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Classical theory
As one of the most earliest approaches to crime theory, it is surprising that it still has a basis in today's society just with a few minor adjustments. This approach came about by inconsistent laws present throughout a society which were dependable on factors such as religion, status, or the judges own biases.
Theorists behind this movement concluded that due to humans being naturally social and compliant with one another, then they would be able to have a more uniformed law systerm which -
Classical Theory
would not only be in their self-interest (if they have a run in with the law they would want a fair trial) but with the surrounding communites as well. This creates a preventive system due to those knowingly commiting the crime having all of the responsibility of that crimes punishment.
Yet, this system is flawed by not allowing context during the trial. If you murdered someone out of self-defense you would still be tried as someone who commited the murder purposefully. -
Classical Theory
As classicalism is built upon the social contract theory, free-will is applied to all cases. This creates an unfair circumstance now for those who were forced to commit a crime (blackmailed for example) as they would be tried accounatable for all those actions. This theory has been a foundation for subsequent criminal theories and allows a consistency of law and order, which not only clearly demonstrates what will happen to criminals but also provides a fairer sentancing for said criminals. -
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Criminal theories
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Positivism
During the 19th century, the general society's interest shifted to a more scientific approach due to all the medical, technological advancements happening then. Therefore a new theory was create to objectivly analyse humans as inheritently good; but, susceptible to criminal acts by outside influences and factors such as biology, psychology, and Socialism. -
Positivism
The biology factors i.e genetics, were thought to create someones ability to commit a crime by case studies such as Shedlons somotypes - where depending on the characters build the more likely they are to perpatrate a specific crime. Intelligence is also involved as those who weren't as smart were thought to be more likely to commit crimes. This may be the case if they had a mental defficieny were they didn't know better but positivism is often based on correlation which does not equal causation -
Positivism
to a consistently fair legal system. Lastly, the social side of positivism takes into account environement factors to produce somone who are more likely to create a crime. Be it from vicariously learning from a gang, or learning through association (being violent will give me what I want). All together positivism seems to rely too heavily on correlation patterns but the studies obtained are useful in coming to predictions/conclusions for that specific criminal. It may not be suitable on a nation -
Positivism
due to it relying too much on a criminal's idiographic. -
Positivism
therefore is not as present in modern society. Next is the psychological aspect of positivism (eyesnck study on the three pscho-variables in the brain) which relates to different chemical compositions of the brain to determine what your personality is like. Those who rank higher in psychotism are more likely to cause a murder for example. Freud can relate to this with his study on the psycho-sexual stages of childhood. Once again, due to the abstract nature of these claims they cannot be applied -
Determinism
This approach can be seen in places such as the Netherlands where they have an incredibly low rate of crimes being recommited compared to neibouring countries due to the prison system treating them like humans, instead of convicts. -
Determinism
Heavily influenced by positivisms view on criminals being 'cured', this follow-on theory is thought to be quite effective as a criminal philosophy due to those who have been rehabilitated being less likely to commit crimes then those who have just served the sentance and released. It is thought that the legal system can reduce recidivism by knowing that a criminal has commited an act by something which wasn't in his control e.g. (back to genetics, or the society he grew up in). -
Right Realism
This conservative view had changed the perspective of the positivism/determinsim approach by basing the theory on the criminals actions, and not the specific individual.This means that some people are wanting to commit crimes because they know that the reward is greater than the risk (i.e. getting caught, or the respective punishment) or because they had nothing to do (there's a large emphasis on lack of discipline). -
Right realism
There are some validity in the Right Realist's findings (single parents are more likely to raise a criminal due to a lack of father/mother figure) which have been useful in creating systems such as victim surveys, which provide additional data on geographical spots where more crimes are commited and therefore can be supported by more police in that area. Yet it provides a zero tolerance policy which is infamous for being paticularly harsh without taking into account external factors and variable -
Right Realism
It is therefore thought that due to the leniency of other theories society will continue in creating criminals due to a lack of morals being in place, and the breakdown of a society will perpetuate further by creating a circle effect that produce more criminals and subsequently lowering the local societys standards. On the other hand some factors are still present in modern society, paticularly in America where rules from the bible are still present in certain states to provide 'good' people -
Left Realism
Left realism share an understanding with Right Realism in so far as they are aware that a practical solution must be used against criminals. They differ from each other in that they believe instead of criminals being made by the gradual lowering of societys standards, they theorise that instead it's a social inequality, and that the seperation in social classes provide unfair reasoning to the criminals acts.This is present fairly recently with Tony Blair implemting this when he was a PM. -
Left Realism
There is often thought to be a lack of outlets for the lower classes to speak about the inequalities that they are suffering and therefore are violent as a form of protest towards that. Crime is also present due to the inequality being filled in by criminals stealing to earn more money to provide more opputnities for themselves to higher themselves up socially. In conclusion there will always be crime presnet until there is an equal society - but due to the weaknesses of capitalism the social -
Left positivism
divide is widening. To combat this, the goverment has set up CCTV cameras as both a deterrent, and as a means to effectivly catch criminals in the act, or providing valid evidence against them in court. It is effective in what it's doing, however it also causes a reliance on it, and means people would be inclined to purchasse cameras for their property if they do not have it - as if they are robbed they will have 'noone to blame but themselves'. CCTV also causes tension within the public by -
Left positivism - final thoughts
giving off the impression that they can't be trusted, and that they must always be watched. This breach of privacy may cause individuals to commit criminal acts because 'that's what the goverment expects' as more often than not there would be more security cameras in areas of low social class than those with high social class - relating back to the difference in equality.