SCHOOLS OF CRIMINOLOGY: A SYSTEM OF

THOUGHT TO EXPLAIN CRIME AND METHOD

OF PUNISHMENT

Prof. Yophika Grace Thabah

 CRIME CAUSATION • Endogenous factors: age,
personality, intelligence,
physical traits, thoughts
• Why did you do that? • Exogenous factors:
economy, geography,
topography, culture

• What evidence is needed to support a legitimate inference that ‘A’

caused ‘B’?
• Cause and effect are intertwined with concepts of free will and determinism,
which are in turn associated with the legal concepts of responsibility and
reasonable person
Pre-Classical School of Criminology
• Middle Ages (1200-1600), superstition and
fear of satanic possession dominated
thinking
• Little attention was devoted to the motive,
environment and psychology of the
offender in the causation of crime
• People who violated social norms or
religious practices were believed to be
witches or possessed by demons
• Method of punishment- burning at the
stake (irrational, arbitrary and haphazard)
• Painting- The Trial of George Jacobs, August
5, 1692
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-
salem-witch-trials/
• This continued until the end of 17th century
CLASSICAL SCHOOL
• Classical Criminology (mid 18th century- Beccaria & Bentham): An
individual can control his conduct by exercising his power of will
and mind {Utilitarianism- achieve pleasure and avoid pain/
Hedonism- choice between pleasure and pain}
• Only was concern with the act and not the factors influencing a
person to act
• Considered prevention of crime more important than punishment:
“let the punishment fit the crime”
• Paved the way for a systematic criminal justice system, as well as
Positive criminology and penology. Based on Hobbes and
Rousseau’s concept of equality before law, equal protection of law
and natural justice
NEO-CLASSICAL SCHOOL
• Extreme idea of equality was modified.
• Judicial discretion was allowed- reasons for committing crime should be taken into
consideration at the time of awarding punishment
• Category of persons who were incapable of appreciating the difference between
right and wrong (child, idiots, lunatic)
• Distinction between first time offenders and recidivists
• Individualization of offender and their treatment
• Introduced the jury system in criminal jurisprudence
NINETEENTH CENTURY-POSITIVE
SCHOOL
• Positivists Criminology: Shifted from pure thought and reason to careful observation and
analysis of natural phenomena- birth of scientific study of human behavior!
• Who is a positivists and what is positivism? (Refer to August Comte, founder of sociology
who applied scientific methods to the study of society)
• Positivists rely on empirical methods to test hypothesis: Example (A) ‘Intelligence’ exists
because it can be measured with an IQ test but ‘soul’ is something that cannot be
measured scientifically
• Physiognomists-J.K. Lavater (1741-1801)- study of facial features of criminals to determine
whether shape of ears, nose, and eyes and the distance between them were associated
with anti-social behavior
• Phrenologists- Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) and Johann K. Spurzheim (1776-1832),
studied the shape of the skull and bumps on the head to determine whether these physical
attributes were linked to criminal behavior.
• Psychopathic personality: French psychiatrist, Philipe Pinel- people behave
abnormally even without being mentally ill
• Biological determinism (Cesare Lombroso 1835-1909): “Father of criminology”
who was a physician and served much of his career in the Italian army
Serious offenders inherited criminal traits- ‘Born Criminal’
Criminals suffered from atavistic anomalies- people as savages
Compared criminal behavior to illnesses, e.g., epilepsy, insanity, syphilis,
alcoholism, etc. and that such illnesses are inherited directly through the blood
line
Today we have what is known as “Biosocial Theory”- link between physical, mental
traits, social environment and behavior
 CHOICE THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY
• Personal choice designed to maximize gain and minimize loss (greed, revenge, need, anger,
lust, jealousy, thrill-seeking, or vanity)
• Individuals carefully weigh the potential benefits and consequences of crime
• E.g, the jealous suitor, for example, concludes that the risk of punishment is worth the
satisfaction of punching a rival.
• Going back to Classical School- men can be controlled or deterred by fear of punishment; the
more severe, certain and swift the punishment, the greater its ability to control criminal
behavior
• Punishment is itself harmful, therefore its existence is justified only if it promises to prevent
greater evil than it creates
• No person shall be punished except by virtue of a law enacted and promulgated previous to
the crime and applicable to its terms
• “Wicked people exist. Nothing avails except to set them apart from innocent
people. And many people, neither wicked nor innocent, but watchful, dissembling,
and calculating of their chances, ponder our reaction to wickedness as a clue to
what they might profitably do”- Prof. David Wilson
• Checkbox:
1) Risk of apprehension
2) Seriousness of expected punishment
3) Potential value of criminal enterprise
4) Need for criminal/wrongful gain
• Rational choice Theorists view crime as both offense and offender specific
 What are the conditions that promote crime
and enhance criminality?
• Lack of conventional opportunity
• Learning and experience
• Knowledge of criminal techniques
• Stashing/Hideouts
• Time and place
• Routine Activities: Based on the Routine Activity Theory by Lawrence Cohen and
Marcus Felson (Peter Van Koppen and Robert Jansen, ‘The Time to Rob: Variations in
Time and Number of Commercial Robberies’, Journal of Research in Crime and
Delinquency 36 (1999): 7-29
a) Availability of suitable targets
b) Absence of capable guardians
c) Presence of motivated offenders
 DETERRENCE TO A RATIONAL
OFFENDER
• Can the enhancement of punishment for crime and improvement in the effectiveness
of the criminal justice system have an impact on crime rates?
• Do you think certainty of apprehension and conviction through the use of modern
technology, efficient police work, or some other factor actually affect the decision to
commit crime?
• Concept of “tipping point”- being certain of punishment will only work if the
likelihood of getting caught reaches a specific level.
• Do you think increasing police officers on the street can reduce crime rate?
• Testing the deterrent effect of a capital punishment: immediate impact, comparative
research, time series studies https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/haryanas-nirbhaya-
was-sedated-run-over-by-car-after-gang-rape-1693613
TRAIT THEORY
“One of the forgotten middle kids, kind of on the fat side, not a sports
guy, never went out with any girls. Only had a couple of friends”-
Weston’s former classmate
• He was found to be mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial (Refer
to Chapter 25 CrPC)
• Foundation-:
a) Cesare Lombroso “Born Criminal”
b) Raffaele Garofalo, “a lower degree of sensibility to physical pain
seems to be demonstrated by the readiness with which prisoners
submit to the operation of tattooing”
c) Enrico Ferri, “biological, social and organic factors caused
delinquency and crime”

