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MODULE 1
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF CRIMINOLOGY
Criminology is the scientific procedure to studying both social and individual
criminal actions. It is divided up into several separate disciplines including psychology,
economics, political science, natural science, biology and the evolution and development
of people.

While other investigate professionals are in charge of who committed a crime and
how, criminologists are responsible for answering why someone would be led to breaking
the law or causing a crime. The field of study has a long, rich history and has changed a
lot. This module presents the evolution of Criminology as field of study as a profession.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this lesson, the learner should be able to:
1. know the significant concepts and terminologies in the field of criminology
including the importance, purposes, nature and scope of criminology.
2. trace the historical evolution of criminology in the foreign and Philippine setting
including the contributions of the important personalities, events and places in the
field of criminology.
3. discuss and distinguish the early schools of thought in Criminology.

MOTIVATION
Here is an interesting fact you should know about the word Criminology:
The word “criminology” was first used in the 1850s, and
first taught in universities in 1890.

Image Source: factinate.com/things/30-ominous-facts-criminology/

CHAPTER 1- LESSON NOTES

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY
We will first tackle the significant concepts and terminologies to prepare you in
understanding Criminology as a field of study. These important concepts and
terminologies are as follows;

Etymology of the word “Criminology”

The word criminology was derived from:
CRIMEN LOGIA
Latin word which Study of crime as
Greek word which
means “crime or means “study of” social phenomenon
violation of law”

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Raffaele Garofalo & Paul Topinard

Image Source: Wikiwand Image Source: Wikipedia

In 1885, Italian Law Professor Raffaele Garofalo coined the term “Criminology”
(in Italian Criminologia).

In 1889, French Anthropologist Paul Topinard used it for the first time in French
Criminologie.

What is CRIMINOLOGY?

Criminology according to Edwin Sutherland is the body of knowledge regarding

crime as a social phenomenon.

This branch of knowledge also attempts to scientifically analyze the causes of crimes
and delinquency together with the corresponding prevention and control measures that
can be adopted.

It is also referring to the entire body of knowledge regarding crimes, criminals and
the effort of the society to prevent and repress them (Maglinao).

One common definition of CRIMINOLOGY is the study of crimes, criminals and

their treatment.

The most complete definition of CRIMINOLOGY is a body of knowledge regarding

crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the process of making
laws, the breaking of laws and the reactions towards the breaking of laws’’.

The objective of criminology is the development of a body of general and verified

principles and of other types of knowledge regarding the process of law, crime, and
treatment or prevention.

Criminology is the scientific study of crime, criminals, and criminal behavior.

Criminologists scientifically study the following:
1. Nature and extent of crime;
2. Patterns of criminality;
3. Explanations on the causes of crime and criminal behavior; and
4. The control of crime and criminal behavior.

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Purposes of Criminology
The purposes of criminology are to offer well-researched and objective answers to
four basic questions:
1. Why do crime rates vary?
2. Why do individuals differ as to criminality?
3. Why is there variation in reactions to crime?
4. What are the possible means of controlling criminality?

Goals of Studying Criminology

The study of criminology seeks to achieve the following goals:
1. To describe criminal behavior;
2. To understand criminal behavior;
3. To predict criminal behavior;
4. To control criminal behavior.

Nature of Criminology
Generally, criminology cannot be considered as science because it has not yet
acquired universal validity and acceptance. it is not stable and varies from one time and
place to another. However, considering that science is the systematic and objective study
of social phenomenon and other body’s knowledge, criminology is a science itself when
under the following nature:

1. It is an Applied Science – in the study of the causes of crimes, anthropology,

psychology, sociology, and other natural science may be applied, while in crime
detection-chemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics, ballistics, polygraphy, legal
medicine, questioned document examination may be utilized. This is called
Instrumentation.

2. It is a Social Science – in as much as crime is a social creation that exists in a

society being a social phenomenon, its study must be considered a part of social
science.

3. It is Dynamic – criminology changes as social condition changes. It is concomitant

with the advancement of other science that has been applied to it.

4. It is Nationalistic – the study of crimes must be in relation with the existing criminal
law within a territory or country. Finally, the question as to whether an act is a crime
is dependent on the criminal law of a state. It follows, therefore, that the causes of
crime must be determined from its social needs and standards.

