PROJECT-REPORT

CRIMINOLOGY, PENOLOGY AND VICTIMOLOGY

CLASSICAL THEORY
OF
CRIMINOLOGY

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

MS. TANMEET AKSHIT GULERIA

DEPARTMENT ROLL NO.

U.I.L.S, P.U 09/12

SEMESTER

10

SECTION

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would sincerely like to thank Ms. Tanmeet for giving me this glorious
opportunity to work on this project and in turn help me enhance my knowledge
with respect to this topic.

Thanking you!

Akshit Guleria

09/12

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

SERIAL NUMBER PARTICULARS PAGE NUMBER

1 INTRODUCTION 4

2 PROPONENTS OF THE 5
THEORY

3 CESARE BECCARIA 6

4 JEREMY BENTHAM 8

5 THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF 10

CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY

6 CRITICISM 11

7 CONCLUSION 12

8 BIBLIOGRAPHY 13

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 INTRODUCTION
The science of criminology aims at taking up case to case study of different
crimes and suggest measures so as to infuse the feeling of mutual confidence,
respect and co-operation among the offenders.1 however it took a while for
criminology to develop into a science. The earlier view was that man by nature
is simple and his actions are controlled by some super power and no attempt
was made to probe into the real causes of crime.2

Modern criminology is the product of two main schools of thought. The

classical school originating in the 18th century and the positivist school
originating in the 19th cectury.3

Classical criminology usually refers to the work of 18the century philosopher of

legal reform, such as Beccaria and Bentham.4

1. N.V. Paranjape, Criminology And Penologywith Victimology, 27, ( Central Law Publications, Allahabad, 15th Edn., 2012)

2. Ibid

3. Ahmad Siddique, Criminology & Penology, S M A Quadri, 76, (Eastern Book Company, Lucknow, 5th Edn., 2005)

4. J. Mitchell Miller (Ed.), 21st Century Criminology, 201, (Sage Publications India Private Limited, Delhi, 1st Edn., 2009)

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 PROPONENTS OF THE THEORY
Though the classical theory had many advocates like William Blackstone,
Samuel Romilly, Feuerbach, Robert Peel, but it was Cesare Beccaria and
Jeremy Bentham who were the real pioneers of it.

CESARE BECCARIA

Cesare Beccaria was born in Milan, Italy, on March 15, 1738, and died in 1794.
Born an aristocrat, he studied in Parma and graduated from the University of
Pavia. In 1763, the protector of prisons, Pietro Verri, gave his friend Beccaria
an assignment that would eventually become the essay On Crimes and
Punishments. It was completed in January, 1764, and first published
anonymously in July of that year. The article caused a sensation, but not
everybody liked it. The fact that it was first published anonymously suggested
that its contents were designed to undermine many if not all of the cherished
beliefs of those in a position to determine the fate of those accused and
convicted of crime.... an attack on the prevailing systems for the administration
of criminal justice, ...it aroused the hostility and resistance of those who stood to
gain by the perpetuation of the barbaric and archaic penological institutions of
the day.5

JEREMY BENTHAM

An influential early classical theorist was the British philosopher Jeremy

Bentham, born in 1748. His explanation for criminal behaviour was on
utilitarianism, felicitous calculus, and the greatest happiness. And included
the idea that people are basically hedonistic, that is, they desire a high degree of
pleasure and avoid pain. People who choose to commit criminal acts think they
stand to gain more than they risk losing by committing the crime. Bentham
believed that the criminal justice system should deter people from making this
choice.6

5. Leonard Glick, Criminology, 66, (Pearson Education, Inc., Boston, 1st Ed., 2005).

6. Ibid

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 CESARE BECCARIA

Any discussion of the development of modern criminology must commence

with reference to Cesare Bonesana, Marchese de Beccaria (1738-1794).

The writings of Montesquieu, Hume, Bacon and Rousseau had a great

liberalising effect on him. His famous work Essays on Crimes and Punishments
was received extremely well all over Europe and proved a great stimulant to
criminological thinking in the contemporary West.

The book is an impassioned plea to humanize and rationalize the law and to
make punishment more just and humane. The treatment of criminals at the time
often included torture for all manner of offenses, and judges often levied vicious
and arbitrary penalties, with the harshness of punishment often based on the
social positions of offenders and victims and on a judges penchant for mercy or
cruelty.

