ZIMBABWE REPUBLIC POLICE ACADEMY

An associate college of the University of Zimbabwe

DEPARTMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE LEGAL STUDIES

ASSIGNMENT MARK FORM

SECTION A
NAME : MUSHORIWA D.K
STUDENT NUMBER : 089066 K
PROGRAMME : DIPLOMA IN POLICE STUDIES
MODULE NAME : CONTEMPORARY POLICING
MODULE CODE : DPS 110
LECTURER : SGT MUSIKAVANHU
DUE DATE : 16/11/22

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION: DISCUSS THE CRIMINOLOGY UNDER PINNINGS

BETWEEN CLASSICAL AND POSITIVISTS SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY

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The classical school of thought was founded on the tenets that people have free will and that
punishment can serve as a deterrent to crime if it is proportionate, appropriate, and meted out
promptly. An effort to link criminal behavior to certain physiological features emerged in the late
19th century. This resulted in the discovery of a hereditary criminal type, a hypothesis that has
since been completely debunked. Later, psychological positivists employed thorough research to
connect personality traits with specific crimes and to pinpoint formative experiences that might
contribute to a general propensity for breaching the law. It is stated that Cesare Beccaria, Jeremy
Bentham, and the father of positivism are responsible for founding the classical school of
criminology. . According to legend, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham founded the classical
school of criminology, whereas Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri, and Raffaele Garofalo founded
the positivism school. In order to clarify or emphasize the differences between the classical
school of criminology and the positivist school of criminology, the article that follows

According to Merriam-Webster (2014), a crime is any unlawful act that the state deems
deserving of punishment. The non-legal components of crime are studied in criminology,
according to Merriam-Webster (2013). The reasons and methods of crime prevention are
included in the non-legal dimensions of crime. According to Brotherton (2013), the study of
crimes, criminals, crime victims, and criminological ideas explaining illegal and abnormal
conduct are all included in the field of criminology. According to Burke, Roger Hopkins (2001),
classical policing usually refers to the writings of 18th-century philosophers of legal reform like
Beccaria and Bentham, but it also has an impact on modern writings on crime and economics,
deterrence, and the rational choice approach. The positivist, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary,
believes that factors that are outside the perpetrator's control are the true causes of crime. These
are to be found using empirical techniques, particularly the statistical analysis.

First off, according to the classical school of criminology, crime is a free-will decision to commit
a crime. People make this decision by acting in ways that maximize pleasure and decrease pain.
This is known as the pain-pleasure principle. According to the traditional theory of criminology,
committing a crime is a free-will decision. Although individuals are pleasure-seeking creatures,
they are also logical beings, thus even if they frequently act selfishly, they are nevertheless able
to judge situations and choose the best course of action. Since people are moral beings with
unrestricted freedom to choose between right and wrong, they commit crimes, and those crimes
are presumed to have been committed, according to the classical school of criminology.

Second, according to the classical school of criminology, in order for people to be held
accountable for their wrongdoings, a well-rounded government must enact penalties and rules
that enable them to accurately determine what course of action to take in a certain circumstance.
Bentham thought that people who commit crimes do so because they want to experience thrills,
money, sex, or anything else that is valuable to them, but Beccaria (1764/1963: 93) argued that it
is preferable to prevent crimes than to punish them. This is the fundamental idea of the
traditional school of criminology. Beccaria thought that laws were necessary to ensure that
penalties were fair and consistent with the offense. He thought that the effectiveness of crime
prevention has decreased. Beccaria believed that the harshness of the punishments imposed
should be commensurate with the crime committed and should not exceed what is required to
discourage the offender and others from committing similar crimes in the future.

The use of the classical school of criminology and classical thought has also resulted in a
decrease in the use of the death penalty, torture, and physical punishment. Both Beccaria and
Bentham opposed the death sentence, with the exception of murder, according to Bentham. The
development of prison as a significant form of punishment occurred in the latter half of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The goal of prison was to divert punishment from the
physical to the mental and spiritual, as these are the elements that can alter a person's perspective
on their criminal behaviors. The strengths of the theory are demonstrated by the fact that many
aspects of classical concepts are still highly relevant in contemporary culture. All court systems
still operate on the notion of deterrence, which was also the foundation for Sir Robert Peel's first
commissioners when he founded the Metropolitan police. In an effort to lower crime rates,
prisons are also utilized as strong deterrents.

