In this paper I will discuss a major theory that has helped shape our criminal justice system today and how it came about. There are multiple major theories that made the criminal justice system what it is today, but I will only be discussing one theory and the theory that I will be covering in this paper is the classical school theory. I chose this theory because I believe that people have a choice to decide what they do. That also plays a part in the criminal activities that they participate in as well. I believe that a person can chose to commit a crime if they really want to. Rather a person is surrounded by criminals or the best non-criminals in the world that person can still chose to commit a crime. The person could be raised in a way that they are taught not commit crimes but later in life they may choose to commit a crime. Beccaria believed in social contract, when one chooses to live in a society, then on chooses to give up some personal liberties in exchange for the safety and comfort of a society. Laws are designed as the condition of a society of free willed and rational individuals. There is a need to have some system set up in order to ensure that the individuals in the society are protected against any individual or groups of individuals that want to violate the personal liberties in the social contract. The justice system would ensure that all individuals in society obey and or follow the social contract. This paper is on the Classical School theory that emerged in the eighteenth century; Cesare Beccaria. Some of the major ideas that descend from this theory are the concepts of humans as free-willed, rational beings, utilitarianism (the greatest good for the greatest number), civil rights and due... ... middle of paper ... ...t crimes if you are a big known celebrity and have a lot of money. Works Cited Beccaria, C. (1963). On Crimes and Punishments. In C. Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments. Englewood Cliffs: Trans. Henery Paoluccis. Carpenter, A. (n.d.). Beccaria, Cesare: Classical School. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from Academica.edu: https://www.academia.edu/235709/Beccaria_Cesare_Classical_School Cesara Beccaria. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2014, from Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/cesare-beccaria-39630#awesm=~oBUoP77I4gBpZI III, F. P. (2014, 2010, 2004). Criminological Theory sixth edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc. Monachesi, E. (1955, Nov.-Dec.). Pioneers in Criminology. IX. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794). Retrieved April 4, 2014, from The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, Vol. 46, No. 4: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1139709
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Since the laws were written in Latin, it made it very hard for everyone of all class divisions to know their rights as well as to follow them. Beccaria believed it to be unfair as well as unequal that the laws were written in an uncommon language that most people couldn’t read. Beccaria states that; ‘‘this places them at the mercy of a handful of men, for they cannot judge for themselves the prospect of their own liberty or that of others’’ (12-13).This is unequal to the lower class seeing as they have done less schooling and don’t know Latin. This puts the people that are in the higher class to an advantage for they can manipulate the laws as well as even change them if someone of a lower class is accused of a crime. To further the inequality the higher class could get away with crimes and the poor class could get much harsher punishments that the law requires them to
Lilly, J. Robert, Francis T. Cullen, and Richard A. Ball. 2011. Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
The Law today is a summary of various principles from around the world from the past and the present. Early practises of law were the foundation of the law that we know and abide by today. These practises were referred to as the Classical school. Over time however, different criminologist have altered and greatly improved the early, incomplete ideas and made them more complete and practical to more modern times. This newer version is referred to as the Positivist school. This rapid change from the classical to the positivist perspective was due to the change and growth of civilization. Even though one perspective came from another, they are still different in many ways and it is evident when relating them to section 462.37, Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime, and section 810, Sureties to keep the Peace. The Classical School of criminology’s time of dominance was between 1700 and 1800. Its conception of deviance was that deviance was a violation of the social contract. Classical theorists believed that all individuals were rational actors and they were able to act upon their own free will. A person chose to commit crimes because of greed and because they were evil. The primary instrument that could be used in regards to the classical school to control crime was to create “criminal sanctions that instil fear of punishment in those contemplating criminal acts” (Gabor 154). Classical school theorists believed the best defence was a good offence and therefore they wanted to instil so much fear into people about what would happen to them if they were to commit a crime that even those who were only thinking of committing a crime were impacted greatly. The classical school individuals operated entirely on free will and it was their ...
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Williams, F., & McShane, M. (2010). Criminological Theory, 5th Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
The Classical School of Criminology generally refers to the work of social contract and utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham during the enlightenment in the 18th century. The contributions of these philosophers regarding punishment still influence modern corrections today. The Classical School of Criminology advocated for better methods of punishment and the reform of criminal behaviour. The belief was that for a criminal justice system to be effective, punishment must be certain, swift and in proportion to the crime committed. The focus was on the crime itself and not the individual criminal (Cullen & Wilcox, 2010). This essay will look at the key principles of the Classical School of Criminology, in particular
Morgan, R., Maguire, M. And Reiner, R. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.