Title Slide: CRM426 Module 2

Narrator:

In this AVP you will learn about the classical and the Positivist Schools of Thought.

Slide 2

Title Slide: Modern Criminology

Slide Content:

· Modern criminology

· Two main schools

Narrator:

Modern criminology is the product of two main schools of thought: The classical school originating in the 18th century, and the positivist school originating in the 19th century.

Slide 3

Title Slide: The Early Phenomena

Slide content:

· Prior to the 18th century

· The explanations

Narrator:

Prior to the eighteenth century, explanations of a wide variety of phenomena tended to be of a religious or spiritual nature.

Slide 4

Title Slide: The Classical Position

Slide Content:

· Cesare Beccaria

· An assumption

· Free agents and punishment

Narrator:

The father of classical criminology is generally considered to be Cesare Beccaria. All modern criminal justice systems in the world assume the classical position that persons are free agents who deserve to be punished when they transgress the law.

Slide 5

Title Slide: Legacy of the Classical School

Slide Content:

· Ideas championed

· Individual rights

Narrator:

Many of the ideas championed by Beccaria are inherent in such rights as freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, the right to a speedy trial, the prohibition of ex post facto laws, the right to confront one’s accusers, and equality under law, contained in the Bill of Rights and other documents at the heart of Western legal systems today.

Slide 6

Title Slide: Positivism

Slide Content:

· A move from classical assumptions

· The popular view

Narrator:

In the 19th century, criminologists began to move away from the classical assumptions, especially the assumption of free will as it is commonly understood, and toward a more scientific view of human behavior. The increasingly popular view among criminologists of this period was that crime resulted from internal and/or external forces impinging on individuals, biasing, or even completely determining, their behavior choices.

Slide 7

Title Slide: Explaining Positivism

Slide Content:

· The science of social life

· The concerns of positivistic criminologists

Narrator:

The term positivism is used to designate the extension of the scientific method to social life. Positivistic criminologists were more concerned with discovering the biological, psychological, or social determinants of criminal behavior than with the classical concerns of legal and penal reforms.

Slide 8

Title Slide: Jeremy Bentham

Slide Content:

· The last of the classicists

· First of the positivists

Narrator:

Jeremy Bentham recognized internal and external constraints on free will and rationality, and he may have been both the last of the old classical criminologists and the first of the positivist criminologists.

Slide 9

Title Slide: The Effect of Positivism

Slide Content:

· The legacy

· The shift

Narrator:

The legacy of the positivist school was the shift from the armchair philosophizing about human behavior to utilizing the concepts and methods of science. Positivism did not disprove or destroy classical principles; it simply shifted emphasis from crime and penology to the individual offender.

Slide 10

Title Slide: Rational Choice Theory

Slide Content:

· Rational choice beliefs

· The contexts

· Criminal acts

Narrator:

Rational choice theorists believe that factors such as poverty, IQ, impulsiveness, or broken homes are not required to explain crime. The choice is made in context of personal and situational constraints and the availability of opportunities. Criminal acts are specific examples of the general principle that all human behavior reflects the rational pursuit of maximizing utility, which is the modern economists’ version of Bentham’s principle of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain

Slide 11

End of Presentation