Compiled and Prepared by:
Honey Angelu Mirafuentes
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN
CRIMINOLOGY
School of Thought / School of Criminology -
refers to a collection of beliefs or ideas that:
o support a specific theory
o composed of different individuals
who focuses on only one theory
school - group
theory - set of statements devised to explain
behavior, events or phenomenon, especially
one that has been repeatedly tested and
widely accepted
- explains an event or a phenomenon
- repeatedly tested and widely
accepted
THREE TYPES OR EXPLANATIONS
TO THE EXISTENCE OF CRIMINAL
BEHAVIOR (S-E-M-I)
1. Single/Unitary Theory – contends
that crime is produced by one factor.
It may be biological, sociological or
psychological.
2. Multiple Factor Theory – views
that crime is not a product of a single
cause or factor but a combination of
several factors.
3. Eclectic Theory – views that crime
stemmed by one or more while in
another instances it is caused by
another set of factors.
4. Integrated Theory – a theory that
combines two or more theories to
generate a single model of
framework.
Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center
Pre-Classical Period
Demonological Theory / Supernatural
Theory
This theory maintains that criminal behavior
was believed to be the result of evil spirits
and demons something of natural force that
controls his/her behavior.
 It is an obsolete theory
 old and no longer believed in
because it lacks scientific
explanation/causes
 asserts that a person commits
wrongful acts due to the fact that he
was possessed by demons.
 execution of punishment by the
church
 used as means to explain criminal
behavior.
 Used barbaric system of punishment
o Stoning
o Drowning
o Whipping
 Used a barbaric form of trial to
determine guilt
o Trial by Ordeal - an ancient
judicial practice by which the
guilt or innocence of the
accused was determined by
subjecting them to a painful,
or at least an unpleasant,
usually dangerous experience
Ex. By combat, by fire, by hot
water, by burning oil, by
charcoals
- in order to prove one's innocence, he
must undergo a painful task (existed
before the age of enlightenment)
Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
 Ex. walking on fire (if burnt -
guilty / if not burnt - not
guilty)
- people believed in "dei indicum" -
miraculous decision / believed that
God protects those who are innocent.
Major School of Thoughts (C-N-P)
o Classical
o Neo-Classical
o Positivist
Classical School of Criminology /
Cesare Bonesana Marchese di Beccaria
Classical School of Thought
Founders: Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy
Bentham
By the middle of the 18th century, social
philosophers studied, argued and began to
look for a more rational approach in
imposing punishment. Social reformers
sought to eliminate the barbaric system of
law, punishment and justice. They stressed
that crime and punishment should be
balanced and fair.
this school of thought is based on FREE
WILL THEORY (Cesare Beccaria)
 This school of thought is based on
the assumption that individuals
choose to commit crimes after
weighing the consequences of their
actions
Freewill (Volition) - capacity to choose or
infer, freedom of choice
 According to classical
criminologists, individuals have
freewill in which can make a person
rational (can think)
 Classical criminologists believe that
all persons have freewill and that
freewill is absolute (applies to all)
Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center
 Founders of classical of criminology
are Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy
Bentham the particular conceptions
of crime and criminal justice
emerged in the eighteenth century (-
1/ 1700s - 1799) are collectively
known as Classical School of
Criminology - age of enlightenment
 puts focus on law making & legal
processing
 emphasis on crime and criminal act
(1738-1794)
Cesare Bonesana [name]
Marchese di Beccaria [title]
- best known for his essay, "On
Crimes and Punishment" [Dei
delitti e delle pene]
o written to eliminate torture as
a form of punishment which
presented key ideas on the
abolition of torture as
legitimate means of
extracting confession.
- Beccaria argued that the
effectiveness of criminal justice
depended more on the certainty
(sureness of penalty) of punishment
than on its severity [let the
punishment fit the crime]
- His book contains almost all modern
penal reforms but its greatest
contribution was the foundation it
laid for subsequent changes in
criminal legislation
- His book was influential in the
reforms of penal code in France,
Russia, Prussia, and it influenced the
first ten amendments to the US
Constitution. It also influenced the
Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
 Philippine legislation. The greatest their liberty so as to enjoy peace and
contribution of his book was the security.
foundation it laid for subsequent 2. Punishments that go afar the need of
changes in criminal legislation. preserving the public safety are in
their nature unjust.
According to Beccaria:
o Means that penalty must be
 man is fundamentally a biological balanced and just
organism with intelligence and (punishment should fit the
rationality (freewill) that control his crime)
behavior.
Ex. You cannot give death
 people want to achieve
penalty as a form of punishment
pleasure/gain and avoid pain/risk
for jay walking
(hedonism / Jeremy Bentham)
 by nature; a person would always 3. Criminal laws must essentially be
choose pleasure because a person is clear and certain. Judges must make
hedonistic even judgments in similar crimes
 crime provides some pleasure to the (estare decisis)
criminal if a person chooses to Estare Decisis – to stand by things
commit crime, he chose pleasure decided.
 To deter criminal, he believed that
Note: this is true in the Philippine setting
one must administer pain in an
that judges are basing their decisions
appropriate amount to
according to existing jurisprudence which
counterbalance the pleasure
means that same cases with the same
obtained from crime
circumstances must be given the same
 Well-publicized laws made by the
treatment or judgment.
legislature (legislative branch/
enacts / modifies/ repeals law) rather 4. The law must stipulate the degree of
than individual courts or judges evidence that will justify the
 Abolition of torture in prisons detention of an accused offender
 Use of penal system to deter would- prior to his trial (proof beyond
be offenders, rather than simply reasonable doubt)
punishing those convicted 5. Allegations must be public. False
 Concept of deterrence was accusation should be severely
introduced by the classical school punished.
(proactive) 6. To torture accused offenders to
obtain a confession is unacceptable
Proactive – preventing something before it
as evidence.
happens
Note: this is true in the Philippine setting in
Highlights of Cesare Beccaria’s Ideas
which the congress passed the Anti-Torture
Regarding Crimes and the Criminal
Law or RA 9475
Justice System
1. In founding a human society, men
and women sacrifice a portion of

Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
 7. The promptitude (efficiency) of penalty would cause the greatest good for the
is one of the most effective curbs greatest number of people.
(solution) on crime. (Certainty)
8. The purpose of punishment can only be - Others refer to it as the greatest
to avert the criminal from committing happiness or the principle of utility
new crimes against his countrymen, and - from this principle, Bentham
to keep others from doing likewise. formulated the "felicific calculus"
Punishments, should therefore, and the Felicific Calculus / Penal Pharmacy or the
method of inflicting them, should be pleasure-and pain principle (PPP)
chosen in due proportion to the crime,
so as to make the most lasting - a theory that proposes that
impression on the minds of men individuals calculate the
(Deterrence). consequences of his actions by
9. Capital punishment is inefficacious (not weighing the pleasure (gain) and the
effective) and its place should be pain (suffering) he would derive
replaced with life imprisonment from doing the action.
(abolition of death penalty). - He states that people are rational
10. It is better to inhibit crimes than to calculator / a person is a human
punish them. That is the chief purpose calculator.
of all legislation - It is an imaginary mathematical
Note: In connection to this, Sir Robert Peel the formula used by a person that allows
Founder of the Metropolitan Police Force of him to calculate the level of pain and
London, stated that it is much easy to fix a wall pleasure before he acts or decides.
with a crack than a wall which is already fallen. CESARE JEREMY
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) BECCARIA BENTHAM
Hedonism Utilitarianism
 Designed the panopticon prison (pleasure-pain (greatest happiness
 His contribution to classical school principle) for the greatest
of criminology is the concept of number)
utilitarianism and the felicific Freewill Felicific Calculus
calculus (weight/calculate
 Proposed "utilitarian hedonism" the probability of
which explains that person always obtaining pain or
acts in such a way to seek pleasure pleasure)
and avoid pain
 Originated the concept of
utilitarianism which assumes that all Deterrence - to discourage or to stop
our actions are calculated in someone from committing a crime
accordance with their likelihood of
Components of Deterrence
bringing pleasure and pain.
Discouragement to Commit Crime (Cel -
Utilitarianism - is a philosophy which Cer - Sev)
argues that what is right is the one that

Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
  Celerity - refers to the speed with
which a punishment is applied
(promptitude)
 Certainty - refers to the concept of
making a punishment sure to happen
whenever an undesirable act is
committed (sureness of punishment
when a person commits a violation
of law)
 Severity - refers to the amount of
pain/pain to be inflicted on those
who do harmful act, the swifter and
certain the punishment, the more
effective it is in deterring criminal
behavior
Forms of Deterrence
 Specific Deterrence - applies to the
individual who committed an offense
o applied to someone who
already committed an
offense/ unlawful act
o someone who has been
punished/penalized
o punishment has an impact to
the specific offender
 General Deterrence - applies to other
potential offenders/Felon (would-be
offender/ society)
o people deter from committing crime
simply from observing the
punishment
o given to someone who has been
punished for a certain crime the first
time
o deters public from committing crime
Modern Classical Theories/ Modern
Freewill Theory
1. Rational Choice Theory (RTC) -
crime is a function of a decision-
making process (freewill) in which
the would-be offender weighs the
Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center
potential costs (pain/punishment) and
benefits (pleasure/gain) of an illegal
act
2. Routine Activity Theory (AST-
ACG - PMO) - victimization results
from the interaction of three
everyday factors: the availability of
suitable targets, the absence of
capable guardians, and the presence
of motivated offender
suitable targets - person
capable guardians - members of the society
/ family / friends / police
motivated offenders - perpetrator is in the
surrounding / offender is present
3. Drift Theory/ Neutralization
Theory - becoming criminal is a
discovering occurrence in which
potential felons master techniques
that enables them to counterbalance
conventional values and drift back
and forth between illegitimate and
conventional behavior.
o Criminals can choose to drift
back and forth from
committing crime and being
good members of the society
Neo-classical Criminology / Modified
Classical Criminology
 This theory modified the doctrine of
free will by stating that free will of
men may be affected by other factors
and crime is committed due to some
compelling reasons that prevail.
these causes are pathology,
incompetence, insanity, or any
condition that will make it
impossible for the individual to
exercise free will entirely.
Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
Note: in the study of legal provisions, this is
termed as either mitigating or exempting
circumstances
 Not all persons have free-will
because there are factors affecting
freewill (minority, insanity, physical
disability)
minors - controlling factor is discernment
insanity - freewill is not absolute
o lucid interval (period of calm
or temporary sanity)
physical disability
 Reason why there's mitigating and
exempting circumstances
 Gives exemption or mitigation to the
minority or those suffering from
insanity
Positivist School of Criminology /
Positivist School of Thought
Also referred to as: Scientific School
Founders: Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri,
Raffaelle Garofalo
 The term "positivism" refers to a
method of analysis based on the
collection of observable scientific
facts.
 It demands for facts and scientific
proof, thus, changing the study of
crimes and criminals into Scientific
Method such as biology, psychology,
and sociology
 It was called the Italian School due
to the fact that its members are
mostly Italians (Lombroso, Garofalo,
Ferri)
 Positivists theories were first to
claim the importance of looking at an
individual difference among
Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center
offenders. These theorists who
concentrated on the individual
structures of a person, stated that
people are passive and controlled,
whose behaviors are imposed upon
them by biological and
environmental factors.
 Approach that studies human
behavior through the use of scientific
method
 Positivists believe that causes of
behavior can be measured and
observed
 Changing the study of crimes and
criminals into scientific approach
 Focus is on the offender/ criminal
 Criminals differ from non-criminals
based on their looks because
criminals are biologically inferior
Note: Lombroso interviewed a thousand of
prisoners from different prisons before he
made his theory (Theory of Atavism)
August Comte (1798-1857)
 Recognized as the "Father of
Sociology and Positivism"
 French philosopher and sociologist
and is believed to be the one who
reinvented the French term
"sociologie"
- He is considered as the founder of
positivist school and sociology
because he applied scientific
methods in the study of society in
which all social problems will be
solved by scientific methods and
research. He believed that large
groups of people such as society,
being a subject of scientific study
can lead to the discovery of specific
laws that would greatly help them.
Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
Q: if Comte is the father of positivism, what
do they call those who follow Comte?
A: positivists
The (un) holy three (3) of criminology
(GARO - FE - LO)
1. Cesare Lombroso
2. Enrico Ferri
3. Raffaelle Garofalo
 Followers call them holy three
because their emergence symbolized
clearly that the era of faith was over
and the scientific age had begun.
 They were called the unholy three by
religious leaders because of their
belief in evolution as contrasted to
biblical interpretation of the origin of
man and woman.
The positivist school presumes that criminal
behavior is caused by internal and external
factors outside of the individual’s control.
The Scientific method was introduced and
applied to the study of human behavior.
Positivism can be broken up into three
segments which include Biological,
Psychological and Social Positivism
(sociology)
Key Assumptions of the Positivist School
of Thought
1. Human behavior is determined and
not a matter of freewill
2. Criminals are fundamentally
different from non-criminals
3. Positivists search for such
