APPROACHES IN THE STUDY OF CRIMINOLOGY

Subjective Approach – it deals mainly on the biological explanation of crimes,

focused on the forms of abnormalities that exist in the individual criminal before,
during and after the crime (Tradio, 1999). Included under this approach are:

a. Anthropological Approach – the study of the physical characteristics of an

individual offender with non-offenders in the attempt to discover differences
covering criminal behavior. (Hooton)
b. Medical Approach – the application of medical examinations on the
individual criminal, explain the mental and physical condition of the individual
prior and after the commission of the crime. (Positivist)
c. Biological Approach – the evaluation of the genetic influences on the
criminal behavior. It is noted that heredity is one force pushing the criminal
to the crime.
d. Physiological Approach – the study of the nature of human beings
concerning his physical needs in order to satisfy his wants. It explains that
the deprivation of the physical body on the basic needs is an important
determiner of the commission of the crime.
e. Psychological Approach – it is concerned about the deprivation of the
psychological needs of a man, which constitute that development of
deviations of normal behavior resulting to unpleasant emotions.
f. Psychiatric Approach – the explanation of crime through diagnosis of
mental diseases as a cause of the criminal behavior.
g. Psychoanalytical Approach – the explanation of crimes based on the
Freudian Theory, which traces behavior as the deviation of the repression of
the basic drives.

Objective Approach – deal with the study of groups, social processes and
institutions as influences to behavior. They are primarily derived from the social
sciences. Under these approaches are:

a. Geographic Approach – this approach considers topography, natural

resources, geographical location, and climate lead an individual to commit
crime. (Quetelet)
b. Ecological Approach – it is concerned with the biotic grouping of men
resulting migration, competition, social discrimination, division of labor and
social conflict as factors of crime. (Park)
c. Economic Approach – it deals with the explanation of crime concerning
financial security of inadequacy and other necessities to support life as
factors to criminality. (Merton)
d. Socio – Cultural Approach – those that focus on institutions, economic,
financial, education, political, and religious influences to crime. (Cohen)

Contemporary Approach – modern days put emphasis on scientific modes of

explaining crime and criminal behavior. This approach focuses on the
psychoanalytical, psychiatric, sociological explanations of crime in an integrated
theory – an explanatory perspective that merges concepts drawn from different
sources.
 CRIME CAUSATION: Its Historical Overview

Antique Philosophy (4th Century BC)

Aristotle offers a philosophical standpoint on crime causation who stated that

the crime is poverty related describing poverty as a mother of all revolutions and
crimes.

Medieval Philosophy (17th century)

According to Francis Bacon, criminality will depend on social situations. He

described his standpoint in this sentence: “Opportunity makes a thief”. Bacon
pointed out that human behavior will depend on situations.

French Renaissance Philosophy (18th century)

The famous encyclopedists Voltaire and Rousseau introduce the concept of

free will. Crime is the same as hedonistic behavior and failure the social contract
obligations.
Bringing back the thoughts during the 16th and 17th century, people are
thought of being possessed by demons or evil spirits when they commit crimes and
deviant behavior. Their belief influences the way they treat the wrong doers hence
they are into the practice of exorcism and banishment.

DEMONOLOGICAL THEORY

 Individuals were thought to be possessed by good or evil spirits, which

caused good or evil behavior.
 This theory maintains that criminal behavior was believed to be the result of
evil spirits and demons that controls his/her behavior.
 Guilt and innocence were established by a variety of procedures that
presumably called forth the supernatural alies of the accused.
 The accused were innocent if they could survive the an ordeal, or if
miraculous signs appeared.
 They were guilty if they died at stake, or if omens were associated with them.
THE PRE- TWENTIETH CENTURY (18th Century – 1738 – 1798)

 In the eighteenth century, criminological literature, whether psychological,

sociological, or psychiatric in bent, has traditionally been divided into three
broad schools of thoughts about the crime: the classical, neo- classical,
positivist schools of criminology.

THE SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL

 The Classical School of Criminology is a broad label for a group of thinkers of

crime and punishment in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
 Prominent members, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham, they both shared
the idea that criminal behavior could be understood and controlled as an
outcome of a “human nature” shared by all humans.
 Human beings were believed to be hedonistic, acting in terms of their own
self- interest, but rational, capable of considering which course of action was
really in their self- interest.

