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[MIDTERM TOPIC] CRIMINOLOGY 11 – INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY]

THE DIFFERENT CRIMINOLOGY SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT - This was basically made possible because of the contributions of
the three (3) respective experts: Cesare Lombroso, and his two
A. CLASSICAL SCHOOL
students Raffaele Garofalo and Enrico Ferri.
- maintains that man is essentially a moral creature with absolute
- This school based the study of criminal behavior on scientific
freewill to choose between good and evil.
determinism – which explained that every act had a cause
- developed during the Enlightenment in response to excessive and
- Cesare Lombroso – once explained that criminals commit crimes
cruel punishments to crime.
because they are mentally-ill, sick and disturbed individuals; that
- founded by Cesare Beccaria, in full Cesare Marchese
is why they need to be treated instead of being punished.
(pronounced as “Marquess”) Di Beccaria Bonesana, an Italian
- studied the remains of executed individuals who had been
criminologist and economist. He argued for more humanitarian
convicted of crimes and came up with the theory of born criminal
forms of punishment and against physical punishment and the
which stated that criminals are a lower form of life, nearer to their
death penalty. He believed that punishment should fit the crime
apelike ancestors than non-criminal in traits and disposition.
and not be excessive.
Classifications of Criminals by Lombroso
- Along with Beccaria who pioneered the Classical School was
a. Born Criminals – there are born criminals according to
Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher, economist, and
Lombroso, the belief that being criminal behavior is inherited.
theoretical jurist, in his principle of utilitarianism in which he said,
b. Criminal by Passion – are individuals who are easily
“Mankind was governed by two sovereign motives, pain and
influenced by great emotions like fit of anger.
pleasure and the principle of utility recognized this state of affairs.
c. Insane Criminals – are those who commit crime due to
- Bentham's Hedonistic calculus/Felicity involved weighing
abnormalities or psychological disorders. They should be
pleasure versus pain.
exempted from criminal liability.
- Beccaria was responsible for the abolition of torture as a legitimate
d. Criminaloids – a person who commits crime due to less
means of extracting confessions and advocated that the penalty
physical stamina/self-control.
should be proportionate to the crime dictated by law as said in his
e. Occasional Criminal – are those who commit crime due to
argument: “Let the punishment fit the crime”.
insignificant reasons that pushed them to do at a given
B. NEO-CLASSICAL SCHOOL
occasion.
- Modified the doctrine of freewill by stating that freewill of men
f. Pseudo-criminals – are those who kill in self-defense.
may be affected by other factors and crime is committed due to
- Raffaele Garofalo – he linked criminal behavior to a defect in
some compelling reasons that prevail.
their physiological make up. He also traced the roots of criminal
- Since children and lunatic cannot calculate pleasure and pain, they
behavior not in the individual’s physical features but to their
should not be regarded as criminals or to be punished.
psychological equivalents, which he called “moral anomalies”. He
- The impossibility to exercise freewill is reason to exempt from
defined crime, not as violation of a law, but as a violation of
criminal liability.
nature. An act was a crime if it violated human nature in either of
- Its fundamental notion is that, “Let the children and lunatic
two forms: probity (honesty and integrity), and pity (compassion
criminals be exempted from punishment”.
for others).
C. ITALIAN OR POSITIVIST SCHOOL
- Enrico Ferri – Ferri expanded on the work of Cesare Lombroso
- Developed in the nineteenth century as an attempt to apply
by emphasizing the role of social, economic, and environmental
scientific methods to the study of the criminal while rejecting the
factors in the causation of crime. While Lombroso focused on
legal definition of crime.
biological determinism, suggesting that criminals were "born"
with certain physical characteristics, Ferri argued that crime was