differences by scientific methods
4. Social scientists (including
criminologists) can be objective, or
values-neutral in their work
Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center
5. Crime is frequently caused by
multiple factors
6. Society is based on consensus and
not on social contract.
Ezchia Marco Cesare Lombroso
(1836-1909)
(Biological Positivism)
 Recognized as the "Father of
Modern and Empirical (Scientific)
Criminology”
 A medical doctor who made wide-
ranging research in physical
characteristics of criminals, political
crimes, and revolutions and
association between the criminal
and anthropology
 Known for the concept of atavistic
stigmata (the physical features of
creatures at an earlier stage of
development)
 He claimed that criminals are
distinguishable from non-criminals
due to the presence of atavistic
stigmata and crimes committed by
those who are born with certain
recognizable heredity traits.
 Idolized Charles Darwin who wrote
the Theory of Evolution of Man
which became the basis for his
theory of Atavism
Theory of Evolution - man originated from
apes and man went through two processes:
1. process of natural selection
2. adaptive mutation
Note: the book of Charles Darwin is known
as "Origin of Species"
Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
concept of atavistic stigmata - if human
evolved from apes, there must be
characteristics of apes that has been
transferred or left to human
Atavistic Stigmata - physical features at the
earlier stage of development (ape)
characteristics of ape that is left/imprinted
on human.
Such as:
1. asymmetrical face
2. large monkey-like ears
3. large lips
4. receding chin
5. twisted nose
6. long arms
7. skin wrinkles
- book of Lombroso "The Criminal
Man"
1. Deviation in head size and shape from
type common to
race and region from which the criminal
came
2. asymmetry of the face
3. eye defects and peculiarities
4. excessive dimension of the jaw and cheek
bone
5. ears of unusual size, or occasionally very
small, or standing out from the head as to
those of chimpanzee
6. nose twisted, upturned, flattened in
thieves aquiline or beak like in murderers, or
with a tip rising like a peak from swollen
nostrils
7. lips fleshy, swollen and protruding
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8. pouches in the cheek like those of some
animals
9. peculiarities in the palate, such as those
found in reptiles and cleft palate
10. chin preceding, or excessively long, or
short and flat as in apes
11. abnormal dentition
12. abundance, variety and precocity of
wrinkles
13. anomalies of the hair, marked by the
characteristics of the opposite sex
14. defects of the thorax (chest), such as too
many or too few ribs, or supernumerary
nipples
15. inversion of sex characters in the pelvic
organs
16. excessive length of arms
17. supernumerary (more) fingers and toes
(polydactyl)
- persons with missing/less fingers
(ectodactyl)
18. imbalance of the hemisphere of the brain
(asymmetry of the cranium)
(Lombroso looks at three parts of the face/
peculiar parts: hairline, cleft palate, cheek
bone)
 According to Lombroso, if you are a
criminal with at least 5 atavistic
stigmata, you are a Born Criminal
3 Classification of Criminals According to
Lombroso
1. Born Criminals - individuals with at
least five (5) atavistic stigmata
2. Insane Criminals - those who
became criminals because of some
Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
 brain defect (psychological
problems) which affected their
ability to understand and
differentiate what is right from what
is wrong.
Note: in Criminal Typology this is known as
Neurotic Criminals
3. Criminaloids - those with make-up
of an ambiguous group that includes
habitual criminals, criminals by
passion (acute criminal) and other
diverse types.
criminals by passion - criminals who
commit crimes due to strong feelings or
emotion.
Note: in Criminal Typology this is known as
Acute Criminals
Moral Anomalies - psychological equivalent
4. Pseudo-Criminals – those criminals
to atavistic stigmata
who committed a felonious act due
to self-defense.
Q. Lombroso referred to these criminals as
alcoholics (dipsomaniac), kleptomaniacs,
nymphomaniacs, and child molesters
(pedophilia) [all are classified as neurosis -
minor form of mental disorder]. They
become criminal as a result "of an alteration
of the brain, which completely upsets their
moral nature"
A: insane criminals
Enrico Ferri
(1856-1929)
(Sociological Positivism)
 He focused his study on the
influences of psychological factors
and sociological factors such as
economics on crimes
 He believed that criminals could not
be held morally responsible because
Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center
they did not choose to commit
crimes, but rather were driven to
commit crimes by conditions in their
lives.
 He stressed that society needed
protection against criminal acts and
that it was the purpose of criminal
law and penal policy to provide that
protection.
Rafaelle Garofallo
(Psychological Positivism)
 Coined the term "criminologia"
 He treated the roots of criminals'
behavior not to physical features but
to their psychological equivalent
which he referred to as moral
anomalies
 Rejected the doctrine of freewill
 Classified criminals as murderers,
violent criminals, deficient criminals
and lascivious criminals.
Garofalo’s Classification of
Criminals
1. Murderers – those who are
satisfied from vengeance or
revenge (motivated by
retribution/revenge)
2. Violent Criminals – those who
commit very serious crimes
Note: violent criminals usually
commit crimes against person to
show their dominance.
3. Thieves/Deficient Criminals –
those who commit crimes against
property
Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola
 Note: they commit crimes to gain
something
4. Lascivious Criminals – those
who commit crimes against
chastity
Note: they commit sexual crimes because
they are pushed by lust and lewd design.
 Modification of classical
criminology
 Not all persons have freewill
 Free will is not absolute
 There is an absence of free will
 There are factors that affect free will
(insanity, minority, physical
disability)
Effect: exempting/mitigating circumstances