Major Principles of Classical School

 Human beings are fundamentally rational, and most human behavior is the
result of free will coupled with rational choice.
 Pain and pleasure are the two central determinants of human behavior.
 Punishment, necessary evil, is sometimes required to deter law violators and
to serve as an example to others who would also violates the law.
 The root principles of right and wrong are inherent in the nature of things,
and cannot be denied.
 Society exist to provide benefits to individuals which they would not receive
in isolation.
 When men and women band together for the protection offered by society,
they forfeit some of the benefits which may result from living in isolation.
 Certain key rights of individuals are inherent in the nature of things, and
governments which contravene those rights should be disbanded.
  Crime is a result of the quality of bond that exists between individuals and
society, and is therefore an immoral of behavior.

ADVOCATES OF CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY

1. CESARE, MARQUIS DE BECCARIA-

BONESANA
 an Italian philosopher and
economist best known for his
treatise On Crimes and
Punishments.
 He was born on March 15, 1738
in Milan Italy.
 His essay On Crimes and
Punishments had a great
success and practical impact in
many countries on the principles
of penal reforms and human
rights as it discussed issues,
government (crime and human
rights), and had a large and
lasting impact on the American
Constitution, the Bill of rights
which subsequently influenced our own criminal justice system.
 He was considered as the “FATHER of the Classical Criminal
Theory”.

The three main points in which Beccaria’s theory rests. They are:

a. Freewill – Beccaria like other classical theorist, believe that all individuals
have freewill and make choices on that freewill.
b. Rationality - which means that all individuals rationally look out for their
own personal satisfaction. This is a key to the relationship between laws and
crime. While individuals will rationally look for their best interest, and this
might entail deviant acts and the laws, which goal is to preserve the social
contract, will try to stop deviant acts.
c. Manipulability – which means that universally shared human motive of
rational self- interest makes human action predictable, generable and
controllable.

 According to Beccaria -- and most classical theorists -- free will enables

people to make choices. Beccaria believed that people have a rational
manner and apply it toward making choices that will help them achieve their
own personal gratification.
 In Beccaria’s interpretation, law exists to preserve the social contract and
benefit society as a whole. But, because people act out of self-interest and
 their interest sometimes conflicts with societal laws, they commit crimes. The
principle of manipulability refers to the predictable ways in which people act
out of rational self-interest and might therefore be dissuaded from
committing crimes if the punishment outweighs the benefits of the crime,
rendering the crime an illogical choice.
 In "On Crimes and Punishments," Beccaria identified a pressing need to
reform the criminal justice system, citing the then-present system as barbaric
and antiquated. He went on to discuss how specific laws should be
determined, who should make them, what they should be like and whom they
should benefit. He emphasized the need for adequate but just punishment,
and went so far as to explain how the system should define the appropriate
punishment for each type of crime.

2. JEREMY BENTHAM
 Was an English philosopher and
lawyer best known for the theory of
Utilitarianism.
 Considered as the “Father of
Utilitarianism”.
 One of his projects was in prison
design. He planned the panopticon
prison, a design which allows a
watchman to observe (opticon) all
(pan) inmates of an institution
without them being able to tell
whether or not they are being
watched.

Theory of utilitarianism is a philosophy which states that a moral act is

one which produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of
people.

 He is primarily known today for his moral philosophy, especially his principle
of utilitarianism, which evaluates actions based upon their consequences.
The relevant consequences, in particular, are the overall happiness created
for everyone affected by the action. Happiness, according to Bentham, is
thus a matter of experiencing pleasure and lack of pain.

THE NEO- CLASSICAL SCHOOL

Proponent: Gabriel Tarde
  The neoclassical school of thought is a continuity of the classical tradition
brought about by philosophers who thought of certain modification of the
classical thinking.
 There are situations or circumstances that made it impossible to exercise
freewill which are reasons to exempt the accused from conviction.
 A characteristic of the neoclassical system is the plea bargain, which gives
the prosecution and the defense an opportunity to make a deal in which the
accused will plead guilty in return for certain consideration such as a reduced
sentence or charge on a lesser crime.
 Children and lunatics should not be regarded as criminals and free from
punishments.

