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Classical Theory
The classical theory was first introduced mid-way through the 18th century, by Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria. He proposed that the classical theory was based on the assumption that humans are ‘rational actors’ and the decision to commit crime is based on a ‘cost-benefit analysis.’ Basically, are the decisions to commit crime worthwhile? -
Classical Theory
Another big part of the classical theory was equality, throughout the 16th , 17th and 18th century the sentencing was saw by Beccaria as barbaric and un predictable often with sentencing determined by class and wealth.
Beccaria set out to define which crimes were seen as ‘criminal’ and the extent of the punishment that should come with them. For this he created a list of crime control methods: -
Classical Theory
1) The law should restrict the individual as little as possible
2) The law should guarantee the rights of the individual throughout the punishment process
3) Seriousness of the crime should be determined by the harm it inflicts on others
4) Punishment should be proportion to the crime and no more than what is necessary to deter the offender and others from carrying out the crime.
5) Excessive punishment can lead to an increase in crime -
Classical Theory
6) Written law should detail crimes and the sanctions for committing these crimes
7) Punishment must be inflicted swiftly
8) Sentencing should be free from corruption -
Classical Theory
Beccaria’s theory was simple, the punishment didn’t need to be an act of violence but instead a deterrence which should be public, immediate and necessary. Punishment should be the least possible but in proportion to the laws to ensure equality. -
Classical Theory
Before Beccaria’s theory there wasn’t much crime control policies in place. Therefore when his theory came to light and was implemented by government it saw capital, corporal and torture punishments all declined and imprisonment slowly became the core punishment across the country. However, due to the increase in imprisonment the criminal justice system felt a huge cost impact. But more positively, crime saw an overall decrease through that period. -
Classical Theory
Due to crime seeing a huge decrease, it is thought that the classical theory is a successful one and has led to elements of the theory being used in political polices on crime control in this present day. Ideas such as deterrence, equality and swift punishment can still be seen being implemented within the criminal justice system as forms of crime control methods. For example, deterrence is used in mass through the use of CCTV. -
Positivism Theory
The Positivism theory was introduced towards the end of the 19th century and is described as the ‘scientific approach’ to criminology. Positivism goes against the classical theory and provides the assumption that criminal behaviour is outside of human control focusing on biological and psychological factors because human nature was generally good. Positivism uses three different assumptions; determinism, differentiation and pathology. -
Positivism Theory
The determinism approach comes up with the assumption there are things that beyond the individuals control that lead them to crime. Any of these factors could be biological, psychological or social. It looks more at treatment of the individual rather than the decision making of the individual. -
Positivism Theory
The differentiation assumption looks at the characteristics of an individual and suggests that offenders and non-offenders can be separated in society. Something that was explored by Charles Lombroso and William Sheldon. Pathology is the assumption that the difference between offenders and non-offenders is due to something going wrong in their lives. -
Positivism Theory
Positivists also rejected the idea of deterrence and instead thought individuals should get help to resolves there problems and with this came there list of crime control methods:
1) Rehabilitation
2) Medication Research
3) Mental Institutions -
Positivism Theory
There was massive problems with these 3 crime control method which positivist tried to introduce. Firstly rehabilitation had a huge cost on the criminal justice system and the National Health Service, this is because rehabilitation needed to be based around the individual. Therefore a care plan often had to be produced which took a lot of time and money and there was never a guarantee it would work. -
Positivism Theory
This hasn’t had an impact on current crime control policies, however rehabilitation is often used to help victims of crime. Medication Research into a cure for different types of mental health which influence crime in the UK still continues however, it raises questions to whether the money being spent is justified. Offenders who are deemed to have mental health issues were put into mental institutions for treatment -
Positivism Theory
This is a crime control policy that is still used today with offenders being assessed by their mental statement which ultimately could have made them commit the crime. The government will then place the individual into a mental institution to reduce the chance of the crime happening again. -
Positivism Theory
Towards the end of the 20th century Positivist faced challenges from right realists. Right realist argued that crime must be taken seriously, and instead of looking after offenders of crime we should instead be looking after the victims. To do this Realist wanted to replace the soft liberal justice system with strong penal sanctions, imprisoning repeat offenders with tough sentences so they were unable to commit further crimes. -
Positivism Theory
Right realist believed that crime was committed out of free will bring the voluntarist approach forward, an approach which was completely the opposite of the Positivist approach of factors beyond their control.
The key to replacing positivism with realism was the attack by realist on the positivist theory. They attacked their theory and crime control policies from several directions, arguing that; -
Positivism Theory
1) Research in the UK and America shown Rehabilitation does not work 2) Rehabilitation has huge costs 3) It goes against human rights for an offender not to know when their sentence will end 4) Too hard to produce rehabilitation programmes to suit everyone due to the variance in individual problems 5) Individuals commit crime through choice 6) Need to search for a way to reduce opportunity for crime rather than searching for causes of crime -
Positivism Theory
These arguments and disputes were successful in discrediting both the positivist theory and their crime control policies against crime. Leading to Realism becoming the lead approach in the UK and America. With this came new crime control methods based on deterrence and reducing the opportunity for crime. -
Interactionism Theory
Interactionism was largely introduce in the 1950s and 60s. Interactionists assume lawbreakers are no different to law-abiding people. The labelling theory suggests that most people commit deviant acts however only some people are caught and labelled for it and instead suggest that there is in fact no deviance there are only acts that are labelled as deviant. Howard Becker was key to turning attention away from crime and instead towards deviance. -
Interactionism Theory
Interactionist believe that the labelling of crime can lead to certain groups being victimised for crime. For example, police might label youths who wear North Face coats as criminal, therefore leading to youths who wear North Face more likely to be charged for a criminal offense. In addition, the labelling can cause an individual to feel the need to live up to their reputation and therefore becoming deviant. -
Interactionism Theory
Interactionist also believe the labelling of certain groups can lead to a ‘deviancy amplification spiral.’ This is when the public take sympathy for the groups who are being labelled and as a result join the deviant groups. An example of this is when Mark Duggan was shot by police and people believe he was only shot due to him being stereotyped by police because of his race. -
Interactionism Theory
This cause hatred towards the police, causing the public to join the deviant group which sparked the start of the London 2011 riots. In an attempt to turn deviant groups into law-abiding citizens accepted by society causing a reduction in crime, Interactionist brought the following crime control policies forward.
