighing of pleasure versus pain
• Panopticon: An elaborate prison design
- • The Panopticon plan consisted of a circular guard house with wings of cells protruding
Jeremy Bentham from it so that guards could maintain observation from that central location along all
(1748-1832) corridors
Panopticon Prison
• Assumption of free will
• Lacks deeper explanation for criminal motivation
• Lacks scientific backing
• No differentiation between first time offenders, habitual offenders, hardcore
offenders, young offenders etc.
Criticisms • No consideration about state of mind while committing the offence