The neoclassical school maintains the following

1. People must be protected from actions that would kill them, take their liberty
and violate their privacy. They must never be arbitrarily arrested and must
always be informs of the reasons for imprisonment.
2. Innocence must be presumed until proven guilty.
3. People have a right to reasonable bail and trial by jury.
4. It accepts mitigating circumstances. It contends that people are allowed
conditional sentences and alternative forms of incapacitations.
5. It holds that people are more deterred from committing a crime he it is more
certain that they will be caught, rather than due to the severity of the
punishment.
6. It has less of a punitive tone and seeks to rehabilitate people than to punish
them.

THE POSITIVIST OR ITALIAN

SCHOOL
(1838 – 1909)

 The positivist school of thought was a social movement that existed during
the mid-1800s and early 1900s.
 The term positivism refers to a method of analysis based on the collection of
observable scientific facts.
 Sometimes it is called the Italian School of thought because of its
composition which are mostly Italians who agreed that in the study of crime
the emphasis should be on scientific treatment of the criminal, not on the
penalties to be imposed after conviction.
 Positivism is the search for other multiple factors as the causes of human
behavior.

The positivist school of thought maintains the following:

 1. That crime as any other act is a natural phenomenon and is comparable to
disasters or calamity.
2. That crime as a social and moral phenomenon which cannot be treated and
checked by the imposition of punishment but rather rehabilitation or the
enforcement of individual measures.
3. That the most serious crimes were committed by individuals who were
“primitive” or “atavistic” that is, who failed to evolve to a fully human and
civilized state.
4. That crime resulted not from what criminals have in common with others in
society, but from their distinctive physical or mental defects.

Other than the above ideas, some of the defining features of the positivist school
include:

1. The demand for facts, for scientific proof. (determinism)

2. There are body and mind differences between people (of these, the mens
rea, or reasons for committing crime are important)
3. Punishment should fit the individual criminal, not the crime (indeterminate
sentencing, desperate sentencing, parole)
4. The criminal justice system should be guided by scientific experts (rule by
scientific elite, technocracy)
5. Criminals can be treated, rehabilitated, or corrected (if not, then they are
incurable and should be put to death)

Phrenology and Physiognomy

Theories of crime before positivist theory existed

1. Phrenology (doctrine of the mental Phenomena)

Greek words: phren – mind
Logos – knowledge
Phrenology is based on the belief that human behavior originated in the
brain.
Johann Spurzheim (1776 – 1832), a German physician and student of
Gall’s actually coined the term phrenology to replace cranioscopy. He also
expanded the map of the brain organs, developed a hierarchical system of
the organs, and created a model “phrenology bust” that depicted the location
of the brain organs.

2. Physiognomy
According to Johann Lavater, a physiognomist, states that the shape of the
skull and some facial features had an impact on a human behavior and
actions.

Auguste Comte is known as the founder of sociology and positivism,

believed that both external and internal forces are important for
understanding human behavior.
 THEORY OF CRIME CAUSATION: BIOLOGICAL THEORY

Biological explanations of crime assume that some people are “Born criminals”
who are physiologically distinct from non-criminals. According to biological
positivists the basic cause of crime is biological inferiority, which is indicated by
physical or genetic characteristics that distinguish criminals from noncriminal.
Biological theorists also advocate brain surgery, chemical treatment, improved diets
and better mother and child care.
Biological theories of criminality basically purport that criminal behavior is the
result of some flaw in the biological makeup of the individual. This physical flaw
could be due to:
a. Heredity
b. Neurotransmitter dysfunction
c. Brain abnormalities that were caused by either of the above, improper
development or trauma.
Criminal Anthropology

Anthropological criminology (sometimes referred to as criminal anthropology,

literally a combination of the study of the human species and the study of criminals)
is a field of offender profiling, based on perceived links between the
nature of a crime and the personality or physical appearance of the
offender. Although similar to physiognomy and phrenology, the term "criminal
anthropology" is generally reserved for the works of the Italian school of criminology
of the late 19th century (Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri, Raffaele Garofalo and
Lorenzo Tenchini).