Russel Eugene Weston Jr. – Violent

shooting spree in the U.S. Capitol, 1998
• The study of sociobiology (biological and genetic conditions affect how social behaviors are learned
and perceived) revived interest in finding a biological basis for crime and delinquency.
• If biological (genetic) makeup controls human behavior, it follows that it should also be responsible
for determining whether a person chooses law violating or conventional behavior. This view of crime
causation is referred to as Trait Theory
• Trait Theorists do not focus on legal definitions of crime, but rather on basic human behavior and
drives, like aggression, violence, and a tendency to act on impulse that are linked to anti-social
behavior patterns.
• Poverty+Racism+Frustration+Anger (Environmental conditions in disadvantaged inner city areas)=
delinquents/adult criminals
• Also show biological/psychological condition or trait that renders them incapable of resisting social
pressures and problems- Research on recidivism (Choice + physical and mental makeup)
• Fear of punishment versus Urges and Passion
• Trait Theory is different from Social structure Theory: Learning is not controlled by social interactions but
by biochemistry and cellular interaction (behavior patterns + chemical change in the brain + autonomic
nervous system + central nervous system)
• Instinct is also one factor influencing learning: Kleptomania, Male domination
 BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVES ON
CRIMINALITY
• Biochemical: Diet, Hormones, Environment contaminants
• Neurophysiological: Brain structure, brain damage, brain
chemicals
• Genetic: Inherited aggressive predisposition, inherited
condition associated with crime such as impulsive
personality
• Evolutionary:
Aggression evolves over time, Aggressive
males produce more offspring
Psychological Trait Theories: Intelligence, Personality,
Learning and Criminal Behavior
Existing Research
• Charles Goring (1870-1919) in his book, The English Convict, found out the
following:
1. Defective intelligence, which involves traits such as feeblemindedness, epilepsy,
insanity and defective social instinct
2. Criminal behavior was inherited and could therefore, be controlled by
regulating the reproduction of families who produced mentally defective
children
• Gabriel Tarde 91843-1904):
1. People learn from one another through a process of imitation
2. People can also learn by observing (movie or television)
Psychoanalytical School: Originated by
Sigmund Freud {Residue of the most
significant emotional attachments of
childhood}
 Conflict Consequence
Psychosexual stages of development (oral, anal, May fixate on infantile sexual development
phallic and latency)
Psychodynamics (feelings of mental anguish and Dominated by primitive id and known as
are afraid that they are losing control of their psychotics, popularly known as disorder
personalities as neurotics) (incapable of controlling impulsive, pleasure
seeking drives)
Learning through a process called behavior Aggressive/violent behavior
modeling (aggressive parents, aggressive
behavior, violent films, etc)
Cognitive and Moral Development Not capable of using and processing information
(hostility in reaction). Also, people with least
moral development report that they are deterred
from crime because of their fear of sanctions
(simply to avoid punishment)
Personality defect Hostile, self-centered, spiteful, wayward, jealous,
lack ambition and motivation, lack perseverance
Genetic versus sociological Low IQ
Things to do!
• Are there any public policy implications of the trait theory in India?
• E.g, U.S. have implemented biological oriented therapy in prisons, wherein diet,
lighting, treatment of disabilities, allergies, etc have been taken care of.
• Mood altering chemicals are given to convicts. Even use of psychosurgery for
convicted sex offenders
 SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORY OF CRIMINOLOGY
• A shift from the individual biological approach to social organization (Durkheim, 1951)
• Division of labour and degradation of society
• He viewed the division of labor as a major contributor to social differentiation and strained
social relationships to the point that society could be held together only by an external entity
