CHAPTER IV

THE THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

As mentioned earlier, crimes and criminal behavior were

already recognized in many early societies. Attempts were also
made to explain crime causation. Many of these have significantly
contributed to the development of our criminal law and criminal
justice system.
This chapter will begin with an exploration of many early
theories of crime causation, which represent the historical legacy
of the discipline, and end with the modern biological,
psychological and sociological theories of crime. Though, many of
the early theories were discredited for lack of scientific
explanation, their examination is warranted not only from the
standpoint of gaining a sense of continuity of the discipline, but
also because many expressions of these theories are resurrected
in new forms of modern thinking.
Before the current theories on crime causation and the
doctrines on criminal responsibility came to fore, the study of
criminology underwent developmental stages. Although criminal
codes have existed for thousands of years and the problems
brought about by crime have long been recognized, the scientific
study of crimes and criminals is quite a recent development. For
long, the explanations on the causation of crimes were a matter
of assumption. Even until the middle-ages (1200-1600), it was
assumed that criminal behavior was a result of evil possession or
a strange natural force that control a person's behavior. The
prescribed method for dealing with the possessed was burning at
the stake, a barbaric practice that survived into the seventeenth
century.
A. Demonological Theory
Known as supernatural explanations of criminality. It
dominated thinking from early history well into the eighteenth
century. This theory was predominant at a time when
explanations of reality were done through theological approaches.
The criminal was viewed as a sinner who was possessed by
demons or damned by otherworldly forces.
In this theory, humankind was viewed as at the mercy of
supernatural. Violators' actions, accordingly, are determined by
forces beyond his control. And so, trial by ordeal was instituted in
which the accused was exposed to the dangerous tests and, if the
person survived, he or she had been protected by God and
therefore shall be declared innocent.

B. Classical Theory
Contemporarily known as Rational Choice it emphasizes
freewill and rationality on the part of criminal actor. The classical
school of criminology grew out of frustration against the barbaric
system of law and justice. Prior to the French Revolution (1787-
1799), there had been no real system of criminal justice in Europe
and the rest of the world. The administration of criminal justice
was cruel, uncertain, and unpredictable. There were crimes
against the state, crimes against the church and against the
crown. crimes were specified, some were not. Some of these
Judges had discretionary power to convict a person for an act not
even legally defined as criminal.
This school of thought is based on the assumption that
individuals choose to commit crimes after weighing the
consequences of their actions. According to classical
criminologists, individuals have free will. They can choose legal or
illegal means to get what they want fear of punishment can deter
them from committing crime and that society can control
behavior by making the pain of punishment greater than the
pleasure of the criminal gains.
Viewed individuals as acting based on freewill and as being
motivated by hedonism. The latter refers to a pleasure
principle, which consumes that refers the main purpose of life is
to maximize pleasure while minimizing pain. Individuals are
viewed as entirely rational in his decision-making process in which
they will attempt to increase pleasure, even illicit desires, until
the anticipated pain to be derived from particular activity appears
to outweigh the enjoyment to be derived.
This theory, however, does not give any distinction between
an adult and a minor or a mentally handicapped in as far as
freewill is concerned. Further it argues that the basis of criminal
Liability is human free will and the purpose of penalty is
retribution.

Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)