Principal Divisions of Criminology

In its narrowest, criminology is the scientific study of crimes and criminals
which is divided into three principal divisions:
1. Etiology of Crimes – the scientific analysis of the causation of crimes and the
behavior of the criminal.
2. Sociology of Laws – refers to the investigation of the nature of criminal law and
its administration.

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3. Penology – the study of the control of crimes and the rehabilitation of the
offender.

HISTORY & OVERVIEW OF CRIMINOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES

In the Philippines, the first ever educational institution offering the criminology
course is the Philippine College of Criminology (PCCr), at Sta. Cruz Manila, formerly
known as Plaridel College.

Because of the influence of foreign scholars and the increasing crime rates in the
Philippines, Manila Police Major Eliseo Vibar, Dr. Pedro Solis of the National Bureau
of Investigation (NBI), Supreme Court Associate Justice Felix Angelo Bautista and
others, established this pioneering College of Criminology or educational institution for
scientific crime detection in the whole Southeast Asia in the 1950’s.

In the early part of 1960’s, criminology course was offered by the following schools:
1. University of Manila- Metro Manila
2. Abad Santos College- Metro Manila
3. University of Visayas- Cebu City
4. University of Mindanao- Davao City
5. University of Baguio- Baguio City

The Board of Examiners for Criminology was created on July 1, 1972, pursuant to
Republic Act No. 6506 entitled “An Act Creating the Board of Examiners for
Criminologists in the Philippines and for Other Purposes”.

The first Board, constituted in 1987, was composed of Dr. Sixto O. de Leon as
Chairman, Atty. Virgilio B. Andres and Jaime S. Navarro as Members.

On the same year, the Syllabi of Subjects in the licensure examinations for
Criminologists was promulgated. A month after it, the Criminology Program became one
of the most popular disciplines in the country.

At present, the members of the Board of Criminology are Hon. Ramil G. Gabao,
Chairman; Hon. George O. Fernandez, Hon. Lani T. Palmones, Hon. Warren M.
Corpuz as Members.

Atty. Ramil G. Gabao

Chairman, Professional Regulatory Board of Criminology

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HISTORY & OVERVIEW OF CRIMINOLOGY IN FOREIGN SETTING

1. Criminology in Europe

It was in the late 19th century, Dr. Cesare Lombroso, an Italian, founded
for the first time ever, the Positive School of Criminology. According to Dr.
Lombroso, a criminal person by birth is a distinct type. This type of criminal can be
recognized through his own personal stigmata or anomalies, such as symmetrical
(divided) cranium or bones forming the enclosure of the brain; long lower jaw, flat
nose, scanty (barely sufficient) beard; and low sensitivity to pain. These physical
anomalies do not in themselves cause crime, rather they identify the personality
which is predisposed to the savage type atavism or appearance in an individual or
some characteristics found in a remote ancestor but not in a nearer ancestor.

2. Criminology in the United States

In the latter part of the 19th century, criminology was accepted as a field of
study by the department of sociology of a growing university in the United States.
Since that time, sociologists in the United States have made primarily systematic
studies of crimes and criminals. A survey made in 1901 indicated that criminology
and penology were among the first courses offered in United States colleges and
universities under the general title of “sociology”. The American Journal of
Sociology included articles and book reviews on Criminology when it was first
published in 1895. American sociologists, like most European scholars were
deeply impressed by many of the lombrosian arguments, but it was not until about
1915, after the publication of Goring’s work, that a strong environmentalist position
was cultivated.

CRIMINOLOGY PIONEERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS

DR. CESARE LOMBROSO

The world famous authority in the field of
criminology who advocated the Positivist Theory:
that crime is essentially a social and moral
phenomenon and it cannot be treated and checked
by the imposition of punishment; and that is just any
person who is sick, that he should be treated in the
hospital for his possible rehabilitation and
reformation.
He is considered as the Father of Modern
Criminology because of his scientific point of view
about crimes and criminals.

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DR. CHARLES GORING

He is an English statistician, who studied the
case histories of 2,000 convicts, and found that
heredity is more influential as determiner of
criminal behavior than environment.

EDWIN H. SUTHERLAND
He is an American authority in criminology,
who in his book “Principles of Criminology”.
Considers criminology at present as not a
science, but it has hopes of becoming a science.
He is considered as the Dean of Modern
Criminology and was been regarded as the most
important criminologist of the 20th century. He
strongly believed that criminal behavior is learned
and not inherited.

