Early Theories of

Criminology
CRCJ 1000A
PPT 4
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Lecture is 46 minutes
 • Theories of crime inspired by religious beliefs &
Pre-18th superstition:
• Belief in evil spirits and magic
Century • People ascribed various unusual phenomena
of nature to the activities of evil spirits
Theories of • This led to the belief that any pathology in
Crime human behaviour must be due to evil spirits
Temptation
• Human beings can choose their behaviour

• Morally weak succumb to temptation of the

devil or evil spirit

• The poor are assumed to be morally

responsible for their circumstances
Possession
• Possession by Devil or evil spirits

• Trial by battle, ordeal, fire or water

• Few survived

More recent examples:

Exorcism of Mexico (2016)
6-year old killed by scalding water (to get
‘demon’ out) (United States, 2019)
The inquisition
• Half a million put to death in 300 years

• Witches became a scapegoat for anger

• 85% of executed were women

Purpose of superstitious beliefs
What objectives were achieved by blaming social problems on the Devil and other
evil spirits?
• Silencing of rebellious people (by the elite)
• Diverting attention from failings of the elite
• Legitimizing those in power – as they had the ‘answer’ to these issues
The Enlightenment:
The age of reason
• Scientific Revolution caused a change in
thinking

• Naturalistic explanation based on reason and

the scientific method (observation)
The Classical School:
Humans are rational
beings
• Cesare Beccaria

• Criticized the cruelty,

inhumanity, and arbitrariness of
the current justice system

• Helped focus the movement for

humanitarian reform in Europe
 The Classical Theory of Crime (1)

Roots of Classical theory lie in the Enlightenment

People voluntarily enter a social contract with the state:

• Give up some freedom for a safer society

• The state had to provide protection but could not violate the rights of
citizens
• Citizens were required to obey the rules or face punishment from the state
 The Classical Theory of Crime (2)

Radical new theory of the causes of crime:

- Not demonic possession or temptation but rational choice

Crime can be deterred by threat of certain, swift and severe

(enough) punishment
 The Classical Theory of Crime (3)

Specific reforms:

Stop executing people for minor offences

Criminal matters should be dealt with in public according to the dictates of the law

Laws should be accessible to all

Separate the lawmaking power of the legislature from the role of judges
 The Classical Theory of Crime (4)

Ideas on crime control:

Penalties will deter people from breaking the law

Justice must avoid excessive and unfair punishment.

Punishment should fit the crime and should be proportional to the harm done
to society

Laws are most effective in preventing crime if they are clear and simple
enough that people can understand them.
Assessing the
Contributions of the
Classical School

The Classical School and Legal Reform

• These reforms provided the
foundation for the modern criminal
justice system:
• Equality before the law
• Guarantee of one’s rights
• Establishment of fixed penalties
• Due process safeguards
• Separation of judicial and
legislative systems
Limitations of the Classical
School

• Gross injustices ensured

• Equal punishments had drawbacks

• Judges had no discretion

Neo-classical
Theory • Sought more flexibility in the
justice system, such as
individualizing sentences to
consider:
• Offender characteristics
• Mitigating circumstances
• Motive
The Statistical School

Rejected Classical school ideas that people were rational beings

The belief that crime was the result of natural causes that could be
discovered through scientific methods
The Statistical School (2)
• Geographic / cartographic analysis

• The regularity of crime over time and space meant this pattern was the result of
social forces

• Limited influence at the time, but their work anticipated the later work of
sociologists (i.e. ‘dangerous neighbourhoods’ or ‘high-risk’ areas)
The Positive School

Used the scientific method

to compare criminals and
non-criminals

Crime was caused by

biological factors beyond
the individual’s control
Lombroso and the
Positive School
• Physical differences between criminals and
non-criminals

• Criminals - atavists (less evolved)

• Stigmata: the physical signs of atavism

Lombroso and the Positive School (2)

Deterrence didn’t work; incapacitation the only answer for ‘born criminals’

