Michelle Skelton Profile picture
Criminal Justice professor, avid reader, budding artist, aspiring yogi, tattoo aficionado, coffee drinker, football & color guard Mom, TedX, she/hers

Sep 7, 2021, 65 tweets

THINKING CHALLENGE: From your common sense, why do people break the law?

Join me at 1pm, cst, today to discuss!
#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Good afternoon friends, thank you for joining me to discuss the history of Criminology, covering Chapter 03.

#HistoryOfCriminology #CRJ105 #Criminology

Before we get started with Unit 02, I wanted to check in how the course is progressing for you so far. Now that we've got one unit under our belt, how is online learning treating you?

#CRJ105 #CRJ105CourseSurvey

Unit 01 is due this next Sunday, how do you feel, overall?

#CRJ105 #CRJ105CourseSurvey

What, if any, aspects of the course have been beneficial to you?

#CRJ105 #CRJ105CourseSurvey

What, if any, aspects of the course are still confusing to you?

#CRJ105 #CRJ105CourseSurvey

Overall, have I been clear & consistent in my communication? Would more or less input, via the course announcements be helpful?

#CRJ105 #CRJ105CourseSurvey

And overall, are you finding the course interesting so far?

#CRJ105 #CRJ105CourseSurvey

What have I missed? If you have ANY insight on how the class could run smoother, I'd appreciate your letting me know, in the comments, via email, via my office phone.

I'm here to help! #CRJ105 #CRJ105CourseSurvey

And before I forget, I'd be curious if anyone else might be following the thread.

Are you ... #CRJ105 #CRJ105CourseSurvey

Over the next 2 weeks we will get in the way-back machine to very old Criminology to current Biological & Psychological theories.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

We will see how some things have drastically changed and we haven't moved too far away from some of our historic belief systems

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

THINKING CHALLENGE: Why do you like history?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

I LOVE history. It was one of my undergraduate degrees! History is essential to understanding why/how things are done today.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

I certainly understand why some do NOT enjoy history. What makes history ... less than entertaining?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Chapter 03 is a brief introduction to the theories that we will continue to look at more in-depth through the next 14 weeks. Don't worry if this seems to fly by, we will get into each theory in more detail!

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

This week we are going to delve into the ROOTS of modern theory, breaking up history into two historic periods of understanding human behavior.

And they couldn't be MORE different! #CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Pssst, don't let the teacher know I told you, this is a very very veryyyy helpful chart, book mark it!

(ahem, ahem, super helpful)

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Umm, if it's SO helpful, why is it buried in the Twitter feed???

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Let's just say nice work if you got this far!

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley #RewardsGoToTheDetermined

In the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, during what is now called the “neoclassical period,” the classical culture of the ancient Mediterranean was rediscovered.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

This was also a period of scientific discoveries and the founding of new scholarly disciplines. One of these disciplines was criminology

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

The Classical School of Criminology developed as an attempt to apply rationality and the rule of law to brutal and arbitrary criminal justice processes.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Prior to this time, most understanding of behavior was based on religious or spiritual beliefs.

In other words, if someone 'acted bad',

well ... the devil made them do it

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Prior to this time, most understanding of behavior was based on religious or spiritual beliefs. In other words, if someone 'acted bad', well ... the devil made them do it!

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Medieval & colonial "trials" / punishments are examples of spiritual explanations of unusual &/or criminal behavior

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Medieval punishment was public, emphasizing the societal belief that it was a citizen's duty to help banish evil through public example

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Classical criminology grew out of a reaction against the barbaric system of law, punishment, and justice that existed before the French Revolution of 1789. Until that time, there was no organized system of criminal justice in Europe

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Prior to this, criminal laws were unwritten, and those that had been drafted, by and large, did not specify the kind or amount of punishment associated with various crimes

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

The growing educated classes began to see the inconsistency in these policies. If terrible tortures were designed to deter crime, why were people committing even more crimes?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Take this classic scene from the 1995 film Braveheart as an example how torture was used, William Wallace (Mel Gibson) can only 'save himself' by pleading for mercy, in other words, confessing guilty

#SPOILERALERT (25 years is enough time, right?)