such as the state (Clinard & American Sociological Association, 1964)
• Strain Theory: Emile Durkheim developed the first modern strain theory of crime and
deviance, but Merton’s classic strain theory (culture+ social structure) and its offshoots
came to dominate criminology during the middle part of the 20th century.
• Classic strain theory focuses on that type of strain involving the inability to achieve
monetary success or the somewhat broader goal of middle-class status. Classic strain theory
fell into decline during the 1970s and 1980s, partly because research appeared to challenge
it.
• Robert Agnew developed his general strain theory (GST) in 1992, and it has since become the
leading version of strain theory and one of the major theories of crime. GST focuses on a
broad range of strains, including the inability to achieve a variety of goals, the loss of valued
possessions, and negative treatment by others.
• Lower-class youths are drawn toward delinquent subcultures and gangs often as a result of
being ‘‘denied status in the respectable society because they cannot meet the criteria of
the respectable status system’’ (Cohen, 1955, p. 121).
• MORAL EMBEDDED SOCIETIES: “mechanical solidarity’’ where work was
monotonous, conformity was the norm, and a strong, collective consciousness
permeated society. These societies were also marked by ‘‘integration’’: a state of
cohesion, strong social bonds, and the subordination of the self to a common cause
(Durkheim, 1951, p. 209).
• The structural-functionalist perspective stated that as society modernized, urbanized, and
increasingly changed, the intimacy of small, traditional communities broke down.
• The breakdown of social bonds, associations, and social controls in families,
neighborhoods, and communities resulted in what Chicago scholars Thomas and Znaniecki
(1958) termed ‘‘social disorganization.’’
• Also see Social control Theory by Gotfredson and Hirshchi
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
Popularized by the work of two Chicago
sociologists, Henry Mckay and Clifford R. Shaw
They were heavily influenced by Chicago
School sociologists, Ernest burgess and Robert
Park, who had pioneered the ecological analysis
of urban life
They focused their study on Chicago,
especially poverty ridden, transitional
neighborhoods, who suffered high rates of
population turnover and were incapable of
inducing residents to remain and defend the
neighborhoods against criminal groups
Crime is a constant fixture in areas of poverty,
regardless of the racial or ethnic identity of its
residents.
Extra readings…..
• Cultural Deviance Theory
• Theory of Delinquent Sub-cultures
• Theory of Differential Opportunity
 SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES
• Socialization Process: Crime is a result of upbringing, learning and control.
• The social process approach has several independent branches :
a) Social Learning Theory: People are born “good” and learn to be “bad” (Differential
Association Theory, Differential Reinforcement Theory, Neutralization Theory)
b) Social Control Theory: People are born “bad” and must be controlled in order to be
“good”
c) Social Reaction (Labeling) Theory: Whether “bad” or “good”, people are controlled
by the reactions of others
 DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY
• Acquiring a behavior is a social learning process and not a political or legal process
• Skills and motives conducive to crime are learned as a result of contacts with pro-crime
values, attitudes and definitions and other patterns of criminal behavior.
• Criminality can be classified under “learned behavior”, such as writing, painting or
reading
• Learning occurs within intimate groups.
• It is not just criminal technique that is learned but also, direction of motives, drives,
rationalizations and attitudes. (E.g., proper way of smoking joint and the reason for doing
it)
• Perception about the legal system
• Criticisms: We cannot follow people around to establish precisely when definitions
toward criminality begin to outweigh prosocial definitions, and determine if this
imbalance produces criminal behavior
 DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT
THEORY