Born criminals should be incapacitated but not treated too harshly

Leniency for crimes of passion by elite/ ‘good standing’ citizens (indeterminate sentences)

Lombroso’s work attracted a large following and was applied in criminal trials

But his scientific methodology was flawed

 • Lombroso’s most lasting contribution was
in relation to the criminal justice system
• Punishment should fit the criminal
The Today’s Criminal Justice System:

Contribution • Probation
• Parole (not fixed penalty; but rather
of the Positive based on ‘improvement’)
• Indeterminate sentences (ex: 1st and 2nd
School degree murder)
• Mitigating circumstances (offender
motive; remorse; pleading guilty)
 THE HUMBOLDT CASE
• April 6, 2018, Saskatchewan, Canada
• Jaskirat Singh Sidhu blew through five
warning signs that he needed to stop
or slow down his semi-truck

• Pled guilty to 29 dangerous driving

charges
• Showed remorse
 THE HUMBOLDT CASE (2)
• Accident or crime?

• Crown asked for 10-year sentence and

10-year ban on driving

• 90 victim impact statements

• What is an appropriate sentence?

What must the judge consider?
Stop and • Thinking of the influence of both the classical
school and the positivist school of criminology,
discuss the Humboldt case (think about what the
reflect: judge considered in their sentencing decisions).
Biological 1903: Goring compared “normal” males
with English convicts.
Theories in
the Early 20th He found no evidence of a distinct physical
type.
Century:
Crime & However, criminals had lower intelligence.
Physical • He theorized that the most important genetically
Characteristic transmitted trait for criminals was mental
inferiority.
s
His methods were flawed, because he
selected criminals exclusively from prison.
 Crime and Physical Characteristics (2)

1930s: Hooton used same methodology with large samples of prisoners and others.

Criminals were socially and biologically inferior to non-criminals.

Some new stigmata differentiating criminals from others were found.

He advocated for the segregation of “physically, mentally, and morally unfit individuals.” This gave rise to the
eugenics movement.

His work was discredited on scientific grounds.

Crime & Intelligence (1)
• Goddard’s research on the legitimate and illegitimate offspring of Martin Kallikak
suggested feeble-mindedness and criminality were inherited.

• Goddard later measured IQs of prisoners and found that most prisoners were at
or below the mental age of 12 (imbeciles).

• His research was also roundly criticized.

Crime & Intelligence (2)

Regardless of poor research, the eugenics movement resulted in the

sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities in the United States and
Canada.

More recently, criticisms of the cultural bias of IQ tests have emerged.

Measures culture, test-taking abilities,
Can be used for racist policies
motivation
Crime & Intelligence (3)
Evidence supporting a link
between biological or
intellectual deficiencies and
criminal behaviour is weak.
Assuming biological differences
Researchers must be careful
between groups can turn into a
about using theories of
rationale for their differential
biological differences due to
treatment, while ignoring social
extremes of policy—for example,
structural variables that
the eugenics movement and the
contribute to anti-social
Nazi ideology.
behaviour.
 Early theories of
crime were based
on superstition and
religious beliefs.

This view changed

with the Classical • To prevent crime, they advocated the

Summary (1) school, which

theorized that
people were free
establishment of a Criminal Code, based
on the principle that the punishment
should fit the crime.
and rational actors

• However, the resulting legal codes were

The Classical school rigid and inflexible.
had a major impact • Neoclassical reforms called for more
on legal systems in flexibility and have been integrated into
many countries. the legal systems of many countries.
 • Lombroso’s biological theory has been
Positive school used discredited, but the application of
scientific methods to science to criminology was a major
study crime.
advance.

• Research does not support these early

Summary (2) Subsequent researchers

sought to blame crime
on the biological
biological theories.
• However, they impacted the legal system
through involuntary sterilization and
(no audio) inferiority of criminals.
lengthy incarceration for “defectives.”

Most of the principles of

our current justice
system are influenced by
Classical, Neoclassical,
and Positive theories of
crime.