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?
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.
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!
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.
The Classical School of Criminology developed as an attempt to apply rationality and the rule of law to brutal and arbitrary criminal justice processes.
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!
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
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
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?
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
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?
Contrary to expectations, Beccaria presented a comprehensive design for an enlightened criminal justice system that was to serve the people .... rather than the monarchy.
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).
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
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
The #ClassicalSchool indicates that your emotions are YOUR rational response to what is happening around you. And if that is the case, you can choose how you react
The Classical School: 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
I have to say, this all sounds great! I can think of a lot of punishments I try to avoid. What do YOU do when you see a police cruiser running radar on the side of the road?
But that brings us back to our initial question. Most individuals in society are aware of the Criminal Justice system, specifically that prisons exist.
Not until Charles Darwin (1809–1882) challenged the doctrine of creation with his theory of the evolution of species did the next generation of criminologists have the tools with which to challenge classicism
Through the use of scientific methods, understanding biological, psychological, and social differences, then negative differences can be eradicated ... reducing crime!
“Insane criminals” become criminal as a result of some change in their brains that interferes with their ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
“Criminoloids” make up habitual criminals, criminals by passion, and other diverse types.
Ferri, a student of Lombroso, believed that criminals could not be held morally responsible because they did not choose to commit crimes but, rather, were driven to commit them by conditions in their lives.
Influenced by Lombroso’s theory of atavistic stigmata, in which he found many shortcomings, Garofalo traced the roots of criminal behavior not to physical features but to their psychological equivalents, which he called “moral anomalies.”
Although Lombroso, Ferri, and Garofalo did not always agree on the causes of criminal behavior or on the way society should respond to it, their combined efforts marked a turning point in the development of the scientific study of crime
Classic criminologists thought the problem of crime might be solved through limitations on governmental power, the abolition of brutality, and the creation of a more equitable system of justice.
In honor of our trip to the Galapagos, send me a favorite vacation photo for extra credit with your response. A few weeks ago I took my son to my alma mater, a great trip
Good morning, it's Criminal Justice from the kitchen! Got the drive way cleared ... for now. Today we are going to examine some of the "Then & Now" aspects of American Policing. I hope you follow along...
Good MORNING Criminology fans, I'm here in MY A123 office, excited to get started talking about the #MeasurementOfCrime, it feels like "Old Home" week!
Good morning Juvenile Delinquency fans. Feel free to follow along, ask any questions, & hopefully learn a thing or two about our Juvenile Justice system
Good morning, friends. I'm here in A109, live, to answer any & all of your questions. We will be covering chapter 01, #ChangingBoundariesOfCriminogy this morning.