1) Public Shame
2) Juvenile Court -
Interactionism Theory
Public Shame was introduced in an attempt to threaten the social status of offenders, causing them to return to normative standards. Consequently, causing the offender to commit any further crimes through the experience of shame. A form of shame was Public exposure penalties, these were designed to communicate the offense and offender to the public. -
Interactionism Theory
An example would be a convicted drink driver would be forced to put a sticker on their car or a special number plate indicating their driving offense. This control policy caused a reduction in crime and as a result is still used by the current government. An example of this being used in present day, is paedophiles having to sign the sex offenders list. A list which is available to the public, which can bring massive shame to an offender. -
Interactionism Theory
Juvenile Court is a court for children and adolescents who have committed crimes which keeps the names of the offenders confidential because it can’t be published by any form of media. This stops the offender from getting labelled before they have matured and enabling them to feel less of a criminal. This prevents them getting on the road to crime early and going on to commit more crime but instead offers the offender; counselling and support. -
Interactionism Theory
A study by Edward Hulmes shown that 57% of offenders arrested for the first time never went on to be arrested again. As a result this crime policy has influenced the government’s current crime policies because the confidentiality of offenders under the age of 18 is still kept from the media and public. -
Realism Theory
There are two sides the Realist theory, right and left. Both were introduced towards the end of the 20th century in an attempt to tackle crime.
Right realist believed that offenders made a choice by free will (voluntarism) and as a result of this we should take crime seriously. They also believed that instead of looking after offenders by offering them rehabilitation etc., we should in fact be looking after the victims of crime. -
Realism Theory
Whereas left realist agreed that crime should be taken seriously but the causes of crime should be investigated. They believed that to tackle this problem a more equal society needed to be built because people’s needs were not being met. -
Realism Theory
With their contrasting opinions on the theory of crime came different types of crime control methods such as: Right Realism
Imprisonment to avoid repeat offending
Zero tolerance policy
CCTV
ASBO
Environment maintenance Left Realism
Police for each community
Neighbourhood watch
CCTV
Environment maintenance
Restorative Justice -
Realism Theory
Right realist decided to bring in there crime control methods because it fitted around there theory that crime is committed by free will and should be taken seriously. Right realist thought one way to reduce crime was to use deterrents, they bought this in by using CCTV and ASBO’s. However they both had different effects on the criminal justice system, CCTV helped to reduce crime because it made individuals think about their actions and the consequences as a results -
Realism Theory
Although it has moral and ethical issues, the benefits to reducing crime makes it a justified crime control policy by current political parties. Whereas the introduction of the ASBO’s saw a sudden increase in crime because many people saw it as a ‘trophy.’ However, it is still used as a crime control method because the trophy appeal factor is reducing and is slowly becoming a successful deterrent to crime. -
Realism Theory
Taking crime seriously was another part of the theory which influenced the Zero tolerance policy which ultimately led to increased imprisonment. The Zero tolerance policy is successful because it shown the public that no matter how little the crime was being committed the government would ensure punishment -
Realism Theory
The zero tolerance policy has been adapted from Cesare Beccaria’s classical theory of crime and his policy of quick sentencing as well as punishments that are designed to outweigh benefits of crimes. Zero Tolerance policy is a crime control method used by current political parties. -
Realism Theory
Left realist’s crime control methods were based around finding causes crime. Before crime control methods were introduced left realist saw a noticeable crime level within local communities between working classes. Therefore community crime control methods were introduced to help discover and tackle the causes of crime in local communities. Firstly, the neighbourhood watch programme was successful at first because it was as an early warning system for police. -
Realism Theory
It helped cause an early decrease in crime because people were willing to look after the local community. Also many people didn’t want to be highlighted as a criminal by people close to them which made them less likely to commit crime. However, the 2007 British Crime Survey showed that only 16% of households were part of the Neighbour Hood watch scheme. Indicating that this crime control policy is slowly disappearing from modern day society and government. -
Realism Theory
Next, environmental maintenance was introduced to prevent potential crime from happening. It was thought that if people saw un-repaired damage it would show no-one cared and the problem will escalate. This was mainly introduce to deprived, run-down parts of the country which often saw high-rates of community crime. As a result of its success in reducing crime on the criminal justice system, it is currently still used as a crime control policy. -
Realism Theory
Finally, Restorative justice was adapted from the Interactionism theory in an attempt to remove the label from an offender and allow them to be accepted back into society. Left Realism also introduced Restorative Justice to understand the causes of crime and to reduce the reoffending rate. It brought together those harmed by crime and those responsible for crime together, enabling both victim and offender to repair the harm caused, finding a positive from a negative situation. -
Realism Theory
This was successful because offenders often explained why they committed the crime and the overall re-offending rate decreased by 14%. Also it had a positive effect on the NHS because victims were recovering mentally from crime and reporting an 85% satisfaction rate to the crime control policy. As a result of its success it is still used as crime control method and is deemed by Tim Newburn ‘as probably the most influential development in crime control in the past decade. -
References and Bibliography
References
Newburn, T (2013) Criminology Second Edition, Oxon: Routledge Bibliography
http://revisesociology.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/4-interactionist-perspective/