Foundation of Criminology

General Concept of Criminology and School of Criminology

Compiled by: Ronilyn T. Mendoza

The term criminology is derived from the combination of two words – crimen,
which means crime and logia, which means study.
In 1885, Italian law professor Raffaele Garofalo coined the term "criminology"
(in Italian, criminologia) to refer to the study of crime and criminal behavior. The
French anthropologist Paul Topinard used it for the first time in
French (criminologie) in 1887.
Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding delinquency and crime as a
social phenomenon. It may also refer to the study of crimes and criminals and the
attempt of analyzing scientifically their causes and control and the treatment of
criminals. Criminology is characterized by a scientific approach to understanding
criminals and crimes and how to prevent future crimes from being committed.
The Sub- Fields of Criminology are Sociological Criminology, Psychological
Criminology and Psychiatric Criminology. Sociological Criminology is the study of
crime focused on the group of people and society as a whole. It examines the
relationship between the demographic (group variables) to the environment of an
individual. Psychological Criminology is the science of behavior and mental
processes of the criminal. It is focused on the individual criminal behavior – how it is
acquired, evoked, maintained and modified. Psychiatric Criminology is the science
that deals with the study of crime through forensic psychiatry. The study of criminal
behavior in terms of motives ad drives that strongly relies on the individual.
While the Division of Criminology are Criminal Etiology – scientific analysis of
the cause of crime, Sociology of Law – the study of law and its application and
Penology – the study that deals with punishment and treatment of criminals.
The Nature of Criminology are Applied Science (anthropology, psychology,
sociology and other natural sciences may be applied in the study of the causes of
crime while chemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics, etc. may be utilized in crime
detection), Social Science (crime is a societal creation and that is exists in a society,
its study must be considered a part of social science), Dynamic (criminology changes
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as social condition changes; that means the progress of criminology is concordant

with the advancement of other sciences that have been applied to it) and Nationalistic
(the study of crime must always be in relation with the existing criminal law within the
territory).
Schools of Criminology

1. Pre-classical School

The pre-classical school is known as demonological school. During the 17 th

century, the demonological theory flourished in Europe with the dominance of the
church and religion. It asserted that a person committed wrongful acts due to the
fact that he was possessed by demons or damned by other worldly forces.
During this time there were not much of scientific explanations for the causation of
crime and the concept of crime was vague and obscure.

The explanations for criminal behavior were sought through spirits, demons
and unknown power. The principle behind this concept was that a man commits a
crime dure to influence of some external force and is beyond the control and
understanding of a man. The wrath of God was considered to give punishment to the
offenders. The trail of the offenders was through battles, pelting of stones and was
believed that no harm would be caused if the offender was innocent.

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was a great dominant figure in

scholastics in the period of the seventeenth and eighteenth century in Europe. The
dominance of religious in-state activities was the chief characteristic of that time.

The treatment suggested in this school was of giving extreme torture to the
person who committed the crime. Later this school was criticized on the basis of
punishment provided under this school.

2. Classical School

In criminology, the classical school usually refers to the 18th-century work

during the Enlightenment by the utilitarian and social-contract philosophers Jeremy
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Bentham and Cesare Beccaria. Their interests lay in the system of criminal

justice and penology and indirectly, through the proposition that "man is a calculating
animal", in the causes of criminal behavior.

The classical school of thought was premised on the idea that people
have free will in making decisions, and that punishment can be a deterrent for crime,
so long as the punishment is proportional, fits the crime, and is carried out promptly.

The basis of criminal liability is human free will and the purpose of penalty is
retribution. That man is essentially a moral creature with an absolute free will to
choose between good and evil, thereby placing more stress upon the effect of result
of the felonies act than upon the man, the criminal itself. It has endeavored to
establish a mechanical and direct proportion between a crime and penalty. There is
scant regard to the human element. This school of criminology by Beccaria was very
well accepted during the 18th century. Likewise, it was supported by Jeremy Bentham
in his hedonism principle which explains that a man chooses between pleasure and
pain. Majority of the Philippines Revised Penal Code (RPC) principles and concept
were derived from this school of thought.

