Classical And Positivism Case Study

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There was an event that took place in which people were injured, and even a death occurred in Cook County Illinois. The Offender fired three shots into a group of people, only grazing her intended target, but striking and killing a different person instead. That person died from a mortal gun shot wound to the back. The whole altercation occurred because the Offender and Intended target got into an altercation over a boy on social media and later physically as well. A couple of weeks before the shooting took place, the Offender was jumped by the intended victim’s group of friends because of the boy. The day of the shooting, the Intended Target sent the Offender a message saying that she was going to die. In an attempt to retaliate against her, …show more content…

The difference between classical and positivism is that they differ in the punishment area, and how they view offenders and non-offenders. The four objectives of classical school according to Bentham are,” To prevent all offenses if possible, persuade a person who has decided to commit an offense to commit a less rather than a more serious, to dispose to do no more mischief than is necessary to his purpose and to prevent the crime at as small a cost to society as possible (51)”. Classical School maintains that everyone is the same in that we all use rational choice. In positivism, there are three different kinds of positivism that include; biological, psychological and sociological positivism, and can be used to explain the offender’s behavior. Using biological positivism, one can come to an opinion that the offender’s behavior was caused by a genetic or environmental factor. One could also say that some criminal behavior can be caused by biological factors as well as sociological factors, according to the book. Another theory is that her behavior could be caused by psychological factors that are out of her control. Since her father was killed when she was young, she never learned how to control her natural instincts, and when a challenging or threatening event occurs, she goes into a state of natural prime behavior. Since the shooting could have a caused an emotional traumatic experience, the offender’s lawyers could argue that she was traumatized by her fathers shooting in which caused psychological problems to occur in the Offender. Using Sociological positivism, one could also argue that because the Offender grew up in a disadvantaged neighborhood filled with poverty and violence, that these could be factors that helped influence the Offender to start offending at a young age. Even though she has no prior record, does not mean she never offended during her

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