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Classical Theory
Early theorists such as Cesare Beccaria began to study the criminal justice system around the late 1700's and observed some very stirring outcomes. They witnessed that people of higher classes that committed a crime punishable by the law were being released either without charge or minamal charge due to being able to pay their way out of it. As well as this the lower classes were getting the harsher sentences, that were supposed to be consistant with all classes. -
Classical Theory part 3
a crime once it has been committed it would be used as a deterrent as well as less crimes being committed as a whole as people will be detained. The consistency was also vital in his opinion to be changed as this would then ensure that the same punishment severity will always be applied when a particular crime has been committed regardless of the class of people. -
Classical Theory part 5
criminals; as well as this the lower working class citizens were appeased in the equality of criminal justice between every criminal. However it did create the problem of cost as the criminals that were detained had to be sheltered and fed every day and so the prisons required a great amount of money and space to function under the new policy. -
Classical Theory part 2
Beccaria then came up with idea that if society was to be effective in working together and being harmonious the criminal justice system would have to make changes. He believed the changes that have to be made are for punishments linked with crimes they should all become swifter, proportional to the crime, consistent and definite. Beccaria’s theory was that once all of these new changes where put into place and everybody were made aware of the new severity and inevitable punishment that followed -
Classical Theory part 4
The result of the classicist movements, theories and arguments that they put forward they managed to gain significant influence over the criminal justice systems organisations. This became more apparent in the change of principles regarding the varied proportions of the sentences as well as the consistency of the punishments. All of the changes were a factor in crime control and the number of crimes being committed after the introduction as they proved to be a large deterrent to the higher class -
Voluntarism 2
This impacted on the criminal justice system as the punishments became a lot harsher on the criminals that then committed the crimes at the time as they still had the death penalty available as a result of a crime as which consisted of different punishments such as hanging, beheading and being hung, drawn and quartered. -
Voluntarism Theory
This is the argument that all actions performed by human beings are done voluntarily in line with the act of free will. This is then used in the theoretical explanation of crime as this then means that every crime committed is done out of free will. The theory then states due to this being performed out of free will they volunteer to commit crime and so should be solely blamed for the crime committed. -
Positivism Theory
This is the theory which requires observation and research of a criminal’s behaviour to highlight and understand the causes of their actions. When a criminal is convicted they are then interviewed and if the root problem/cause can be identified, the criminal justice system then carries out methods of rehabilitation on the criminal in an attempt to cure them. The positivists believed that all humans were born pure and good. -
Biological Explanation 3
As well as this they body type was also related to criminal behaviour as it was thought that the more muscular body type would be more likely to be aggressive and authoritative and so commit criminal behaviour. This idea was soon discredited as there was poor evidence and did not bring about much change in the criminal justice system or polices. -
Positivism 2
This reasoning then lead them to believe that the environmental factors alone contributed to all criminal behaviour that occurred and crimes that were committed; this idea rejects voluntarism. Using this theory the Criminal justice system then relaxed the punishments given out and took on the research and rehabilitation method instead of harsh punishments. This effected the crime control as there was less reoffending and so crime rates were lowered due to this method. -
Positivism 3
This is because the cause of the crimes being committed were being dealt with by the government after the research comes back with a result. The positivists therefore reject the idea of a deterrence and believed in the new practice of rehabilitation. When this was introduced the criminal justice system became more inclined to use this approach with the less severe crimes that were committed rather than a criminal jail sentence as this was then cheaper than keeping the criminal in a jail cell. -
Biological Explanations of crime
Linked in with the positivists view point, this theory came around when an Italian physician named Lombroso came up with the theory that physical characteristics of a person who would commit criminal behaviour are different than a law-abiding citizen. This was established to be that a more primitive shaped skull and facial structure as well as body shape is connected with carrying out criminal behaviour when compared to a modern day skull structure. -
Biological explanations 2
This theory was established after the study of Charles Darwin’s research was made by Lombroso, the idea he came up with was that the newer shaped cranium of the modern man when compared to the early skulls of primitive man is different and so if these early characteristics are still present in a cranium they are more likely to commit criminal and primitive behaviour. -
Determinism 2
An example of this would be if there was a large family in the lower classes who could not afford to feed themselves, if an individual of that family committed a crime in order to rectify that problem they should not be punished. -
Determinism Theory
This idea as a whole links in with positivism which searches and identifies reasons why an individual has committed a crime which would be outside of their control which may result in criminal behaviour in order to cure them from committing crime. The overall conclusion to the idea is that if an individual has outstanding circumstances which could lead to them carrying out criminal behaviour, it is not justified to punish the individual for circumstances that were out of their control. -
Interaction Theory
This theory is also named ‘the labelling theory’ as the ideology behind the theory was that certain groups of people who could be associated together by different either physical or personality traits within society. This could lead to several problems forming within the local communities if specific physical appearances, such as tracksuits, trainers and hooded jackets, become linked with specific crimes. -