GEORGE L. WILKER
He argued that criminology cannot
possibly become a science. Accordingly, general
propositions of universal validity are the essence of
science; such proposition can be made only stable
and homogeneous units but varies from one time to
another; therefore, universal proposition cannot be
made regarding crime, and scientific of criminal
behavior are impossible.

CESARE BECCARIA
Who, in his book: “ An Essay of Crimes and
Punishments,” advocated and applied doctrine
penology, that is to say make punishment less
arbitrary and severe; that all persons who violated
a specific law should receive identical
punishment regardless of age, sanity, wealth,
position, or circumstance.

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RAFFAELLE GAROFALO
Another Italian authority in criminology, who
developed a concept of the natural crime and
defined it as a violation of the prevalent sentiments
of pity and probity.
He coined the term “Criminology” (in Italian
Criminologia).

HENRY H. GODDARD
Who advocated the theory that
“feeblemindedness” inherited as Mendalian Unit,
causes crime for the reason that the feebleminded
person is unable to appreciate the consequences of
his behavior, or appreciate the meaning of the law.

DAVID W. MAURER
He is an American authority in police
administration who, in his book “The Big Con,” once
said, “The Dominant culture could control the
predatory cultures without difficulty, and what is
more, it would exterminate them, for no criminal
subculture can operate continuously and
professionally without the connivance of the
law.”

PETER RENTZEL
A private person who, in 1669, established a
work house in hamburg at his own expense because
he had observed that thieves and prostitutes were
made worse instead of better by pillory, and he
hoped that they might be improved by work and
religious instruction in the workhouse.

JOHN HOWARD
The great prison reformer, who wrote “The
State of Prisons in England” in 1777, after a personal
investigation of practically all prisons in England.

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ADOLPHE QUETELET
He made use of data and statistical analysis
to gain insight into the relationship between crime
and sociological factors. He found out that age,
gender, poverty, education, and alcohol
consumption were important factors related to crime.

RAWSON W. RAWSON
He utilized crime statistics to suggest a link
between population density and crime rates, with
crowded cities creating an environment conducive to
crime. Joseph Fletcher and John Glyde also
presented their research papers on crime and its
distribution to the Statistical Society of London.

HENRY MAYHEW
He used empirical methods and
ethnographic approach to address social questions
and poverty, and presented his studies in London
Labor and the London Poor.

EMILE DURKHEIM
He viewed crime as an inevitable aspect of
society, with uneven distribution of wealth and other
differences among people.

ALPHONSE BERTILLION
He is a French law enforcement officer and
biometrics researcher, who created anthropometry
– an identification system based on physical
measurements. Anthropometry was the first
scientific system police used to identify criminals.
The method was eventually supplanted by
Dactyloscopy.

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SIR ALEC JEFFREYS

He is a fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), a
British Genetics, who developed techniques of
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) fingerprinting and
DNA profiling.

WILLEM ADRIAN BONGER

He is a Dutch criminologist, who believed in a
causal link between crime and economic and social
conditions. He asserted that crime is social in origin and
the normal response to prevailing cultural conditions. In
more primitive societies, he contended that survival
requires more selfless altruism within the community.

ABRAHAMSEN
He explained the causes of crime in his Crime
and the Human Mind (1945) through his formula (CB = CT
+ Inducing Situation/PMRT). That is, Criminal Behavior
equals Criminalistic Tendency plus Inducing Situation
divided by the Person’s Mental or emotional Resistance
to Temptation.

Source of Images: Wikipedia

IMPORTANT EVENTS & PLACES IN THE STUDY OF CRIMINOLOGY

1. Berlin – The country where the last burning at the stake was made until 1786.

2. Australia – A place where after the Americans gained their independence from
England in 1786, the prisoners of England were transferred until 1867.

3. Ancient Rome—A nation who pioneered banishment as a form of punishment.

4. Middle of the 16th Century – The period when the first House of Correction
appeared in England, on the petition of Bishop Ridley of London for help in dealing
with the sturdy vagabonds of the city. The King gave his place at bridewell to be
one of the hospitals of the City, for lewed and idle, and a place for the employment
of the unemployed and the training of children.

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5. Hammurabi’s Code – A Code after a name of a person who firstly adopted the
principle “ An Eye for An Eye, and a Tooth for a Tooth” in the imposition of
punishment.

6. Elmira Reformatory – Considered as the forerunner of modern Penology, located

in Elmira, New York, in 1876. It features a training school type of institutional
program, social case work, and extensive use of parole.