PREPARED BY: HONEY GRACE D. ESMELIA, RCRIM., MSCJ

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[MIDTERM TOPIC] CRIMINOLOGY 11 – INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY]
a result of multiple factors, including social conditions like a. Ernst Kretschmer – he attempted to correlate body build
poverty, education, and family environment. and constitution with characteristics of temperamental
- The Italian or Positivist School’s main notion is that, “Let the reactions and mentally. He distinguished three (3)
punishment fit the criminal” principal types of physiques:
1. Asthenic – lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders;
OVERVIEW OF THE DIFFERENT THEORIES OF CRIME
their crimes are petty thievery and fraud.
CAUSATION
2. Athletic – medium to tall, strong, muscular,
1. Demonological Theory coarse bones; they are usually connected with
- Known as supernatural explanations of criminality. crimes of violence.
- Criminals were viewed as a sinner who were possessed by 3. Pyknic – medium height, rounded figures,
demons or damned by otherworldly forces. massive neck, broad face; they tend to commit
2. Biological Theories deception, fraud and violence.
- Biological theories emphasized that criminal behavior results b. William Sheldon – he analyzed and compared 200 boys
from a complex interplay of social and biological factors. It in a Reformatory in Boston with 4,000 students, where he
attempts to explain behaviors contrary to societal expectations concluded that most delinquents tended towards
through examination of individual characteristics. mesomorphy. According to him, a person’s somatotype is
- It associates criminal traits or individuals’ evil disposition to made up of the following three (3) components with
inherited genetic-like physical disfigurement or impairment corresponding temperaments:
and other biological causes. Types of Physique Temperament
- Evolutionary aspect of biological positivism: Endomorph – soft and Viscerotonic – generally
a. Physiognomy – by Johann Kaspar Lavater; he viewed round body. Have heavy relax and comfortable
that people’s true characters and inclinations could be builds and slow moving. person, loves luxury and
read from their facial features. essentially extrovert.
b. Cranisocopy [renamed as Phrenology] – by Franz Mesomorph – hard and Romotonic – the personality
Joseph Gall; the study that deals with the relationship round body shape. Have is strong, active, aggressive
well-developed muscles and sometimes violent.
between the skull and human behavior.
and athletic appearance.
c. Polygenism – by Samuel G. Morton; he claimed that he
Ectomorph – fragile and Cerebrotonic – the
could judge the intellectual capacity of a race by the skull thin body shape. Have small personality is introverted,
size. A large skull meant a large brain and high skeletons and weak hypersensitive and
intellectual capacity, and a small skull indicated a small muscles. intellectual.
brain and decreased intellectual capacity.
d. Cesare Lombroso – he claimed that criminals are c. Sheldon Glueck and Eleanor T. Glueck – found
distinguishable from non-criminals due to the presence of delinquents to be more mesomorphic than non-
atavistic stigmata – the physical features of creatures at an delinquents and suggested that this body type may be
earlier stage of development. more suited to the delinquent role, while endomorphs
- Somatotype School of Criminology – a means of measuring were too slow and ectomorphs too frail to occupy it.
variations in body through which certain physiological - Neurological – criminals and delinquents often suffer brain
features have been claimed to be causative of crime and impairment.
delinquency.

PREPARED BY: HONEY GRACE D. ESMELIA, RCRIM., MSCJ

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[MIDTERM TOPIC] CRIMINOLOGY 11 – INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY]
- Genetic/Inheritance School – viewed early criminal it is rewarded and extinguished by negative reactions or
behavior can be inherited. punishment
a. Richard Louis Dugdale – studied the lives of the Jukes c. Social Learning Theory – was created Albert S. Bandura
family. He claimed that since families produce (1973), a Canadian psychologist who argued that people are
generations of criminals, they must have been not actually born with the ability to act violently but that they
transmitting degenerate traits down the line. learn to be aggressive through their life experiences.
b. Henry Goddard - a prominent American psychologist d. Cognitive Theory – A branch of psychology that studies the
together with Elizabeth S. Kite conducted a study entitled perception of reality and the mental process required to
the “Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of understand the world we live.
Feeblemindedness”, wherein they traced the family tree e. Eysenck’s Conditioning Theory – Hans J. Eysenck in his
of revolutionary soldier with the pseudonym “Martin theory of conditioning claims that all human personality may
Kallikak Sr.”. He found out that many institutionalized be seen in three dimensions such as psychoticism,
persons were considered “feebleminded”. extroversion and neuroticism. Those who score high on
- Biochemical – crime, especially violent, is a function of diet, measures of psychoticism are aggressive, egocentric and
vitamin intake, hormonal imbalance, or food allergies impulsive. Those who score high on measures of
3. Psychological Theories extroversion are sensation-seeking, dominant and assertive.
- Crime is a function of upbringing, learning, and control. Those who score high on measures of neuroticism may be
a. Psychodynamic or Psychoanalytic Psychology - originated described as having low self-esteem, excessive anxiety and
by Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and wide mood swings.
has still considered as one of the prominent theories in 4. Sociological Theories
psychology. This holds that the human personality is - explain how a certain individual acquires criminal or undesirable
controlled by unconscious mental processes developed in behavior; it describes how the agents of socialization such a s
early childhood. It argues that human personality contains family, environment, schools, mass media, and peer groups
three major components, namely: id, ego and superego. contribute to or affect the behavior of a specific individual; and
i. Id – dictates the needs and desires (it operates under it would also somehow manifest as to how a person responds or
pleasure principle). reacts with regard to the conduct displayed by other persons
ii. Superego – counteracts the id by fostering feelings of whom he or she is socializing with.
morality (morality principle). It is divided into two (2) a. Anomie Theory – David Emile Durkheim, a French
parts: conscience and ego ideals. sociologist introduced the term “anomie”, which derived
iii. Ego – evaluates the reality of a position of these two from Greek anomos which means without norms.
extremes (reality principle). According to this theory, because of sudden shift in
b. Behavioral Theory - originally created by John B. Watson traditions and values, social turmoil happens.
and popularized by Burrhus Frederic Skinner commonly - Social Structure Theories – view that the disadvantaged
known as B.F. Skinner. This theory concerned the study of economic condition of the people is the primary cause of
observable behavior rather than unconscious processes. It crime.
focuses on particular stimuli and how people respond toward a. Social Disorganization Theory – it views crime-ridded
that stimulus. It maintains that human actions are developed neighborhoods as those in which residents are uninterested
through learning experiences; that behavior is learned when in community matters, therefore, the common sources of
control – family, school, church – are weak and