• Proposed by Ronald Akers in collaboration with Robert Burgess in 1966

• Employs both differential association along with elements of psychological
learning theory
• As the name suggests, behavior is reinforced by being either rewarded or
punished while interacting with others
• If an individual is already indoctrinated into crime, their behavior can be
reinforced by being exposed to deviant behavior models, associated with
deviant peers and lacking negative sanctions from parents or peers
 NEUTRALIZATION THEORY

• Ability to drive back and forth between illegitimate and conventional behavior
• Borrowed from the Subterranean value structure: Morally tinged influences that
have become entrenched in the culture but are publicly condemned
• They exist side by side with conventional values and while condemned in public
may be admired or practiced in private.
• Individuals with law violating behavior through neutralization techniques have the
ability to drift away from the rules of normative society and participate in
subterranean behaviors.
• Techniques: Denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victim,
condemnation of condemners, appeal to higher loyalties
 CONFLICT THEORY CRIMINOLOGY
• Tensions and conflicts arise when resources, status, and power are unevenly
distributed between groups in society and that these conflicts become engine for
social change
• Challenges social disorganization theory and social control theory (attachment,
commitment, involvement and belief); and argue that both ignore racial and
socioeconomic issues (Akers, 1991)
• “A house may be large or small; as long as the neighbouring houses are likewise
small, it satisfies all social requirement for a residence. But let there arise next to the
little house a palace, and the little house shrinks to a hut”- Karl Marx, ‘Wage Labour
and Capital’ (1847)
• Originated from the class conflict between the bourgeois (those who controlled the
means of production and business) and the proletariat (those who depended on the
bourgeois for employment and survival)
• Look for answers to the correlation of gender and race with wealth and crime
• Does this theory explains crimes committed by politicians, celebrities, wealthy
executives and state as well as military leaders?
• This theory identifies the state and the law as instruments of oppression used by
the ruling class for their own benefit
• What do you think can be the criticisms?
CONTEMPORARY CRIMINOLOGY
• If structural and biosocial theories are correct and poverty explain the onset of
criminal activity, why is it that most kids growing up in disorganized areas, even
those engaged in delinquent activities in their adolescence, fail to become chronic
or persistent offenders?
• If low IQ is linked to crime, then how come most people desist crime after they
mature?
• Contemporary or developmental theory has two distinct groups: Latent trait
theory – Master trait (personality, intelligence, genetic makeup) people do not
change, criminal opportunities change
• life course theory – Multiple traits (social, psychological, economic), people
change over the life course
Self control and Criminality