7. Auburn Prison System – Its features were confinement of the prisoners in single
cells at night and congregate work in shops during the day.

8. 1870 to 1880 – Was the Golden Age of Penology because of the following reasons:

 The formation and Organization of National American Prison Association

in 1870;
 In 1872, the first International Prison Congress was held in London;
 In 1876, the Elmira Reformatory was considered as the forerunner of
Modern Penology; and
 The first separate Institution for Women were established in Indiana and
Massachusettes.

9. 1839 – Demetz of France established an Agricultural Colony for Delinquent boys.

The boys were housed in cottages with house fathers as in charge. The system
was based on re- education rather than force. When discharged, the boys were
placed under the supervision of a patron.

10. 1934 – The league of nations adopted the “Standard Minimum Rules for the
Treatment of Prisoners.”

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN CRIMINOLOGY

The theories of the social scientists, anthropologists and criminologists from the
pre-twentieth century will help us understand the explanations on why and how the person
commits crime.

The world of criminology in this era has been divided into three broad schools of
thought that explain the causes of crimes namely;

A. CLASSICAL SCHOOL

The Classical School was developed in the mid-18th century and was based on
Utilitarianism. This school of criminology is composed of group of thinkers who focused
their studies and research on crimes and punishment. The classical theorist are:

1. Cesare Bonesara Marchese de Beccaria

He was an Italian philosopher and politician. He was known on his essay entitled:
Crimes and Punishments (1763-64) which condemned torture and death penalty and was
the founding work in the field of criminology.

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Essay on Crimes and Punishments is a seminal treatise on legal reform and widely
considered as one of the founding texts of Classical Criminology which has the following
characteristics:
a. The basis of criminal liability is human freewill and the purpose of penalty
is retribution.
b. That man is essentially a moral creature with an absolutely freewill to choose
between good and evil, thereby placing more stress upon the effect or result
of the felonious act than upon the man, the criminal himself.
c. It has endeavored to establish a mechanical and direct proportion between
crime and penalty.
d. There is a scant regard to the human element.

It is one of the earliest and most famous works against death penalty. The main
reason put forward against that measure is that the State, by putting people to death, was
committing a crime to punish another one. It also advocated a substantial difference
between crime and sin, and was for this reason put in the list of Banished Books by the
Catholic Church in 1766.

The work had a great success in the whole of Europe, especially in France and at
the Court of Catherine II of Russia. The judiciary reform advocated by Beccaria led to the
abolition of death punishment in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the first Italian state taking
this measure.

2. Jeremy Bentham
He was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He was a
political radical and a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law. He is best
known as an early advocate of utilitarianism and fair treatment of animals that influenced
the development of liberalism. He invented the panopticon prison design, and other
classical school philosophers argued the following:

a. people have free will to choose how to act;

b. deterrence is based upon the utilitarian ontological notion of a human being as a
‘hedonist’ who seeks pleasure and avoid pain, and a ‘rational calculator’
weighing up the cost and benefits of the consequences of each action. Thus, it
ignores the possibility of irrationality and unconscious drives as motivational
factors;

Hedonism- principle which explains that a man chooses between pleasure and
pain.

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c. Punishment (of sufficient severity) can deter people from crime, as the costs
(penalties) outweigh benefits, and that severity of punishment should be
proportionate to the crime; and
d. The swifter and certain the punishment, the more effective it is in deterring criminal
behavior.
Majority of the Philippine
Revised Penal Code (RPC)
principles and concepts were
derived from this school of
thought.

Arguments about the Classical Theory (Tradio, 1999)

 Unfair – it treats all men as if they were robot without regard to the individual
differences and the surrounding circumstances when the crime is committed.
 Unjust – having the same punishment for the first offenders and recidivists.
 The nature and definition of punishment is not individualized.
 It considers only the injury caused not the mental condition of the offender.
 It became the Magna Carta or pattern of the criminal, since the latter knows what
will be the penalty in case he will be arrested and convicted of the offense to be
made. Thus, he can calculate the amount of pleasure and pain.

B. NEO-CLASSICAL SCHOOL

The neo-classical school of criminology argued that the situations or circumstances

that made it impossible to exercise freewill are reasons to exempt the accused from
conviction.

