*Prior to 18th century

Prior to the18th century (Walsh 2012), explanations of a variety of phenomena, including

criminal behavior, tended to be a religious or spiritual nature. Good fortunes and disasters alike
were frequently attributed to good or evil supernatural forces. A simple extension of this
worldview was to define crime as a result of demonic possession or the evil abuse of freewill
(demonological explanation). Most explanations of crime equated it with sin – the violation of a
sacred obligation.
*Crime is a result of demonic possession
During the Middle Ages, superstition and fear of satanic possession dominated the
thinking regarding crime. People who violated social norms or religious practices were believed
to be witches or possessed by demons. The prescribed method for dealing with the possessed
was burning at the stake, a practice that survived into the 17th century.
*18th century
This demonological explanation for criminal behavior began to wane in the 18th century
with the beginning of the Enlightenment, which was essentially a major shift in the way people,
began to view the world and their place in it. This new worldview questioned traditional
religious and political values such as absolute monarchy and demonic possession. In their place,
the substituted humanism, rationalism, and a belief in the primacy of the natural over the
supernatural world, Enlightenment thinkers believed in the dignity and worth of individuals, a
view that would eventually find expression in the law and in the treatment of criminal
offenders.
*enlightenment theorists
Enlightenment theorists like Thomas Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Voltaire and Montesquieu
introduced the idea of social contract.
*introduced the idea of social contract
The idea of Social Contract is an extraordinary important part of the enlightenment
philosophy that people invest in the laws of their society, with the guarantee that they will be
protected from others who violate such rules. The other concepts of this philosophy are the
following (Tibbets & Hemmens, 2010):
1.Democracy, which emphasizes that every person in society should have a say in government.
2.Individual’s right to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.
3.Human beings are rational and therefore have freewill.
*Era of classical criminology
The writings of Cesare Bonesana Marchese di Beccaria (Father of Classical Criminology)
and his followers form the core of classical criminology. As originally conceived in the 18th
century, the classical criminology theory has the following basic elements:
In every society, people have freewill to choose criminal or lawful solutions to meet their needs
or settle their problems.
Criminal solutions may be more attractive than lawful ones because they usually require less
work for a greater payoff.
People’s choice of criminal solutions may be controlled by their fear of punishment.
The more severe, certain, and swift the punishment, the better able it is to control criminal
behavior.
The classical perspective influenced judicial philosophy during much of the late 18th and 19th
Prison began to be used as a form of punishment, and sentences were geared proportionately
to the seriousness of the crime. Capital punishment still widely used but began to be employed
for only the most serious crime.
The byword was “Let the punishment fit the crime.”
*19th century
The 2nd phase began in the 19th century
*Modern Criminology
The 2nd phase began in the 19th century known as the modern criminology.
During this era, Criminology distinguished itself as a subsequently within the emerging
disciplines of psychology, sociology and economics.
Cesare Lombroso, an Italian philosopher founded the Positivist School of Criminology.
*21st century
The 3rd phase began in the second half of the 21st century.
*Independent Criminology (more multidisciplinary)
Criminological theories have become more multidisciplinary because independent
criminologists seek to understand crime itself rather than study crime as one aspect of an
overall sociological or psychological theory.