CICOSAT COLLEGES

Lingsat, City of San Fernand o, La Union, Philippines 2500

Email address: cicosatc@yahoo.com
Tel No. (072)242 -26-98/ (072) 607-11-1 8

MIDTERM EXAMINATION
1st Semester, 2022-2023

NAME: KRISTAMIA B. PALANGYOS

SUBJECT: FOUNDATIONS OF CRIMINOLOGY

1. CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES

Offense
When it is punishable by Special Laws. Violations of special laws are generally referred to as malum
prohibitum. However not all violations of special laws are mala prohibita. While intentional felonies
are always mala in se, it does not follow that prohibited acts done in violation of special laws are
always mala prohibita. Even if the crime is punished under a special law, if the act punished is one
which is inherently wrong, the same is malum in se, and, therefore, good faith and the lack of
criminal intent is a valid defense, unless it is the product of criminal negligence or culpa. For
example, Presidential Decree No. 532 punishes piracy in Philippine waters and the special law
punishing brigandage in the highways. These acts are inherently wrong and although they are
punished under special law (PD 532), the acts themselves are mala in se; thus, good faith or lack of
criminal intent is a defense.

Felony
When it is punishable by the Revised Penal Code. Violations of the Revised Penal Code are referred
to as malum in se, which literally means, that the act is inherently evil or bad or per se wrongful.

Misdemeanor
When it violated an ordinance.

2. APPROACHES IN THE STUDY OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Structural Functionalism

Deviant behavior, according to structural functionalism, contributes to society in a positive way

by uniting disparate segments of the community. This is so because deviance aids in drawing
lines between what is acceptable and what is not, which in turn helps to uphold our cultural
values and conventions.
While deviant behavior can throw off social balance, society may adjust social norms in the
process of restoring that balance. In other words, deviant behavior can then contribute to social
stability in the long term because it challenges norms while promoting social cohesion. 

Social Strain Typology

According to the Social Strain Typology, a person's motivations or adherence to cultural values,
as well as their beliefs about how to achieve those goals, can be used to categorize deviant
behavior. Ritualism, innovation, rebellion, ritualism, retreatism, and conformance are the main
"categories" of social deviance.

This theory also suggests that people can turn towards deviant behavior while pursuing
accepted social values/goals. For example, some people turn to crime for the culturally
accepted value of seeking to lead a wealthy life. Deviance can mean breaking one norm to place
another before it, which is a fundamental insight of social strain typology.

Conflict Theory

According to Conflict Theory, material inequality across diverse sociopolitical groups is what
leads to deviant conduct. These divisions could be based on factors such as gender, religion,
color, class, and so forth. Every sociopolitical group has a propensity to see its own interests
competing with those of other groups. In other words, the perception of rights and other social
benefits as a zero-sum game, where gains for outsiders equal losses for your own group, is a
common one across members of different groups.

Groups that find themselves in an unequal social position in society will be inclined to deviant
behavior to change those circumstances, including the structures which helped create them. As
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” From the
perspective of Conflict Theory, people often act in defiance from social norms to express a
grievance.

Labeling Theory

Labeling Theory argues that deviant behavior is often a consequence of having a deviant-like
label applied to a person. For example, a teacher labeling a student as a troublemaker. That
label can then be mentally adopted by the person it’s been assigned to, leading them to exhibit
the actions, attitudes, and behaviors associated with it.
In short, this theory tends to focus on how people become deviant as a result of others forcing
that identity upon them. It allows us to develop a better understanding of how a person’s
previous behaviors can be reinterpreted in relation to the symbolic labeling they encountered
over the course of their lives.

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL POSITIVISM AND PSYCHIATRIC FACTORS

Psychological Positivism
According to the psychological positivist idea, offenders have a criminal personality that lives
inside their heads. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, developed the hypothesis. He
thought that some internal elements that people had little or no control over led certain people
to commit crimes.

Psychiatric Factors
Psychiatric factors are those aspects of your personality that either restrict or facilitate your
thought processes. Something as simple as talking may be made either very tough or very easy
depending on your personality. A phobia (irrational, uncontrollable fear) can restrict or even
direct your thoughts and actions.

4. Differential Association theory

According to Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory in criminology, people pick up

the attitudes, methods, and motivations for criminal behavior through their interactions with
others.
The learning theories of deviance most frequently discussed is the differential association
theory. This theory does not address why people turn to crime; instead, it concentrates on how
criminal behavior is learned. Although Learning Theory and the interactionist viewpoint are
closely connected, interactionism is not regarded as such because it concentrates on how
boundaries are created in society and how people perceive them.

5. Differential Identification Theory

Differential association theory is when one learns criminal attitudes and behaviors through
those around them. It is suggested that individuals learn to become criminals by associating with
criminals. Edwin Sutherland devised the differential association theory to provide guidelines to
measure criminal behavior. He also called this theory a learning theory. Based on Sutherland's
theory, if one wants to be a thief, they must associate with thieves. Sutherland's theory is widely
recognized and has aided in explaining criminal behavior.