KRM 310
Study Unit 2 Classical Perspectives
The classical school of criminology:
1. The Contributions of Cesare Beccaria (10 marks)
He was the Marchese di Beccaria and was an 18th century Italian philosopher and lawyer.
He wrote an essay on crimes and punishment, whereby he suggested that an individual had a “social
contract” with the society in which he or she was bound to society by consent and vice versa.
A key aspect of the social contract was Free will – one’s ability to exercise choice.
Beccaria believed that a human being was generally a rational being who sought pleasure and tried
desperately to avoid pain.
His writings were in response to the extreme and inequitable nature of punishment during this time.
Torture
Brandings
Mutilation
Banishment
Death
The 1st recognizable criminological approach to criminal behavior and society’s response would
emerge.
Beccaria identified 3 types of crimes that warranted punishment:
Crimes that threaten the security of the state
Crimes that injure citizens or property
Crimes that run contrary to the social order
He argued that the punishment should fit the crime: property offences warranted payment of
monetary fines. Crimes inflicting personal injuries demanded corporal punishment. Serious crimes
against the state might warrant the death penalty, but only in exceptional cases.
He viewed the excessive use of the death penalty as “war waged by society against its citizens”.
He called for equal justice under the law, stressing that punishment for an offence should be the same
regardless of a person’s position in society.
He also called for the abolition of torture to elicit confessions.
He argues that the accused’s guilt or innocence should be determined by his or her peers.
Beccaria was the first to stress that punishment should not for retribution but for the purpose of
deterrence. The prevention of future crime was seen as being more important than exacting revenge.
2. The contributions of Jeremy Bentham (5 marks)
He refined the ideas of Beccaria.
He was an English social philosopher and was an advocate of Utilitarianism – the social ideology that in
their laws and actions, governing bodies should seek to achieve the most utility or good for the
greatest number of people.
Bentham argued that people should choose pleasure and avoid pain. Thus, punishment for criminal
behavior should be sufficient to negate any pleasure to be derived from criminal acts.
The belief was that individuals make conscious decisions to commit criminal acts based upon their
expected benefits from those acts.
If society could impose more pain upon the individual than he or she could gain from commission of
the criminal act, that person would be deterred from committing further crimes.
Hedonistic calculus the weighing of pain and pleasure.
In order for hedonistic or moral calculus to work, punishment should be severe enough to offset the
benefits of the crime, but it should not be excessive.
, In addition, for the punishment to dissuade the offender and other individuals contemplating similar
crimes, it had to be SWIFT AND CERTAIN.
SWIFT:
Punishment must take place within a reasonable period of time so that the reason for punishment
was not forgotten by the offender or observers.
CERTAIN:
The potential for being caught and punished had to be reasonably high or, regardless of the
severity of the sanction, there could be no deterrent effect.
Tenets of the classical school (5 marks):
The main premise of the classical school is that crime can be controlled by punishing identified offenders in a
way that makes potential offenders fearful of the consequences of committing crime.
The adaptation of the primary tenets of the classical school is as follows:
1. The social contract
2. Free will
3. People seek pleasure and avoid pain
4. Punishment should be used as a deterrent to criminal behavior
5. Punishment should be based upon the seriousness of the crime
6. Punishments for identical crimes should be identical
The concepts of rational choice (15 marks CS):
o Law-violating behavior occurs when an offender decides to risk breaking the law after considering both
personal (the need for money, revenge, thrills and entertainment) and situational factors (how well a
target is protected and the efficiency of the local police force).
o Before choosing to commit a crime, the reasoning criminal evaluates the risk of apprehension, the
seriousness of expected punishment, the potential value of criminal enterprise, and his or her immediate
need for criminal gain. CONVERSELY, the decision to forgo crime may be based on the criminal’s
perception that the economic benefits are no longer there or that the risk of apprehension is too great.
o Criminals then are people who share the same ambitions as conventional citizens but have decided to cut
corners and use illegal means to achieve their goals.
A. Offense – and offender-specific crimes:
An offense specific crime: means that offenders will react selectively to the characteristics of
particular offences.
An offender specific crime: criminals are not simply automatons who, for one reason or another,
engage in random acts of antisocial behavior.
Before deciding to commit a crime, individuals must decide whether they have the prerequisites to
commit a successful criminal act, including the proper skills, motives, needs and fears.
Criminal acts might be ruled out if potential offenders perceive that they can reach a desired personal
goal through legitimate means or if they are too afraid of getting caught.
Crime is an event.
Criminality is a personal trait.
B. Structuring criminality:
Personal factors that condition people to choose crime…
1. Economic opportunity
Increases in criminal activity may flow from economic necessity.