Cesare Beccaria is one of the founders of the Classical
School of Criminology. Born in Milan, Italy, he graduated Law from
University of Pavia. After graduation, he joined a group of
articulate and radical intellectuals called the Academy of Fists. In
July 1764, he published the book entitled "On Crimes and
Punishment," which presented a coherent and comprehensive
design for an enlightened criminal justice system that was to
serve the people rather than the monarch. Beccaria argued that
the effectiveness of criminal justice depended more on the
certainty of punishment than on its severity. His book made
reforms in penal legislation and was influential in the reforms of
penal codes in France, Russia, and it influenced the first ten
amendments to the US Constitution.
Becarria was appalled by the arbitrary nature of the
European judicial and penal systems of his time, which were
unpredictably harsh exacted confessions by means of torture, and
were completely subject to the whims of authorities. He was
interested in reforming such lamentable system of law and justice
claiming that it made little sense to punish lawbreakers with
unjust laws.
He proposed the following principles for the proper operation
of a criminal justice system:
  Laws should be used to maintain social contract.
 Only legislators should create laws.
 Judges should impose punishment only in accordance with
the law.
 Judges should not interpret laws.
 Punishment should be based on the pleasure and pain
principle.
 Punishment should be based on the act, not on the actor.
 The punishment should be determined by the crime.
 Punishment should be prompt and effective.
 All people should be treated equally.
 Capital punishment should be abolished.
 The use of torture to gain confession should be abolished.
 It is better to prevent crimes than to punish criminals.
Beccaria was responsible for the abolition of torture as a
legitimate means of exacting confessions and advocated that the
penalty should be proportionate to the crime dictated by law as
tersely summed up in his argument: "Let punishment fit the
crime."

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

In his writings, Bentham - a British scholar and reformer and
a graduate of Oxford University. He founded the hedonistic
concept of utilitarianism, which assumes that all our actions are
calculated in accordance with their likelihood of bringing pleasure
and pain. To explain this, he devised the pseudo-mathematical
formula called "felicific calculus," which views individuals as
human calculators who put all the factors into an equation before
deciding whether a particular crime is worth committing or not.
He argued that to deter individuals from committing crimes, the
punishment, or pain, must be greater than the satisfaction, or
pleasure, he would gain from committing the crime.
One of Bentham's best-known contributions to criminology
was his invention of the "Panopticon," or the "Inspection House"
which was envisioned as a circular prison with a glass roof,
featuring a central grand tower from which inspectors could
observe all cells located around the perimeter.

C. Neo-Classical Theory
This theory modified the doctrine of free will by stating that
free will of men may be affected by other factors and crimes are
committed due to some compelling reasons. These causes are
pathology, incompetence, insanity or any condition that will make
it impossible for the individual to exercise free will entirely. This
can be traced in the later writings of Cesare Lombroso (1835-
1909) and in the writings of his students, Enrico Ferri and Rafaele
Garofalo. In the late 1960s, a resurgence of neoclassical theory
were observed in the writings of economist Gary Becker (1968),
James Q. Wilson (1983) and Ernest Van den Haag (1966).
This has been adopted into the Philippine legal system either
as exempting or mitigating circumstances as can be gleaned
under Art. 12 (exempting circumstances) and Art. 13, (mitigating
circumstances) respectively, of R.A. 3815 or the Revised Penal
Code, as amended.
Minority is a factor which makes it difficult, if not impossible,
for children to exercise freewill entirely. As explained in one study,
"children have limited experiences and their capacities for
judgment are still evolving. Many might not make correct
decisions especially when circumstances correct surrounding
them fail to provide proper guidance and support. Social factors
have a strong impact on whether children decide to engage in
activities that will lead them to conflict with the law."

D. Ecological Theory
The ecological school of criminological theory is referred to
as Statistical, Geographic or Cartographic. Human ecology, which
is the focus of ecological theory, deals with the interrelationship
between human organism and their environment. This theory was
called statistical because it was the first attempt to apply official
data and statistics to the issue of explaining criminality. The labels
geographical and cartographic have been assigned due to the fact
that writers in this group tended to rely upon maps and aerial
data in their investigation.

