APPROACHES AND THEORIES OF CRIMES

A. SUBJECTIVEAPPROACHES – deals meanly on the biological explanation of crimes, focused on abnormalities that exist in the forms of the
individual before, during or after the commission of the crimes.
1. ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH – the study on the physical characteristics of an individual offender with non-offenders in the
attempt to discover differences covering criminal behavior.
2. MEDICAL APPROACH –
the application of medical examination on the individual prior and after the commission of the crime.
3. BIOLOGICAL APPROACH – the criminal behavior. It is noted evaluation of genetic influences to that heredity is one pushing the
criminal to crime.
4. PHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACH – the study on the nature of human being concerning his physical needs on order to satisfy his
wants. It explains that the deprivation of the physical body on the basic needs is an important determiner of the commission of
the crime.
5. PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH – it is concerned about the deprivation of the psychological needs of man, which constitute the
development of deviations of normal behavior resulting to unpleasant emotions.
6. PSYCHIATRIC APPROACH-
the explanations of crimes through diagnosis of mental diseases as a cause of the criminal behavior.
7. PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL APPROACH – the explanation of crimes based on the Freudian theory, which traces behavior as the
deviation of the repression of the basic drives.
B. OBJECTIVE APPROACHES – deal on the study of groups, social processes, and institutions as influences on behavior. They are primarily
derived from social sciences.
1. GEOGRAPHIC APPROACH – this natural approach considers topography, resources, geographical location, and climate lead an
individual to commit crime.
2. ECOLOGICAL APPROACH –it is concerned with the biotic grouping of men resulting to migration, competition, social
discrimination, division of labor and social conflict a factor of crime.
3. ECONOMIC APPROACH – it deals with the explanation of crime concerning financial security of inadequacy and other necessities
to support life as a factor to criminality.
4. SOCIAL-CULTURE APPROACH- that focus - those on institutions, economic, financial, education, political, and religious influence
on crime.

ORGANIZED CRIMES

Is a criminal activity by an enduring structure or organization developed and devoted primarily to the pursuit of profits through illegal
means?

It is sometime referred as “MAFIA”, “SYNDICATE”, the “MOB”, or NOSA “COSTRA”, which are known as “the enemy within”, “the 2nd
government”, “the 5th estate”, or the crime confederation.

How organized crime group works?

For the organization to work there must be:

1. An ENFORCER – arrangement for killing one who and injuring make (physically, economically, and psychologically) the members or
nonmembers.
2. A CORRUPTER – one who bribes, buys, intimidates, threatens, negotiates, and “sweet talks” into a relationship with the police, public
officials or any else who might help the members security and maintain immunity from arrest, prosecution, and arrest.
3. A CORRUPTEE- a public official, usually not a member of the organization family, who can yield influence on behalf of the organization’s
interest

Characteristics of Organized Crime

1. It is a conspiracy activity involving coordination of members.

2. Economic gain is the primary goal.

3. Economic gain is achieved through illegal means.

4. Employs predatory tactics such as intimidation, violence, and corruption.

5. Effective victims.

6. Organized control over members, associates, and crimes does not include terrorist dedicated to political change.
Typologies of Crime

 Violent Crimes
 Crimes against Property
 White Collar and Corporate Crime
 Drug, Alcohol, and Sex Related Crimes

WHITE COLLAR - Criminal acts committed by a person of respectability and high social status during his or her occupation.

CORPORATE CRIMES – the violation of a criminal statute either by a corporate entity or by its executives, employees, or agents, acting on behalf of
and for the benefit of the corporation, partnership, or other business entity.

THEORIES OF CRIME

PRE-CLASSICAL ERA

DEMONOLOGICAL THEORY –

 Before the development of more scientific theories of criminal behavior, one of the most popular explanations was Demonology.
 According to this explanation individuals were thought to be possessed by good or evil spirits, which caused good or evil behavior.

“The belief that criminal behavior is controlled and directed by evil spirits”

Features:

 No clear system of Criminal Justice

 Imposition of harsh punishment
 Trial by ordeal concept

THEORIES OF CRIME PRE-TWENTIETH CENTURY THEORIES (18TH C – 1738-1798)

In the eighteenth century, criminological literature, whether psychological, sociological, or psychiatric in bent, has traditionally been
divided into three broad schools of thought about the causes of crime: the classical, neo-classical and the positivist schools of criminology.

THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY

This is the school of thought advocated by Cesare Beccaria whose real name is Cesare Bonesara Marchese De Beccaria together with
Jeremy Bentham (1823) who proposed “Utilitarian Hedonism”.

The theory which explains that a person always acts in such a way as to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

 FREE WILL

PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL

CESARE BECARIA

 (March 11, 1738- Nov. 28, 1794)

 Father of the Classical Theory

Italian Philosopher and Politician best known for his treatise On Crimes and Punishments (1764), w/c condemned torture and the death
penalty and was founding work in the field of criminology.