Arguments of Classical theory it treats all persons as if they were machines

without considering their individual differences and surrounding circumstances during
the violation of laws. The punishment imposed upon the first-time offender and
recidivist is equal. The nature and definition of penalty is not individualized. It does
not consider the mental condition of the perpetrator rather if focused on the injury
caused by the commission of crime. It became the Magna Carte or patter 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.

3. Neo-classical School

Neo-classical school is developed from the classical school of criminology. It is

also known as the upgraded version of the classical school.
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This school accepted the fact that crime is committed in accordance with the
free will of man but the act of committing a crime is modified by some causes that
finally prevail upon the person to commit crimes. The causes are Pathology,
incompetence and insanity or any condition that will make it possible for the person to
exercise the free will entirely.

Believed that there are situations or circumstances that made it impossible to

exercise freewill thus the reason to except individual from criminal liability. The
classicists believed in the absolute free will of men to choose between pleasure and
pain. There insisting that the person is ALWAYS totally responsible for the
consequences of his acts. Neo Classicists argued that it is NOT ALWAYS, since 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.

It focused on understanding the facts and circumstances of the case and the
mental state of the offender. It divided criminals into different categories such as
first offender, habitual offender, minor, insane, idiot, etc. According to neo-classical
school, punishment should be given as per the category of the offender, which means
the mental capacity of an individual.

Neo-classical school was later criticized because it specifically focused on

providing punishment to the offender and did not focus on the reformation of an
offender.

4. Positivist School

Positivist school was founded at the end of the 19th century. This school is
also known as Italian school. It rejected the free will theory of the classical school. It
was founded by Cesare Lombroso and two (2) of his disciples, Enrico Ferri and
Raffaele Garofalo.

Positivist school presumes that criminal behavior is caused by internal and

external factors outside of the individual’s control. It introduced the scientific method
of understanding criminality and was applied to study human behavior. Many
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criminologists use the term “positivism” to mean approach that studies human
behavior thorough the use of scientific method. The focus is on systematic
observation and the accumulation of evidence and objective fact within a deductive
framework (moving from the general to the specific).

Positivism is classified into three (3) segments which includes the Biological,
Psychological and Social Positivism. Biological positivism is a theory that takes an
individual's characteristics and behavior that make up their genetic disposition is what
causes them to be criminals. Biological positivism in theory states that individuals are
born criminals and some are not. Psychological positivism concentrates on all of
the mental aspects of why an individual commits a crime, and associates it with their
intelligence, personality, learning, and criminal behavior. Social positivism
mainly focuses on how certain social factors of an individual's life can lead to a higher
propensity for crime. These factors can include economic, political, familial, and more.

According to Cesare Lombroso, who is now considered the father of Modern

Criminology, criminals are born with some physical characteristics which becomes
the causes of crimes. He advanced the following explanations to such causes: Born
Criminals – ATAVISM “throwback of apes” physical characteristics; Insane – idiots,
imbecile, dementia; Criminaloids – not born with physical stigma but who are such
mental make-up that they display anti-social conduct.

Enrico Ferri believed that criminals could not be held morally responsible for
their crimes because they did not choose to commit crimes, but rather were driven to
commit them by conditions in their lives. He emphasized three social factors such as:
physical factor – climate, temperature and geography; anthropological factor –
psychological; social factor – economics, political, age, sex, education, religion.

Raffaele Garofalo rejected the doctrine of free will and supported the position
that the only way to understand crime was to study it by scientific methods. He traces
the roots of criminal behavior not to physical features but to their psychological
equivalents, which he called “moral anomalies”.
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References:
Bentley, S., (2020) Introduction to Criminology. Los Angeles, USA. Tritech Digital
Media
Eduardo, J.P., et.al., (2015) Fundamentals of Criminology. Quezon City. Wiseman’s
Trading Inc.
https://online.maryville.edu/online-bachelors-degrees/criminal-justice/resources/what-
is-criminology
https://www.writinglaw.com/schools-of-criminology/
https://www.slideshare.net/Jwooten2/the-classical-school-of-criminology
egalserviceindia.com/legal/article-2776-schools-of-criminology.html