PREPARED BY: HONEY GRACE D. ESMELIA, RCRIM., MSCJ

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[MIDTERM TOPIC] CRIMINOLOGY 11 – INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY]
disorganized. Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. Mckay ▪ Social Development Model – Joseph Weis, Richard
contended that neighborhood disintegration and slum Catalano, J. David Hawkins (2001), and their
conditions are the primary sources of criminal behavior. associates focus on the different factors affecting
b. Strain Theory - American sociologist Robert K. Merton child’s social development over the life course.
applied Durkheim’s ideas of anomie to criminology. He According to their view, as children mature within
holds that crime is a function of the conflict between the their environment, elements of socialization control
goals people have and the means they can use to legally their developmental process and either insulate them
obtain those goals. Consequently, those who failed to attain from delinquency or encourage their antisocial
their goals because of inadequate means would feel anger, activities. SDM holds that commitment and attachment
frustration and resentment, which are referred to as strain to conventional institutions, activities and beliefs
and that those people who are in strain or pressure may insulate youths from delinquency-producing influence
develop criminal or delinquent solutions to the problem of in their environment. Therefore, using this model, the
attaining goals (Siegel et al, 2007). role of parents is very important since they are the first
c. Cultural Deviance Theory - This theory combines the teachers.
effects of social disorganization and strain to explain how ▪ Interactional Theory – Terence Thornberry agrees
people living in frustrating and dispiriting experiences, that the onset can be traced to a deterioration of the
members of the lower class create as independent subculture social bond during adolescence, marked by weakened
with its own set of rules and values. attachment to parents, commitment to school, and
- Social Control Theory – it argues that people obey the law belief in conventional values. The onset of a criminal
because behavior and passions are being controlled by internal career is supported by residence in a social setting in
and external forces. which deviant values and attitudes can be learned from
- Social Bond Theory – Also called (social control theory), and reinforcement by delinquent peers.
articulated by Travis W. Hirschi in his 1969 book, Causes of ▪ Age-graded Theory – Robert Sampson and John Laub
Delinquency, now the dominant version of control theory. claimed that as people mature, the factors that
Hirschi links the onset of criminality to the weakening of the ties influence their propensity to commit crime change.
that bind people to society. b. Latent Trait Theory – holds that human development is
- Social Reaction Theory – also called labelling theory, created controlled by a “Master Trait” consisting of personality,
by Howard S. Becker who explains that society creates deviance intelligence and genetic make-up present at birth. Latent
through a system of social control agencies that designate (label) theorists David Rowe, Wayne Osgood and Alan
certain individuals as delinquent, thereby stigmatizing a person Nicewander focus on basic human behavior and drive
and encouraging them to accept this negative personal identity. such as attachment, aggression, violence and impulsivity
5. Developmental Theory/Multiple Factors – all linked to antisocial behavior patterns.
- This seeks to identify, describe, and understand the developmental
factors that explain the onset and continuation of criminal career.
a. Life Course Theory – refers to the analytical
perspectives which study the cumulative effects of static
and dynamic features of social contexts on people’s lives,
e.g., their development and behavioral continuity.

PREPARED BY: HONEY GRACE D. ESMELIA, RCRIM., MSCJ