Interactionism 3
This meaning people may dress/look a certain way for several reasons but if they are labelled with particular characteristics then they may begin to act that way as that is what is expected of them. Interactionists do not assume that the people that have committed criminal behaviour are different from decent, law-abiding citizens. -
Interactionism 2
This could then progress onto further problems such as youths wanting to be associated with particular social statuses such as committing criminal behaviour to increase street credit locally. A quote made by Howard Becker (1928) was simply “it is not a quality of the act a person commits but rather a consequence of the application by others”. -
Genetic Theory
The genetic explanation of crime was that there was such a thing called the ‘criminal gene’ which was present in all convicted/guilty criminals and not in the general law-abiding community. There was a large extent of scientific research that went into this explanation of crime including genetically inherited genes that could cause criminal behaviour, as well as mental conditions like schizophrenia and XYY syndrome. -
Genetics 2
A lot of experiments and observations were carried out throughout the investigations of these theories and the results lead some scientists to believe that due to a mistake or alteration in the genetic make-up of a person they had weaker constraints on criminal behaviour than in non-offenders. XYY syndrome is only found in men and is caused by the extra Y chromosome which has mutated some/most of the cells of the male. -
Genetics 3
This particular syndrome has a few different characteristics associated with it such as temper tantrums and mood swings which could lead to violence and criminal behaviour. Due to this new understanding of why some people may commit a crime the criminals who are then labelled with specific genetic defects which could explain their criminal behaviour are dealt with differently. -
Genetics 4
This is when the change in the criminal justice system introduced different psychiatric units to help detain these types of criminals and use medication to cure them or at least help them deal with their illness. The government then made sure that anybody with a mental illness was dealt with in the appropriate way and if necessary were indeed sent to a psychiatric hospital and not a regular prison cell. -
Genetics 5
The downside to all of this was that the expenses for a single patient within the hospital were far more expensive than a criminal in regular prison facilities due to medication, treatment, the facilities available etc. -
Right Realism Theory
Right- This idea was introduced in the 1950’s and is still used to the present day, it stated that the government and country need to ‘take crime seriously’ and prioritise the victim’s welfare and feelings above the criminal’s responsible. They believed that in society a person would weigh up the benefits and the drawbacks to a crime they were going to possibly commit and if the benefits would out way the draw backs, then they
may commit the crime to gain from the benefits. -
Right Realism 4
The right realists also aspired to give the police more control once again over how they are going to deal with a criminal and situation and be allowed to be a bit more forceful than they have been before. -
Right realism 2
The realists believe in a more voluntarism approach to the criminal justice system were people who commit crimes do so out of their own free will and are never forced to carry out criminal behaviour. Due to the ideas of right realism and how it completely opposes positivism and so replaces that theoretical explanation for several reasons. The first reason already being stated, the approach is far more realistic however incorporates a lot of the classical theory aspects along with it. -
Right Realism 3
However the main difference between classical and right realism theories is that for classicalism they were just after equality in sentencing between classes. Within right realism they wanted swift, harsh imprisonment which would be used as a deterrent to anybody else who is likely to commit a crime; this would then mean that the benefits would now longer be greater than the punishment and so crime figures decreased. -
Left Realist Theory
Left- The left realists believed in some aspects of right realism such as crime has to be taken more seriously however their theoretical cause for this criminal behaviour has a different viewpoint. The left realists believed that the crimes being committed where not for personal gain between the lower classes from the higher classes, but was carried out by working class citizens against other working class citizens. -
Left Realist 2
To find out the cause of this criminal activity the left realists began an inquiry into these facts by sending out a victim survey to try and locate the causes of crime, this led to the conclusion that the right realists methods of imprisonment were not working. A major reason that answered this question was that some areas were deprived and so the people’s expectations of a standard of living were not being met; in order to combat this problem they aimed to build a more equal society. -
Left Realism 3
These problems were then addresses in the new government policy ‘Left Realist Social Crime Control policy’. This ensured that problems were being resolved before the communities felt it necessary for any crimes to be committed, the range of solutions ranged from more accountable police for the local area, neighbourhood watch and CCTV. -
Continued...
The communities began to agree that the punishments should become harsher and so the government had to begin to change the legal justice system based on the overall contentious of the country. Society agreed that the cost to rehabilitate somebody were too high and this was unacceptable. Research had been conducted in the US and UK and overall it concluded that rehabilitation at the time did not work. -
Continued 2...
It had been established that every act of crime was done out of free will and so they should be punished accordingly for it and this was not being done through positivism and the opportunity for crime needed to be reduced. -
Why did Realism Replace Positivism?
Society in the 1980’s began to take a different view on the criminal justice system which was run on the theory of positivism which allowed for people to be released early and relied more on rehabilitation and the punishments were not that harsh compared with the crime committed.
People in the society began to change feelings about this and wanted the law to change to punishments became harsher for the crime committed and give a more ‘realistic’ outcome for the crime.