Quetelet [Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet) (1796- 1874)

A Belgian mathematician, who, together with Frenchman
Andre-Michel Guerry, established the cartographic school of
criminology. Quetelet was the first to take advantage of criminal
al statistics in crime causation. In essence, he was the first
scientific criminologist by employing an approach to his subject
matter that was very similar to that of modern criminologists. He
was thus credited as the "father" of modern Sociological and
Psychological Statistics. Quetelet repudiated the free will doctrine
of the classicists and concluded that it is the society, not the
decisions of individual offenders, that is, responsible for criminal
behavior. He uncovered evidence that season, climate, population
composition, and poverty were related to criminality. Further, he
said that crime rates were greatest in summer, among the poor
and uneducated and that crime rates are also influenced by
drinking habits. Quetelet viewed age as the greatest predictor of
crime, with crime peaking at age 25.

Andre M. Guerry (1883)

Published what many regard as the first book in "scientific
criminology" entitled "An Essay on Moral Statistics." Guerry was
more cartographic in his approach, relying exclusively on shaded
areas of maps in order to describe or analyze variations in French
official crime statistics.

E. Economic Theory
 Human behavior is shaped by interpersonal conflict and that
those who maintain social power will use it to further their own
needs.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

An economic determinist and an inspirational figure behind
the economic theory of crime. In his Communist Manifesto, Marx
emphasized the economic basis of societal conflict, which gave
birth to the Economic School of Criminology. Further, he insisted
that the economic substructure determines the nature of all other
institutions and social relationships in society. In his view, the
emergence of capitalism produces economic inequality in which
the proletariat (workers) is exploited by the bourgeoisie
(owners or capitalist class). This exploitation creates poverty and
also is the root of other social problems.

Willem Bonger (1876-1940)

A Dutch Philosopher, who is an early Marxist criminologist.
His most noted work was Criminality and the Economic Conditions
which first appeared in 1916. He said criminal law is primarily
protecting the interests of the propertied class.

F. Positive Theory/Positivism
During the late eighteenth century, significant advances in
knowledge of both the physical and social world influenced
thinking about crime. Positivism suggests that human behavior is
a product of social, biological, psychological or economic factors.
Proponents of positivism and evolutionism moved the field of
criminology from philosophical to a scientific perspective. From
there, a more diligent search of criminal behavior began.
Positive theorists were the first to claim the importance of
looking at individual differences among criminals. 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, psychological and
environmental forces. Auguste Comte (1844-1915), a French
thinker, introduced positivism who is also credited to the term
erm sociology. having coined Comte proposed the use of empirical
and scientific investigation for the improvement of society.
There are three (3) basic premises of positivism, namely:
1. Measurement (quantification);
2. Objectivity (neutrality);
3. Causality (determinism).
Comte's approach was to focus upon the criminal actor
rather than the criminal act, a deterministic model (usually
biological and psychological) and a belief in the rehabilitation of
sick offenders rather than punishment of rational actors. Through
the systematic application of the scientific method, the positivist
seeks to uncover the basic cause of crime and, once this is
discovered, to prescribe appropriate treatment in order to cure
the individual criminal.
In the book "A System of Positive Polity," Comte proposed
the use of empirical and scientific investigation for improvement
of society.
Corollary to positivism, trait theory argues that criminality is
a product of abnormal biological and/or psychological traits.
Three (3) Elements to the Positivistic Approach:
a) Application of the scientific method;
b) The discovery and diagnosis of pathology;
c) Treatment (therapy or correction).
Positivists seek to uncover the basic cause of crime through
the application of the scientific method and then to prescribe
appropriate treatments in order to cure the individual deviant.
Precursor to Positivism
 Before the advent of positivism human traits and behavior
are predicted are using the following pseudo-sciences, such as:
1. Astrology - This is the prediction of the fate of human
behavior in terms of the alignment of stars.
2. Phrenology - This is an attempt to determine intelligence
and personality on the basis of the size and shape of the
skull and posited that certain areas of the brain correspond
to various psychological and intellectual characteristics.
Franz Gall, an Austrian Anatomist measured bumps on the
head in order to identify brain development.
3. Physiognomy - It involves the measurement of facial and
other body characteristics as indicative of human
personality.
4. Palmistry - It concerns palm reading, interpreting lines on
the palm which to predict future behavior.