Public punishment was justified as social revenge and as means of deterring

others, the cruller the punishment, the greater its determent effect was assumed
to be.

Beccaria believed that punishment should be identical for identical crimes,

applied without reference to the social status of either the offender or the victim,
and should be proportional to the level of damage done to society. Punishment
must also be certain and swift to make a lasting impression on the criminal.

He also argued for many of due process rights, such as the right to confront
accusers, to be informed of the charges, and to have the benefit of a public trial
before an impartial judge as soon as possible after arrest and indictment.

As a result of Beccarias work and the wholehearted support given to him by a

great thinker like Voltaire, the rigours of criminal law were reduced in many
European countries and capital punishment was abolished in quite a few of
them.

7. Anthony Walsh And Craig Hemmens, Introduction To Criminology, 76, (Sage 2008 Publications India Private Limited, Delhi, 1st
Ed., 2008)

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Some of the main ideas included in Beccarias essay are as follows-

1. In order to escape chaos, each member of society must sacrifice part of

his liberty to form the sovereignty of his nation.

2. To prevent individuals from infringing the liberty of others by breaking

the law, it was necessary to introduce punishments for such breaches.

3. The despotic spirit was in everyone.

4. Punishments were to be decided by the legislature, not by the courts.

5. To preserve consistency and certainty of punishment, judges could only

impose punishment set by law.

6. The seriousness of a crime was connected to the harm it caused the

society, not to the intention of the offender.

7. Punishment must be in proportion to the crime. It would be set on a scale,

with the most severe penalties corresponding to offences which caused the
most harm to society. The most serious crimes were those which threatened
the stability of society.

8. Punishment which followed more promptly after a crime would be more

just and more effective.

9. Punishment had to be certain to be effective.

10. Laws and punishments had to be well published so that people were
aware of them.

11. As punishment was imposed for the purpose of deterrence, capital

punishment should be abolished.

12. Prevention was better than punishment.

13. Activities which were not expressly prohibited were permissible.

Beccarias ideas are clearly prescriptive rather than explanatory, and many
of the principles set out by him were incorporated into French Criminal Law
Code of 1791.8
8. Michael Doherty (Ed.), Criminology, 5, (Old Bailey Press, London, 3rd Ed., 2001)

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 JEREMY BENTHAM

In Britain, Bentham adopted some of the ideas from the classical approach to
punishment. He regarded our own system of punishments as illogical and called
for the introduction of a more precise and wholly enforced criminal code. Some
of Benthams views are set out in his Introduction of the Principles of Morals
and Legislation, published in 1780. 9

Principles of Morals and Legislation, is essentially a philosophy of social

control based on the principle of utility which prescribed the greatest happiness
for the greatest number. The principle posits that any human action at all
should be judged moral or immoral by its effect on the happiness of the
community. Thus the proper function of the legislature is to promulgate laws
aimed at maximizing the pleasure and minimizing the pain of the largest
number in society-the greatest good for the greatest number

If legislators are to legislate according to the principle of utility, they must

understand human motivation, which for Bentham was easily summed up:
nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters,
pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well
as to determine what we shall do.

The classical explanation of criminal behaviour and how to prevent it can be

derived from the enlightenment assumption that human nature is hedonistic,
rational and endowed with free will. Hedonism is a doctrine whose tenet is that
the achievement of pleasure is the main goal of life. All other life goals are seen
only as instrumentally desirable, that is they are only desirable as means to end
of achieving pleasure or avoiding pain. Thus, hedonism is the greatest single
motivator of human action.

Rational behaviour is behaviour that is consistent with logic. People are said to
behave rationally when we observe a logical fit between the goals they strive
for and the means they use to achieve them. The goal of human rationality is
self-interest, and self-interest governs our behaviour, whether in conforming or
deviant directions.
9. Ibid

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Hedonism and rationality are combined in the concept of the hedonistic
calculus, a method by which individuals are assumed to logically weigh the
anticipated benefits of a given course of action against its possible costs. If the
balance of consequences of a contemplated action is thought to enhance
pleasure and/or minimize pain, then individuals will pursue it, if not, they will
not.

Free will enables human beings to purposely and deliberately choose to follow a
calculated course of action. If people seek to increase their pleasures illegally,
they do so freely and with knowledge of the wrongness of their acts, and thus
society has a perfectly legitimate right to punish those who harm it.