Study Unit 2 Classical Perspectives
The classical school of criminology:
1. The Contributions of Cesare Beccaria (10 marks)
He was the Marchese di Beccaria and was an 18th century Italian philosopher and lawyer.
He wrote an essay on crimes and punishment, whereby he suggested that an individual had a “social
contract” with the society in which he or she was bound to society by consent and vice versa.
A key aspect of the social contract was Free will – one’s ability to exercise choice.
Beccaria believed that a human being was generally a rational being who sought pleasure and tried
desperately to avoid pain.
His writings were in response to the extreme and inequitable nature of punishment during this time.
Torture
Brandings
Mutilation
Banishment
Death
The 1st recognizable criminological approach to criminal behavior and society’s response would
emerge.
Beccaria identified 3 types of crimes that warranted punishment:
Crimes that threaten the security of the state
Crimes that injure citizens or property
Crimes that run contrary to the social order
He argued that the punishment should fit the crime: property offences warranted payment of
monetary fines. Crimes inflicting personal injuries demanded corporal punishment. Serious crimes
against the state might warrant the death penalty, but only in exceptional cases.
He viewed the excessive use of the death penalty as “war waged by society against its citizens”.
He called for equal justice under the law, stressing that punishment for an offence should be the same
regardless of a person’s position in society.
He also called for the abolition of torture to elicit confessions.
He argues that the accused’s guilt or innocence should be determined by his or her peers.
Beccaria was the first to stress that punishment should not for retribution but for the purpose of
deterrence. The prevention of future crime was seen as being more important than exacting revenge.
2. The contributions of Jeremy Bentham (5 marks)
He refined the ideas of Beccaria.
He was an English social philosopher and was an advocate of Utilitarianism – the social ideology that in
their laws and actions, governing bodies should seek to achieve the most utility or good for the
greatest number of people.
Bentham argued that people should choose pleasure and avoid pain. Thus, punishment for criminal
behavior should be sufficient to negate any pleasure to be derived from criminal acts.
The belief was that individuals make conscious decisions to commit criminal acts based upon their
expected benefits from those acts.
If society could impose more pain upon the individual than he or she could gain from commission of
the criminal act, that person would be deterred from committing further crimes.
Hedonistic calculus the weighing of pain and pleasure.
In order for hedonistic or moral calculus to work, punishment should be severe enough to offset the
benefits of the crime, but it should not be excessive.
, In addition, for the punishment to dissuade the offender and other individuals contemplating similar
crimes, it had to be SWIFT AND CERTAIN.
SWIFT:
Punishment must take place within a reasonable period of time so that the reason for punishment
was not forgotten by the offender or observers.
CERTAIN:
The potential for being caught and punished had to be reasonably high or, regardless of the
severity of the sanction, there could be no deterrent effect.
Tenets of the classical school (5 marks):
The main premise of the classical school is that crime can be controlled by punishing identified offenders in a
way that makes potential offenders fearful of the consequences of committing crime.
The adaptation of the primary tenets of the classical school is as follows:
1. The social contract
2. Free will
3. People seek pleasure and avoid pain
4. Punishment should be used as a deterrent to criminal behavior
5. Punishment should be based upon the seriousness of the crime
6. Punishments for identical crimes should be identical
The concepts of rational choice (15 marks CS):
o Law-violating behavior occurs when an offender decides to risk breaking the law after considering both
personal (the need for money, revenge, thrills and entertainment) and situational factors (how well a
target is protected and the efficiency of the local police force).
o Before choosing to commit a crime, the reasoning criminal evaluates the risk of apprehension, the
seriousness of expected punishment, the potential value of criminal enterprise, and his or her immediate
need for criminal gain. CONVERSELY, the decision to forgo crime may be based on the criminal’s
perception that the economic benefits are no longer there or that the risk of apprehension is too great.
o Criminals then are people who share the same ambitions as conventional citizens but have decided to cut
corners and use illegal means to achieve their goals.
A. Offense – and offender-specific crimes:
An offense specific crime: means that offenders will react selectively to the characteristics of
particular offences.
An offender specific crime: criminals are not simply automatons who, for one reason or another,
engage in random acts of antisocial behavior.
Before deciding to commit a crime, individuals must decide whether they have the prerequisites to
commit a successful criminal act, including the proper skills, motives, needs and fears.
Criminal acts might be ruled out if potential offenders perceive that they can reach a desired personal
goal through legitimate means or if they are too afraid of getting caught.
Crime is an event.
Criminality is a personal trait.
B. Structuring criminality:
Personal factors that condition people to choose crime…
1. Economic opportunity
Increases in criminal activity may flow from economic necessity.