Cesare Enrico Ferri Raffaelle Positivist Criminology

Lombroso Garofalo
 called positivist because they utilize
Biological Sociological Psychological scientific approach/methods
Positivism Positivism Positivism  non punitive - treatment is not
Atavistic Sociological Moral punishment
Stigmata Factors that Anomalies
affects Focus: criminal/offender - criminals are born
criminal (born-criminals)
behavior
Basis: dangerous condition of person
Purpose of Penalty – rehabilitation
Effect: Treatment
KEYWORDS:
Classical Criminology
Founders: Beccaria and Bentham
 Punitive - focuses on punishment
 based on free will theory (Beccaria)
 All persons have free will
 Free will is absolute
Focus: criminal act
Basis of criminal act: human free will/
volition
Purpose of penalty: retribution (oldest
justification of penalty)
penalty serves as payment of the offender
Effect: deterrence
Neo-classical criminology

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 School Focus Assumption What to do Purpose of Effects Author/
with Penalty Fore-
criminals Runner

Classical ACT All are Retribution Deterrence Punishment Cesare

rational depending on Beccaria
thinkers severity and
(freewill is Jeremy
absolute) Bentham
Neo- Act Freewill is Retribution Deterrence Mitigating or ----
Classical and not if there is exempting
Actor absolute freewill circumstances

Positivist Actor Criminals Treatment Rehabilitation/ No harsh Founder:

are sick Reformation penalty August
affected by Comte
many Headed
factors by: Cesare
Lombroso,
Enrico
Ferri,
Raffaelle
Garofalo

I do not take credits to any of the information/notes given. All of these are based off of the compiled
notes that I’ve took during discussions as well as the general information from accessible sources
online and the books that I possess.

I give full rights and credits to the rightful owner to any of these information. The listed personalities
(juridical and natural) were my sources for note-taking since I have enrolled in their
classes/discussion.

This learning material is made for self-review purposes only. I do not intend to sell, copyright, and
infringe any of the given information.

Credits to: Creed Review Center Credits to: Quest Review Center Credits to: Dr. Armando A. Alviola