INNOVATIVE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Malitbog, Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro

CRIMINOLOGY DEPARTMENT

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY
CRISMARK NALING MARIANO1

I. OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, the student should be able to:
 1. Trace the historical background of the different school of thought in Criminology.
 2. Explain the school of thought in criminology.
 3. Determine who are the unholy three and explain the contribution in the field of criminology?

II. TIME FRAME

Week 5 – 6 Sept 6-17, 2021
6 hours

III. TOPIC

CHAPTER 4
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN CRIMINOLOGY
School of thought is a term that refers to a group of beliefs or ideas that support a specific theory.
Theory is a set of statements devised to explain behavior, events or phenomenon, especially one that has been
repeatedly tested and widely accepted.

BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON THE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THOUGH IN

CRIMINOLOGY

Since the birth of criminology as a body of knowledge in Europe in the 1700s, several schools of
thought have emerged, have been challenged, have been discredited, and have continued to be explored by the
younger generation of criminologist, further proof that criminology is indeed dynamic. However, even before
the formal concepts of criminology were formulated, there already were primitive attempts to explain
criminality.

Demonological Theory or DEMONOLOGY

One of the earliest explanations of criminality is called the demonological theory or demonology. Under
this theory, crimes are believed to be caused by the devil or other supernatural explanations. People believed
that a person who violated the social norms and religious beliefs was possessed by an evil spirit. This
“possession” of the evil spirit caused the person to engage in criminal behavior. This theory has long been
rejected obviously because such belief is not supported by any concrete proof and cannot be studied and
verified using scientific methods.

Classical School of Criminology

The classical school of thought in criminology was born in Italy on the mid-1700s during the
Enlightenment period in Europe. This school of thought is based on the assumption that individuals choose to
commit crimes after weighing the consequences of their actions. According to the classical criminologist,
individuals have free will. They can choose legal or illegal means to get what they want, fear of punishment can

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deter them from committing crime and society can control behavior by making the pain of punishment greater
than the pleasure of the criminal gains.
The founders of the classical school of criminology are CESARE BECCARIA and JEREMY
BENTHAM.

CESARE BECCARIA (1738-1794)

Cesare Beccaria is best known for his treatise, On Crimes

and Punishment, published in 1764.This book presented a
coherent and comprehensive design for an enlightened criminal
justice system that was to serve the people. It contains almost all
modern penal reforms but its greatest contribution was the
foundation it laid for subsequent changes in criminal legislation.
His treatise was so influential that it became the basis of the
reforms in criminal justice and penology not only in Italy but in
other parts of Europe as well, such as in France and Russia. Also, it
influenced the first ten amendments to the US Constitution.

Cesare Bonesana Marchese de Beccaria, or Cesare Becarria, was born on

March 15, 1738 in Milan, Italy. He was a lawyer who joined a group of intellectuals called
the Academy of Fists. It was his membership with this literary group that influenced him
to write his influential treatise, “on crimes and Punishment”.

He was later appointed as chairman of law and economics in Palatine College of

Milan, became a member of the supreme economic council and member of the board for
judicial reform, all in Italy.

Becarria died on November 28, 1794 in his native Milan, Italy.

And for his contributions in the field of criminology, he is credited as being one
of the founders of classical criminology.

The following are Becarria’s ideas regarding crimes and the criminal justice system, as contain in his
treatise, “on Crimes and Punishment”:

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Highlights of “On Crimes and Punishment”:

“Punishments that go beyond the need of preserving the public safety are in their nature unjust.”
 Jeremy Bentham was born on February 15,
1748 in London, England.

He was an English jurist, philosopher

and legal and social reformer. He is well-
known for his advocacy of utilitarianism and
the idea of panopticon. He is considered the
father of University College ondon

Jeremy Bentham’s contribution to classical school of criminology is the concept of utilitarianism and
the felicific calculus.
Utilitarianism is a philosophy which argues that what is right is the one that would cause the greatest
good for the greatest number of people. Others refers to it as the greatest happiness principle, or the principle
of utility. Bentham based his ideas for social and legal reforms to this philosophy. According to him, legislators
should enact laws that benefit the greatest number of people and punishments which measure the pleasures and
pains.
From the philosophy of utilitarianism, Bentham formulated the “felicific calculus” or the pleasure-and-
pain principle. This is a theory that proposes that individuals calculate the consequences of his actions by
weighing the gain or “pleasure” and the suffering or “pain” he would derive from doing the action. If the
pleasure outweighs the pain, then he would most probably proceed to doing the act. But if the possibility of pain
is greater than the pleasure, he would choose not to do it.

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 Applying the principle to criminality, it explains that an individual will commit the crime if the pleasure
or benefit he would derive from it is greater than the punishment he would suffer when caught. Another way of
saying it is an individual will not commit the crime if the degree of punishment he would incur is greater than
the benefit he would get from committing the crime. In both cases, the individual is choosing his action based
on his own free will.

Neo-Classical Criminology

One of the flaws of the classical school of criminology is that it does not make any distinction between
adult and child, nor does it consider the position of a mentally-handicapped person. It does not take into account
the mental ability of a child to differentiate between what is right and wrong. In like manner, it does not take
into consideration that an insane person could not appreciate the consequences of his actions by reason of his
mental illness.
The neoclassical theory is a modification of the free will doctrine by stating that certain factors affect
the free will of men and they may either reduce or totally remove accountability on the part of the person who
committed the crime. Some of these factors are incompetence due to insanity or other forms of mental disorders
and abnormalities, physical illness and immaturity due to tender age or minority. All these factors make it
impossible for the individual to exercise free will completely.
Another flaw of the classical school is that it punishes offenders alike, without regard to whether or not
the offender is a first time offender is an accidental offender or a professional offender. This aspect was also
modified by the neoclassical school of criminology.