And before I start to feel REALLY OLD, how many of you have seen Braveheart?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

And here, across the pond, the colonies even dabbled in their use of spiritual explanations ... who remembers those Colonial girls gone wild of the #SalemWitchTrials?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

And yes, I just dubbed the Salem Witch Trials with the moniker of colonial girls gone wild

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

What ushered in the Classical School and a more measured way to examine behavior?

The Age of Enlightenment

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Refresh your memory from your high school humanities class on this important era thank you @johngreen

@TheCrashCourse

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Classical criminology focused on ideas of:

~ Rationality & Free Will
~ Utilitarianism
~ Hedonistic Calculus

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

In March 1763, Cesare Beccaria was assigned to prepare a report on the prison system.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Contrary to expectations, Beccaria presented a comprehensive design for an enlightened criminal justice system that was to serve the people .... rather than the monarchy.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

According to Beccaria, the crime problem could be traced not to bad people ...

but to bad laws.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley #BadLaws #CrimesAndPunishments

Beccaria’s book supplied the blueprint.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley #BadLaws #CrimesAndPunishments

The impact of Beccaria’s treatise spread across the Atlantic as well:

It influenced the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, aka a little thing we like to call the Bill of Rights

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Beccaria's blueprint was based on the assumption that people freely choose what they do and are responsible for the consequences of their behavior

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley #FreeChoice

THINKING CHALLENGE: Do people have free will?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley #FreeChoice

Beccaria's Prepositions Included:

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

In this brief crash course, here is a summary of his essay on crime and punishment, including Beccaria 's theory, beliefs, and philosophy



#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

THINKING CHALLENGE: Of Beccaria's Prepositions, which do you think are more significant today?

Capital punishment should be abolished
Use of torture to gain confessions should be abolished
Better to prevent crimes than to punish them

Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarianism:

Utilitarianism assumes that all human actions are calculated in accordance with their likelihood of bringing happiness (pleasure) or unhappiness (pain).

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

THINKING CHALLENGE: Are human beings wired to seek pleasure & avoid pain

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Classical criminology had an immediate and profound impact on jurisprudence and legislation

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

The Classical School argued that people have the ability to think through their decisions, to think rationally

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

THINKING CHALLENGE: Do you believe human beings have the ability to control their rationality?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

The Classical School moved sharply away from the "devil made me do it" and divine intervention, arguing individuals have free will.

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

The Classical School also proposed the concept of hedonistic calculus, that at their very nature, human beings will seek pleasure and avoid discomfort

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Adding together rationality, free will, and a human being's nature desire to avoid pain, the Classical School proposed the concept of #deterrence

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

IN OTHER WORDS: The Classical School was not as concerned with individual criminals as it was with criminal law.

Fear of punishment will keep people from committing crime. #CRJ105 #MoraineValley

In Summary: People freely choose all their behavior; that motives such as greed, revenge, need, anger, lust, jealousy, thrill-seeking, and vanity are just expressions of free will, personal choice, conclusion, & decision-making that people have made

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

In Summary: Choices can be controlled by fear of punishment; because people weigh the potential benefits and consequences of crime

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

In Summary: The more certain, swift, and severe the punishment, the greater is its ability to control criminal behavior, especially if the punishment is fair and serves some rational and legitimate purpose

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

That being said, next week, pack your bags, bring your sunscreen, I'm taking you to a tropical location to discuss how we progressed onto the Positivist School!

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Before we call it a week, what, if anything, surprised you about the development of the Classical School?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

Are there any concepts that are unclear or do not make sense about the role of the Classical School?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

How would you grade our discussion today?

#CRJ105 #MoraineValley

And if anyone is interested in our weekly E/C for reading the ENTIRE feed, as we are "headed" to the Galapagos next week, share your favorite vacation spot with me with your response this week.

I look forward to it! #CRJ105

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