This school of thought maintains that while the classical doctrine is correct in general,
it should be modified in certain details:
a. That children and lunatics should not be regarded as criminals and free from
punishment.
b. It must take into account certain mitigating circumstances.

Neo-Classicists argued that the freewill of a person is

not absolute and can be mitigated by pathology,
incompetence and mental disorder. In the Philippines,
this is reflected in Article 12 of the RPC.
(Further readings: Article 12 of the RPC)
Of the RPC.

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C. POSITIVIST SCHOOL

This school of criminology is composed mainly of Italian social scientists,

anthropologists and criminologists who emphasized on the scientific treatment of
criminals and not on the penalties to be imposed.

The positivist School, presumed that criminal behavior is caused by internal

(subjective in nature) and external (objective or nurtured) factors outside of the individuals
control. The scientific method was introduced and applied to study human behavior.
Positivism can be broken up into three segments which include biological, psychological
and social positivism. Positivists theorists are Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri, Raffaele
Garofalo:
“Holy Three of Criminology”
They emphasized on the scientific
approach to then study of criminal
behavior and to reform the criminal law.
Of the RPC.
Source of Images: wellcomecollection.org
Dr. Cesare Lombroso Raffaele Garofalo
Enrico Ferri
1. Dr. Cesare Lombroso

He was born Ezechia Marco Lombroso (November 6, 1836 – October 19, 1909)
was an Italian criminologist and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology.
Lombroso rejected the established Classical School, which held that crime was a
characteristic trait of human nature. Instead, using concepts drawn from physiognomy,
early eugenics, psychiatry and Social Darwinism. Lombroso’s theory of anthropological
criminology essentially stated that criminality was inherited, and that someone, “born
criminal” could be identified by physical defects, which confirmed a criminal as savage,
or atavistic.

Cesare Lombroso, an Italian prison doctor working in the late 19 th century and
sometimes regarded as the “Father of Criminology”, was one of the largest contributors
to biological positivism. Lombroso took a scientific approach, insisting on empirical
evidence, for studying crime.

Also, he was considered as the founder of criminal anthropology, who suggested

that physiological traits such as the measurements such as one’s cheekbones, or hair line,
or a cleft palate, considered to be throwbacks to Neanderthal man, are indicative to
“atavistic” criminal tendencies. This approach, introduced by the earlier theory of
phrenology and by Charles Darwin and his Theory of Evolution, has been superseded, but
more modern research examines genetic characteristics and the chemistry of nutrition to
determine whether there is an effect to violent behavior.

Classifications of Criminals according to Lombroso:

1. Atavistic – these criminals are those considered as born criminals. It is based on

the belief that criminal behavior is inherited.

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2. Insane Criminal – this refers to people who became criminals due to

psychological disorder or mental abnormalities.

3. Criminal by Passion – He is a person who commits crime due to extreme

emotion, impulse of the moment, fit of passion or great anger or jealousy.

4. Criminaloid – He is an individual who commits crime because of weak self-control

or less physical stamina.

5. Occasional Criminal – He commits crime if given an occasion to do so.

6. Pseudo Criminal – He is an individual who kills a person in self-defense.

Dr. Cesare Lombroso conducted an autopsy and identified various physical

stigmata; hence, Lombroso concluded that those identified numbers of physical stigmata
were indicative of the born criminal or atavistic criminal.

Dr. Cesare Lombroso was criticized for his atavistic theory (failed to evolve to a
fully human and civilized state) or his attention to the biological characteristics of a
man. He said that criminals have in common with each other most especially when it
comes to their observable physical or mental defects. The latter even wrote the essay
entitled: “Crime: Its Causes and Remedies” that contains his classification of criminals.

Stigmata Related to an Atavistic Criminal are:

1. Deviation in head size and shape from type common to race and region from which
the criminal came;
2. Asymmetry of the face;
3. Eye defects and peculiarities;
4. Excessive dimensions of the jaw and cheekbones;
5. Ears of unusual size, or occasionally very small, or standing out from the head as
to those of a chimpanzee;
6. Nose twisted, upturned, or flattened in thieves, or aquiline or beak like in
murderers, or with a tip rising like a peak from swollen nostrils;
7. Lips fleshy, swollen, and protruding;
8. Pouches on the cheek like some of those animals;
9. Peculiarities in the plate, such as are found in reptiles, and cleft palate;
10. Chin preceding, or excessively long, or short and flat, as in apes;
11. Abnormal dentition;
12. Abundance, variety, precocity of wrinkles;
13. Anomalies of the hair, marked by the characteristics of the opposite sex;
14. Defects of the thorax, such as too many or too few ribs, or supernumerary nipples;
15. Inversion of sex characters in the pelvic organs;
16. Excessive length of arms;
17. Supernumerary fingers and toes; and

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18. Imbalance of the hemisphere of the brain (asymmetry of the cranium).

