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Theories
Theories
- Under this doctrine, there are situations or circumstances that made it impossible to exercise
freewill are reasons to exempt the action from conviction. This argues that freewill can be mitigated by
pathology, incompetence or mental disorder.
- This maintained that crime as any other act is a natural phenomenon and is comparable to
disaster or calamity. That crime as a social and moral phenomenon which cannot be treated and checked
by the imposition of punishment but rather rehabilitation or the enforcement of individual measures.
- The positivism holds that man is subdued occasionally by a strange and morbid phenomenon
which constrains a man to do wrong despite of or contrary to his volition.
- Cesare Lombroso and his two students, Enrico Ferri and Raffaele Garofalo were the primary
personalities in this positivist school of criminology.
- The Italian leader of positivist school of criminology who earned as the father of modern
criminology, who classified criminal as born criminal, criminal by passion, insane criminal,
criminaloid, occasional criminal, pseudo criminals.
- The best known as lambroso’s associates who agreed with Lombroso on the biological bases of
criminal behavior, however his interest is in socialism led him to recognize the importance of
social, economic, and political determinants.
- His greatest contribution was his attack on the classical doctrine of freewill, he believed that
criminals could not be held morally responsible for their crimes because they did not choose to
commit crimes but rather were driven to commit them by conditions in their lives.
- Another follower of Lambroso, and like Ferri,M he rejected the doctrine of freewill and
supported the position that the only way to understand crime was to study it by scientific
methods. Influenced on Lombroso’s theory of atavistic stigmata, he traced the roots of criminal
behavior not to physical features but to their psychological equivalents, which he called “moral
anomalies”
- According to his theory, natural crimes are found in all human societies, regardless of views of
the lawmakers, and no civilized society can afford to disregard them.
- Natural crimes (by Garofalo) are those that offend the basis of moral sentiments of probity
(respect for property of others) and piety (revulsion against the infliction of suffering on
others).
- He advocates the “anomie theory’ which focused on the sociological point of the positivist
school which explains that the absence of norms in a society provides a setting conductive to
crimes and other anti-socila acts. According to him, the explanation of human conduct lies not
in the individual but in the group and the organization.
Durkheim also maintained that crimes is an important ingredient of all healthy societies because crimes
makes people aware of their common interest and help to define appropriate moral or lawful behavior.
His view on criminal behavior was based on the use of Psychology in explaining an approach in
understanding criminal behavior.
Criminal behavior is a form neurosis that criminality may result from an over active conscience.
Crime is the result of the compulsive need for punishment to alleviate guilt and anxiety.
Criminal behavior is a means of obtaining gratification of need.
Criminal conducts represent a displaced hostility. Criminality represents psychological conflict.
He influenced the Somatotyping school of Criminology which is related to body built to behavior.
He became popular of his own Somatotyping Theory. His key ideas are concentrated on the principle of
“survival of the fittest” as a behavioral science. He combined the biological and psychological
explanation to understand deviant behavior.
His theory of Somatotyping maintained the belief of inheritance as the primary determinants of behavior
and the physique is a reliable indicator of personality.
Endomorphic- short limbs, roundness of body and small bones, they are viscerotonic- general
relax, loves comfort and an extrovert.
Mesomorphic – muscular, strong hands and body, they are romotonic- active, dynamic,
aggressive, and most likely to become criminal
Ectomorphic – lean, sikly, small body and predominance of skin, they are cerobrotonic- loner,
sensitive to noise, hates crowds but the most intelligent
- He was the most important criminologist of the twentieth century; his explanation about crime
and criminal behavior can be seen as a corrected extension of social perspective. For this
reason, he was considers as the Dean of Modern Criminology and the Father of American
Criminolgy.
- He advocated the DAT – Differential Association Theory which maintains that criminal
behavior is learned and not inherited. It is learned through the process of communication and
learning process includes techniques of committing the crime.
- He founded Containment Theory, a form of control which suggests that a series of both internal
and external factors contributes to criminal behavior.
- According to reckless, the outer structure of an individual are external pressures such as poverty,
unemployment and block opportunities while the inner containment refers to the person’s self
control by strong ego, good self image, well developed conscience, high frustration tolerance
and high sense of responsibility.
Karl Marx, Frederick Enger and Willem Bonger (1818-1940)
- He advocated Strain Theory, which maintains that the failure of man to achieve a higher status of
life caused them to commit crimes in order for that status/goals to be attained.
- He advocated Sub-Culture Theory of Delinquency which claims that lower class cannot socialized
effectively as the middle class thus the lower class gathered together share their common
problems, forming as subculture that rejects middle class values. (Reaction Formation)
- He advocated the Neutralization Theory. It maintains that the individual will obey or disobey
societal rules depending upon his or her ability to rationalize whether he is protected from hurt
or destruction. People become law abiding if they feel they are benefited by it and they violate it
if these laws are not favorable to them.
- He advocated DOT- Different Opportunity Theory which explained that society leads the lower
class to want things and society does thing to people.
- He claimed that there is differential opportunity or access to success goals by both legitimate
and illegitimate means depending on the specific location of the individual with in the social
structure.
- They advocated Labeling Theory that explains about social reaction to behavior. The theory
maintains that the original cause of crime cannot be known, no behavior is intrinsically criminal,
and behavior becomes criminal if it is labeled as such.
- He advocated Instrumentalist Theory if capitalist rule. He claims that upper create laws that
protect their interest and at the same time the unwanted behavior of all other members of
society.
- An English statistician who studied the case histories of 2, 000 convicts, and found that heredity
is more influential as determiner of criminal behavior than environment.
- He also accepted that criminals are physically inferior to normal individuals.
- An Anthropologist who reexamined the work of Goring and out that Tall thin men tend to
commit forgery and fraud, undersized are thieves and bulgars, short heavy person commit
assault, rape and other sex crime; where as mediocre (average) physique flounder around
among other crimes. He also contented that criminals are originally inferior; and that is result of
the impact of environment.
- A Belgian statistician who pioneered Cartography and the Carthographical school of Criminology
that placed emphasis on social statistics. He discovered basing on his research that crrimes
against persons increased during summer and crimes against property tends to increase during
winter.
It was emphasized that the multiplicity of conflicting culture is the principal source of social
disorganization.
Containment Theory By Reckless
Labeling Theory