JEREMY BENTHAM

Best known as the man who founded the Theory of Utilitarianism.

THE NEO-CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY

Argued that situations or circumstances that made it impossible to exercise freewill are reasons to exempt the accused from conviction.

This school of classical doctrine is thought maintains that while the correct in general, it should be modified in certain details that
children and lunatics should not be regarded as criminals and free from punishment, it must consider certain mitigating circumstances.

 Children – refers to a person less than eighteen (18) years of age.

 Lunatics – refers to somebody who has psychiatric disorder.
THE POSITIVIST / ITALIAN SCHOOL (1838 – 1909)

It maintained that crime as any other act is a natural phenomenon and is comparable to disaster or calamity.

That crimes as a social and moral phenomenon which cannot be treated and checked by the imposition of punishment but rather
rehabilitation or the enforcement of individual measures.

Cesare Lombroso and his two students, Enrico Ferri and Rafaele Garofalo advocated this school.

CESARE LOMBROSO

 1836 – 1909
 Father of Modern Criminology

His major contribution is the development of a scientific approach to the study of criminal behavior and to reform the criminal law.

He wrote the essay entitled “CRIME: Its Causes and Remedies” that contains his key ideas and the classifications of criminals.

CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINALS BY LOMBROSO

1. Born Criminals - Criminal behavior is inherited.

2. Criminal by Passion - easily influenced by great emotions (anger)

3. Insane Criminal - are those who commit crime due to abnormalities or psychological disorders. Must be exempted from criminal liability.
CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINALS BY LOMBROSO

4. Criminoloid - a person who commit crime due to less physical stamina/self-control.

5. Occasional Criminal - those who commit crime due to insignificant reasons that pushed them to do at a given occasion.

6. Pseudo-Criminals - are those who kill in self-defense.

ENRICO FERRI

 1856 – 1929
 Best known as Lombroso’s associate.

His greatest contribution was his attack on the classical doctrine of free-will, which argued that the criminals should be held morally
responsible for their crimes because they must have made a rational decision to commit the crime.

RAFAELE GAROFALO

 1852 –1934
 Another follower of Lombroso, an Italian nobleman, magistrate, senator, and professor of law.

Like Lombroso and Ferri, he rejected the doctrine of free will and supported the position that the only way to understand crime was to study it
by scientific methods.

Influenced on Lombroso’s theory of atavistic stigmata (man’s inferior / animalistic behavior), he traced the roots of criminal behavior not to
physical features but to their psychological equivalents, which he called “moral anomalies”.

Types of Criminals by Garofalo

1. Murderers- those who are satisfied from those who commit very vengeance/revenge.
2. Violent Crimes – those who commit very serious crimes.
3. Deficient Criminals - those who commit those who commit crime against property.
4. Lascivious Criminals – those who commit crime against chastity

THE CLASSICAL AND POSITIVIST SCHOOL COMPARED

CLASSICAL SCHOOL POSITIVIST SCHOOL

1. Legal definition of crime - no to legal definition

2. Punishment fit the crime - no to legal definition
3. Doctrine of free will - doctrine of determinism
4. Death penalty allowed - abolition of death penalty
5. No empirical research - inductive method
6. Definite sentence - indeterminate sentence
EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURYTHEORIES

1. David Emile Durkheim (French, 1858 – 1917) - He advocated the Anomie Theory.

ANOMIE THEORY - The theory that focused on the sociological point of the positivist school, which explains that the absence of norms
in a society provides a setting conducive to crimes and other antisocial acts.

According to him, the explanation of human conduct lies not in the individual but in the group and the social organization. (Lack of social
regulation)

2. Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1969) – Psychologists have considered a variety of possibilities to account for individual differences –
conscience, childhood emotional socialization, immaturity, maternal defective inadequate deprivation, and poor moral development.

The Freudian view on criminal behavior was based on the use of psychology in explaining an approach in understanding criminal behavior
– the foundation of Psychoanalytical Theory.

ELEMENTS OF PERSONALITY

1. THE ID - is the only component of personality that is present from birth.

2. THE EGO - Component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality.
3. SUPER EGO - aspect of personality that holds all our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society-
our sense of right and wrong.

3. Robert Ezra Park (1864 – 1944) -Park is a strong advocate of the scientific method in explaining criminality but he is a sociologist.
He advocated the “Human Ecology Theory” the study of the interrelationship of people and their environment.

MIDDLE TWENTIETHCENTURY

1. Ernest Kretchmer (1888 – 1964) - The idea of somatotyping was originated from the work of a German Psychiatrist, Ernest Kretschmer, who
distinguished three principal types of physique as:

 Asthenic – lean, slightly built, narrow shoulder

 Athletic – medium to tall, strong, muscular, course bones
 Pyknic – medium height, rounded figure, massive neck, broad face

2. William H. Sheldon (1898 – 1977) -Sheldon is an influenced of the Somatotype School of Criminology, which related body built to behavior. He
became popular of his own Somatotype Theory.