Illustration from Lombroso’s work showing

some of the physical defects that the he believed
to be distinguishing marks of criminals.
Of the RPC.

Source of Images: google.com

Summary of Lombroso’s work:

1. He consistently emphasized the need for direct study of the individual, utilizing
measurements and statistical methods in anthropological, social, and economic data.
2. He began with the basic assumption of biological nature of human character and
behavior.
a. He first conceived of the criminal as a throwback to a more primitive type of brain
structure, and therefore, of behavior;
b. He later modified this to include degeneracy of defectiveness, and;
c. He never claimed that the born criminal constituted more than 40% probably less,
only about 1/3 of the total criminal population.
3. With successive years of study, discussion, and contact with critics, he modified his
theory and method. He included all kinds of social, economic, and environmental data.
Through it all, he always attempted to be:
a. Objective, in method, often statistical;
b. Positive in the scene of deterministic; and
c. Faithful to the basic idea of cause as a chain of interrelated events, not the more
familiar and popular doctrine of self-determinism of human behavior, to say nothing
of the demonistic.

2. Enrico Ferri
He is the best known Lombroso’s associate, brilliant lawyer, accomplished editor
scholar and public lecturer and a great parliamentarian.

He believed that social as well as biological factors played a role, and held the
view that criminals should not be held responsible, for the factors causing their
criminality were beyond their control.

3. Raffaele Garofalo
He was an Italian jurist and a student of Cesare Lombroso. He rejected the doctrine
of free will and supported the position that crime can be understood only if it is studied
by scientific methods. He attempted to formulate a sociological definition of crime that
would designate those acts which can be repressed by punishment. These constituted

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“Natural Crime” and were considered offenses violating the two basic altruistic
sentiments common to all people, namely, probity and pity. Crime is an immoral act
that is injurious to society. This was more of a psychological orientation than
Lombroso’s physical-type anthropology.

Garofalo’s law of adoption followed the biological principle of Darwin in terms of

adoption and the elimination of those unable to adapt in a kind of social natural
selection. Consequently, he suggested the following:
1. Death for those whose criminal acts grew out of a permanent psychological
anomaly, rendering them incapable of social life;
2. Partial elimination or long time imprisonment for those fit only for the life of nomadic
hordes or primitive tribes; and
3. Enforced reparation on the part of those who lack altruistic sentiments, but who
have committed the crimes under the pressure of exceptional circumstances are
not likely to do so again.

Characteristics of Positive Theory

Positivists affirmed that crime is like a natural phenomenon, disaster or
calamity because of the following reasons:

 That a man is subdued occasionally by a strange and morbid phenomenon which

constrains him to do wrong in spite of or contrary to his own volition.

 That crime essentially a social and natural phenomenon and such as, it cannot
be treated and checked by the application of abstract principles of law and
jurisprudence nor by the imposition of a punishment, fixed and determined a prior;
but rather through the enforcement of individual measures in each particular case
after a thorough, personal and individual investigation conducted by a competent
body of psychiatrists and social scientists.

CLASSICAL VS. POSITIVIST

Point Classical School Positive School

Focus The focus is the crime or the The focus is the man not the
criminal act not the man. crime committed.
View of Human Hedonistic; free-willed Malleable; determined by
Nature rationality, morally responsible biological, psychological and
for own behavior. social environment; no moral
responsibility.
View of Justice Social contract; exists to Scientific treatment system
System protect society; due process to cure pathologists and
and concern with civil rights; rehabilitate offenders; no
restrictions on system. concern with civil rights.

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Form of Law Statutory law; exact Social law, illegal acts

specialization on illegal acts defined by analogy; scientific
and sanctions. experts determine social
harm and proper form of
treatment.
Purpose of Punishment for deterrence; Treatment and reform;
Sentencing sentences are determinate sentences are determinate
(fixed length) (variable length until cured)
Criminological Philosophers; social reformers Scientists; treatment experts
Experts
Age of Existence Both schools existed during the Age of Enlightenment

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