Beccaria believed that the severity of the punishment for the offense should be proportionate.
Time should, in other words, "fit the offense. Beccaria allegedly believed that the goal of
punishment should not be retaliation, according to Schmalleger (2014). He thought punishment
should instead be based on deterrence. He believed that by making sanctions visible, potential
offenders would be discouraged from engaging in illegal activities. When the severity of the
punishment goes beyond what is required to achieve deterrence, according to Vold, Bernard, and
Snipes (2002), Beccaria thought it was unreasonable. He also thought torture was inappropriate
because it allowed the weak to implicate themselves while the strong would be cleared before
being judged. 2014's Schmalleger Instead of deterring crime, this unfair punishment meted out to
offenders made it possible for crime to rise. (Vold, et al. 2002 go on to say that Beccaria also
asked for swift judgment and sanctions. (Vold et al. (2002) hinted that he believed the concepts
of crime and punishment would be connected if a crime was committed and the criminal was
sentenced promptly. (Vold et al., 2002) Beccaria considered receiving a penalty.

More specifically, the positivist school of criminology has connected physical characteristics to
criminal behavior. They employed thorough research to link personality traits to specific crimes
and to pinpoint formative situations, like parental maltreatment, that might contribute to a
general propensity for breaching the law. Sociological positivists have looked outside of the
offender for the reasons of crime, such as deprivation, alienation, dense population, and exposure
to abnormal subcultures like drug users or gangs. The Chicago School's use of ecological
methods to investigate the breakdown of social order in inner-city neighborhoods was one
particularly influential approach. Marxist criminology, which views crime as an inevitable
byproduct of class conflict and the capitalist system, and critical criminology are two additional
social positivist approaches.
The positivist school of criminology has a distinct stance because it creates a rationally
independent framework for classifying and evaluating criminal activity. According to
Lombrosso, there are three main categories of criminals: criminaloids, criminals who are insane,
and criminals who are born criminals. Born criminals were believed to make up one-third of
offenders and represent a more basic evolutionary style of development, according to Vold,
Bernard, and Snipes (2002). According to old, Bernard, and Snipes (2002), criminals who were
mad were dumb, paranoid, and suffering from dementia, drunkenness, hysteria, and other mental
disorders. According to Old, Bernard, and Snipes (2002), criminalists are a broad general class
that lacks details on physical traits or mental disorders but occasionally exhibits violent and
criminal behavior. The offenders or criminals were to be punished in accordance with how
serious the offense was.

Positive criminology, according to Lombroso, can be broken down into biological,

psychological, and sociological theories. Based on a person's biological and hereditary identity,
there is biological. These views suggest that the biological makeup of criminals, rather than their
own fault, is what causes them to identify with criminality. In his book The Criminal Man,
Lombroso describes qualities and characteristics of convicts that he associates with criminality
and offers what he believes to be a typical criminal. The subject of psychological theories is the
mind of the individual. The individual serves as the analytical unit in psychological theories.
According to Seiken (2014), abnormal, defective, or unsuitable mental processes within a
person's personality are thought to be the cause of crimes. Therefore, it is claimed that criminal
action may be deliberate for the individual since it satisfies some perceived requirements, as
Seiken (2014) refers to. According to Lombroso, sociological theories link a criminal's actions to
the social structures that surround them. Sociological theories are organized and based on the
context in which people live. This includes the people who have frequent, close interactions with
the person, the surroundings in which they live, and the manner in which they were brought up.
Sociological theories, social structure, and context all play a significant role in understanding
how criminal behavior is exhibited.

In conclusion, the positivist school of criminology is focused on the biological, psychological,

and sociological characteristics of a criminal, whereas the classical school is based on freewill
and determinism. The aforementioned essay successfully highlighted the distinctions between
the classical and positivist schools of criminology.
REFERENCES

Schlesinger P and Tumbler H (1994). Reporting Crime.the Media Politics of Criminal Justice.Clarendon
Press. Oxford. England.

Siegel, L. J. (2002).Criminology: The Core. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Siegel L. J (2010) Criminology: The Core. Wardwoth. USA.

Sutherland, E. H.; Cressey, D. R.; and Luckenbill, D, F. (1992) Principles of Criminology. Dix Hills, N.Y.:
General Hall,

Almond G.A (1990), A discipline Divided: Schools and sects in political science. Sage Publications Inc.