Thus it follows from these assumptions about human nature that if crime is to be
deterred, punishment must exceed the pleasures gained from crime. Criminals
will weigh the costs against the benefits of crime and desist if, on balance, the
costs exceed the benefits. Estimations of their value of pleasures and pains are
to be considered with reference to four circumstances: intensity, duration,
certainty and propinquity. 10

10. Prafulla Padhy (Ed.), Crime And Criminology, 38 ( Isha Books, Delhi, 1st Ed., 2006)

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 THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF
CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY

As a result of Beccarias work the rigours of criminal law were reduced in many
European countries and capital punishment was abolished in quite a few of
them.

Punishment can be used to deter crime and the severity of the punishment must
be proportional to the crime itself, as was the case in 18th century Europe,
many people would receive a punishment that outweighed the severity of the
crime. For instance, in the past foreign countries would cut off the finger or the
hand of the common thief. This punishment for stealing outweighs the severity
of the crime. This can be especially seen if the item stolen was minimal
compared to the price or usefulness of a lost limb.

Today, individuals are incarcerated and detained by the state. This has helped
shape the role and appropriateness of punishment. Also, it is a foundation used
to deter others from the life of crime, helping offenders understand the
significance of their behaviour.

As a result, the growth of prison as a major system of punishmentto take

punishment away from the body and instead punish the mind and soul to
changing ones outlook and views of their criminal behaviour

Although, the Classical School of Criminology encourages fairness and better

use of the criminal justice system in order to reduce crime and deter criminal
activity, it has had its fair share of criticism over the years as well.

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 CRITICISM
The standard criticisms of the classical school tend to be that:

The idea that 'punishment should fit the crime rather than the criminal'
fails to appreciate the impact of individual differences in terms of
culpability and the potential for rehabilitation;
It fails to appreciate that individual differences may impact on people's
choices and actions even if they do generally follow a 'utilitarian calculus'
but are unsupported in empirical research. In this sense it was an
administrative and legal criminology concerned only with the uniformity
of laws and punishment and not with the reason for behaviour or the
causes of crime.
Further the ideas were developed at a time when most European police
organisations were either embryonic or focusing on 'political crime', most
crime policing being left to private arrangements. These were hardly
circumstances in which the bulk of offenders could expect to be caught
and subjected to a rational tariff of sentences.
It erred in prescribing equal punishment for same offence thus making no
distinction between first offenders and habitual offenders and varying
degrees of gravity of offence.
Classicism defines the main object of study as the offence. The nature of
the offender was defined as being free-willed, rational, calculating and
normal. The classical thinking response to the crime was to give
punishment that is proportionate to the offence.
The main weakness of the classical school of criminological thinking is
that it considers all criminals to be rational and make decisions by free
will, but not all individuals are rational and not all their behaviours are
free, as if an individual had a mental illness or a physical defect, this may
totally change the way in which they act and think.

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 CONCLUSION
The classical school propounded by Beccaria came into existence as a result of
the influence of writings of Hume, Montesquieu, Bacon and Rousseau. His
famous work Essays On Crimes And Punishment received wide acclamation in
Europe and gave a fillip to a new criminological thinking in the contemporary
west.

He sought humanize the criminal law by insisting on natural rights of human

beings. He raised his voice against severe punishment, torture and death
penalty. He also influenced Jeremy Benthams work and his idea of hedonistic
utilitarianism. Bentham believed in free will being the reason for the crime
committed by an individual while assessing the cost and benefits of his desires.

The contribution of classical school to the development of rationalised

criminological thinking was no means less important.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Paranjape N.V., Criminology And Penology with Victimology, (Central
Law Publications, Allahabad, 15th Edn., 2012)
Siddique Ahmad, Criminology & Penology, S M A Quadri, (Eastern
Book Company, Lucknow, 5th Edn., 2005)
Miller J. Mitchell (Ed.), 21st Century Criminology, (Sage Publications
India Private Limited, Delhi, 1st Edn., 2009)
Glick Leonard, Criminology, (Pearson Education, Inc., Boston, 1st Ed.,
2005).
Walsh Anthony And Hemmens Craig, Introduction To Criminology,
(Sage 2008 Publications India Private Limited, Delhi, 1st Ed., 2008)
Doherty Michael (Ed.), Criminology, (Old Bailey Press, London, 3rd Ed.,
2001)
Padhy Prafulla (Ed.), Crime And Criminology, ( Isha Books, Delhi, 1st
Ed., 2006)

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