His key ideas are concentrated on the principle of “Survival of the Fittest” as a behavioral science. He combines the biological and
psychological explanation to understand deviant behavior and the physique is a reliable indicator of personality.

Classification of Body Physique by Sheldon

ENDOMORPHY – a type with relatively predominance of soft, roundness throughout the regions of the body. They have low specific
gravity. Persons with typically relaxed and comfortable disposition.

PRONENESS TO CRIMES INVOLVING DECEIT ANDFRAUD.

MESOMORPHY – athletic type, predominance of muscle, bone, and connective tissue, normally heavy, hard and firm, sting and tough.
They are the people who are routinely active and aggressive, and they are the most likely to commit crimes.

ROUTINELY ACTIVE AND PRONE TO VIOLENT CRIMES. - PRONE TO SEXUALASSAULT

ECTOMORPHY – flat chest, delicacy body, slender, poorly muscled. through They thin physique, they tend to look more CRIMES AGAINST
fatigue and withdrawn.

PRONENESS TO PROPERTY

3.Edwin Sutherland (1883 – 1950) -Sutherland has been referred to as “the most important criminologist of the twentieth century” because of his
explanation about crime and criminal behavior can be seen as a corrected extension of social perspective.

For this reason, he was considered as the “Dean of Modern Criminology”. He said that crime is learned and not inherited.

He advocated the DAT (Differential Association Theory). It maintains that the society is composed of different group organization, the
societies consist of a group of people having criminalistics tradition and anti-criminalistics tradition. And that criminal behavior is learned and not
inherited.
 It is learned process of communication, and through the learning process includes technique of committing the crime, motive, and
attitude.

CRIMINAL

On the basis of the definition of crime, a criminal may be defined in three ways.

1. A person who committed a crime and has been convicted by a court of the violation of a criminal law. (Legal definition)
2. A person who violated a social norm or one who did an anti-social act. (Social Definition)
3. A person who violated rules of conduct due to behavioral maladjustment. (Psychological Definition)

CRIMINOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINALS

BASED ON ETIOLOGY

1. Acute Criminal - is one who violates a criminal law of the They impulse commit of fit of passionate because passion. crimes.

2. Chronic Criminal - is one who commits crime acted in consonance of deliberated thinking. He plans the crime ahead of time. They are
the targeted offenders.

BASED ON BEHAVIORAL SYSTEM

1. Ordinary Criminal - Is considered the lowest form of criminal career. He does not stick to crime as a profession but rather pushed to
commit crimes due to great opportunity.

2. Organized Criminal - Is one who associates himself with other criminals to earn a high degree of organization to enable them to
commit crimes easily without being detected by authorities. They commit organized crimes.

3. Professional Criminal - Is a person who is engaged in criminal activities with high degree of skill. He is usually one who practices crime
as a profession to maintain a living.

BASED ON ACTIVITIES

1. Professional Criminals - Are those who practice crime as a profession for a living. Criminal activity is constant to earn skill and develop
ability in their commission

2. Accidental Criminal - Are those who commit crimes when the situation is conducive to its commission.

3. Habitual Criminal - Are those who continue to commit crime because of deficiency of intelligence and lack of self-control.

BASED ON MENTAL ATTITUDES

1. Active Criminals - are those who commit crimes due to aggressiveness.

2. Passive Inadequate Criminals - are those who commit crimes because they are pushed to it by reward or promise.

3. Socialized Delinquents - are criminals who are normal in behavior but defective in their socialization process or development.

BASED ON LEGAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Habitual Delinquents - Is a person who, with in a period of ten years from the date of his release or last conviction of the crimes of
serious or less serious physical injuries, robbery, estafa, or falsification, is found guilty of any on the said crimes or a third time oftener

2. Recidivist - Is one who, at the time of his trial for one crime, shall have been previously convicted by final judgment of another crime
embraced in the same title of the Revised Penal Code.

Victimology: study of crime victims

VICTIMOLOGY - is the study of victims and contributory role, if any, in crime causation. It is also the scientific process of gaining
substantial amounts of knowledge on offender’s characteristics by studying the nature of victims.

CRIMINOLOGY EDUCATION Philippine College of Criminology (PCCr) - first criminology school in the Philippines. Republic Act 6506 - an
act Creating the Board of Examiners for Criminologist in the Philippines.

RA NO. 11131 an act regulating the practice of criminology profession in the Philippines and appropriating funds therefor, repealing for the
purpose
REPUBLIC ACT NO.6506 otherwise known as “an act creating the board of examiners for criminologists in the Philippines. The Philippine
criminology profession act of 2018.