The theory of anthropological criminology was influenced heavily by the ideas of

Charles Darwin (1809–1882). However, the influences came mainly from philosophy
derived from Darwin's theory of evolution, specifically that some species were
morally superior to others. This idea was in fact spawned by Social Darwinism, but
nevertheless formed a critical part of anthropological criminology.

Heredity Studies
1. Chromosomes

 Human cells normally have 22 pairs of chromosomes, plus a pair of

chromosomes that determines sex, for a total of 46. Sex chromosomes
are termed X and Y. Females carry a combination of XX, and males carry
a combination of XY.
 During conception, the male’s sperm carries genetic material to the
female’s egg. If the sperm that fertilizes a female egg is carrying a Y
chromosome, the resulting embryo will develop into a male fetus (XY). If
the sperm is carrying an X chromosome, the resulting embryo will develop
into a female fetus (XX).

 During this process, however, things can develop abnormally. For

example, during the process, some men are left with an extra Y
chromosome (XYY). Erroneously termed XYY syndrome, a “supermale”
carrying this chromosomal pattern usually has a normal appearance and
will probably never know that he carries an extra Y chromosome, unless
he is genetically tested for some other reason.
 Given the Y chromosomes association with the male sex and with
increased production in testosterone, many claims have been made in the
research literature that XYY males are more aggressive and more violent.
This supposition has not been supported with scientifically valid research.

2. Twin Studies
 Distinctions between fraternal (dizygotic [DZ]) and identical (monozygotic
[MZ]) twins have contributed to the sophistication of this type of research.
  DZ twins develop from two eggs and share about half of their genetic
material, whereas MZ twins develop from a single egg and share all of their
genetic material.

Twin studies attempt to control for the impact of the social environment,
hypothesizing that these environments are similar for twins. Twins generally are
raised in the same social environment, so the impact of the social environment is
considered to be equal and consistent (and thus controlled). Therefore, any greater
similarity between identical twins than between fraternal twins would provide
evidence for a genetic link.

 One of the earlier and simpler twin studies was conducted in the 1920s by
Johannes Lange (1929). He studied 30 pairs of twins who were of the same
sex. Seventeen of these pairs were DZ twins, and 13 of these pairs were MZ
twins. At least one of each twin pair was known to have committed a crime.
However, Lange found that both twins in 10 of the 13 MZ twin pairs were
known criminals, compared with both twins in only 2 of the 17 DZ pairs.

 More sophisticated and extensive studies have followed. In 1974, Karl O.

Christiansen evaluated the criminal behavior of 3,586 twin pairs born in
Denmark between 1881 and 1910.
 He found that the chance of one twin engaging in criminal behavior when the
other twin was criminal was 50% among the MZ twin pairs but only 20%
among the DZ twin pairs. The correlation between the genetic closeness of
the biological relationship and crime was especially true for serious violent
crime and for lengthier criminal careers.

 These findings were supported by additional work on the self-reported

delinquency of twins in the 1980s and 1990s by David C. Rowe and his
colleagues. This research found that MZ twins were more likely than DZ twins
to both be involved in delinquent activity. Moreover, MZ twins reported more
delinquent peers than did DZ twins (Rowe, 1983). The work of Rowe and his
colleagues supported a genetic component to delinquency but also provided
evidence of a social component.

Although twin studies have provided some support for a genetic component to
behavior, it is difficult to separate the influence of genetics from the influence of
social factors. There also are theoretical problems with the assumption that twins
raised in the same home are subject to the same treatment and the same social
environment. Even scholars who study the link between criminal behavior and
genetics are cautious with their conclusions, arguing that these types of studies
reveal only that the similarities between twins have some impact on behavior.

3. Adoption Studies
In adoption studies, the behavior of adoptees is compared with the outcomes of
their adopted and biological parents. The aim is to separate out the impact of the
environment from the influence of heredity. This research asks whether a child will
exhibit traits of the adopted parents or of the biological parents.

 Research indicates that an adoptee with a biological parent who is criminal is

more likely to engage in property crime than other adoptees and that this
effect is stronger for boys. The findings, from a study of 14,427 Danish
children adopted between 1924 and 1947, provide evidence that there may
be a genetic factor in the predisposition to antisocial behavior (Mednick,
Gabrielli, & Hutchins, 1984). Studies in both Sweden and in the United States
confirm these conclusions.