Positivist School of Criminology

For almost one hundred years, the classical school of criminology served as the basis of law and justice.
However, in the late 1800’s, the use of scientific methods in studying human behavior started to become
widespread. It was no longer enough to rely on pure thought and reasons. Use of observation and analysis of the
observable were beginning to emerge as the dominant method. This was the beginning of positivism.
Positivism refers to a perspective that believes causes of behavior can be measured and observed.
Significant advances in knowledge of both the physical and social world influenced thinking about
crime. These advances in knowledge changed the study of crimes and criminals into a scientific approach.

Founder of Positivism and Sociology

Isidore Auguste Marie Francois Xavier

Comte, or August Comte, was born January 19, 1798
in Montpellier, France.
He is credited for being the founder of
sociology and the doctrine of positivism.
He died in September 1857, at the age of 59.

AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857)

August Comte was a French philosopher and sociologist and is believed to be the one who reinvented
the French term sociologie. He was one of the first to use scientific methods in studying sociology and he had
written several influential books on philosophy and sociology. For his works and contribution, he is recognized
as the father of sociology and positivism.

THE UNHOLY THREE OF CRIMINOLOGY

There is another school referred to as the Italian school of criminology. It is composed of the three
most important Italian criminologists in history. They were Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri and Raffaelle
Garafalo. Because of their contributions in the propagation of positivist ideas, they were called the HOLY
THREE OF CRIMINOLOGY. However, there were of course, thinkers, philosophers and other criminologist
during their time who opposed their ideas. To them, they were the unholy three of criminology.
1.CESARE LOMBROSO (1835-1909)

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 Cesare Lombroso was a medical doctor, an Italian and criminologist and is one of
the proponents of the positivist school of criminology. Due to his application pf modern
scientific methods to trace criminal behavior, he is a recognized as the Father of Modern
Criminology.

Ezechia Marco Lombroso or Cesare Lombroso was born on

November 6, 1835 in Verona, Italy.
He was a physician who served much of his career in the Italian
military. Later, he became a specialist in psychiatry. He was also a
professor of legal medicine in the University of Turin.
During his military service, he studied the cadavers of soldiers
convicted and executed for criminal offenses to find out if there were
physical differences between criminals and non-criminals. Later, he
studied inmates at institutes for the criminally-insane in various parts of
Italy. It was through these methods that he was able to come up with
his theories regarding criminals.
In 1876, he published a book called “the Criminal Man” and this
gave him prominence as a criminologist. This book contained his theory
on atavism, among others. He died on October 19, 1909 in Turin, Italy.
For his contributions to the field of criminology, he is recognized as the
Father of Modern Criminology.

However, with the advent of more advanced methods and criminological researches, most of his ideas
are now discredited.
Nevertheless, his early studied revealed new knowledge that was useful in the study of criminality
during his time. He is known for the concept of atavistic stigma, 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 stigma and crimes are committed by those who are born with certain recognizable
hereditary traits.

According to his theory, criminals are usually in possession of huge jaws and strong canine teeth; the
arm span of criminals is often greater than their height, just like that of apes that use their forearms to push
themselves along the ground. Other physical stigma include deviation in head size and shape, asymmetry of the
face, excessive dimensions of the jaw and cheekbones, eye defects and peculiarities, ears of unusual size, nose
twisted, upturned or flattened in thieves, or aqualine or beaklike in murderers, fleshy lips, swollen and
protruding, and pouches in the cheek like those of animal’s toes.

Lombroso also devised his own classification of criminals and these are born criminals, insane
criminals and criminaloids.
A person who is in possession of at least five (5) atavistic stigmata is a born criminal. Insane
criminals are those who became criminals because of some brain defect which affected their ability to
understand and differentiate what is right from what is wrong. Criminaloids refer to criminals who do not
possess five (5) atavistic stigmata and who are not suffering from any brain defects. They are habitual criminals,
criminals by passion and others.
In essence, what Lombroso concluded is that criminals are biologically and physical inferior to
conventional, normal, law-abiding citizens.

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 2. Enrico Ferri (1856-1929)

Enrico Ferri focused his study on the influences of psychological

factors and social factors such as economics, on crimes.
Ferri also devised his own classification of criminals which
consists of five (5) types or classes; these are born criminals, insane
criminals, habitual criminals, occasional criminals and passionate
criminals.

Enrico Ferri was born on February 25, 1856 in Lombardy, Italy.

He was a student of Cesare Lombroso before he became a
professor of law. He was elected to the Italian parliament and
supported the socialist movement. He wrote a book, entitled “Criminal
Sociology, where he presented his views on social and economic factors
as causes of crimes.
He died on April 12, 1929 at age of 73.

According to Ferri, a born criminal has a congenital predisposition for crime. An insane criminal is
suffering from some clinical form if mental alienation, A habitual criminal is one who has acquired the habit of
crime mainly through the ineffective measures employed by society for the prevention and repression of crime.
An occasional criminal is one who commits very insignificant criminal acts more because he is led astray by
his conditions of life than because the aggressive energy of a degenerate personality impels him (Ferri,1901).
The passionate criminal is one who commits crime because of passion or revenge

3. Raffaele Garafalo (1851-1934)

Raffaele Garafalo is an Italian jurist and

criminologist credited for having coined the word
criminology from Italian word, criminologia. He used it as
title of his book which was published in 1885.
Like Ferri, he was also a follower of Lombroso in
the sense that he also rejected the doctrine of the classical
school of criminology. He also believed that crimes should
be studied using scientific methods.

IV. COMPREHENSION CHECK-UP

1. Explain the school of thought in criminology.

2. Who are the unholy three and explain the contribution in the field of criminology?

Checked by:

MELODY S. DIMAPILIS
Department Head
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