Positivist School - Lecture notes 5 PDF

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Positivist School - Lecture notes 5...

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Positivist School (focuses on external factors) Positivism  Late 1800s; 1876 when school actually emerged  Lombroso, C. (1876) The Criminal Man  Positivist criminology refers to the belief that we must apply the scientific method to study of biological, psychological, and social characteristics of the criminal  a complete rejection of the classical school and that people choose to engage in crime Determinism  the belief that people’s behavior is influenced by outside forces  every event is casually determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences  Auguste Comte (1798-1857) o Father of sociology o Developed positivism to combat negative and destructive philosophy of Enlightenment  Reemergence of deterrence theory o Rehabilitation seen as ineffective

Criminal Anthropology  Influenced by Charles Darwin o Those who are genetically superior should reproduce  Represents the birth of criminology  Developed by Cesare Lombroso (father of criminology) o Can look at people and determine that that person will be a criminal based on their physical features  Attempts to determine whether criminals are physically different than noncriminals  Eugenics = killing of people who are thought to be inferior and weak Early Physical Theories of Crime  1. Physiognomy o Study of faces, skulls, and other physical features  2. Phrenology

o Study of the shape of the skull and bumps on the head Cesare Lombroso  Sometimes called the “father” of modern criminology o Emphasis on scientifically testing theories  Helped lay foundation for the “positive school” of criminology which now dominates the field  Criminals are generally inferior  Taken from Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory Lombroso’s Theory  Serious offenders inherited criminal traits o “born criminals”  Born criminals have physical features that suggest that they are biological throwbacks o Atavistic anomalies/physical stigmata (evolutionary throwbacks)  Theory was criticized o Methodologically unsound o Ignored social and economic causes of crime

Lombroso’s Criminal Types 1. Atavistic (born criminal) a. Evolutionary throwback, developmentally inferior, much more likely to commit crime if left unstrained b. Extra-large fingers, toes, large lips, etc. c. Only way to treat them is to keep them incarcerated d. Cannot be rehabilitated 2. Insane a. Idiots, imbeciles, epileptics, psychotics b. Unable to control actions; do not have stigmata’s c. Become criminal because of some alteration d. Includes alcoholics, pedophiles, etc. 3. Criminaloid (anybody) a. Motivated by passion and will commit crime under certain circumstances

b. No stigmata’s c. Did not know something was illegal when they did it Key Points of Positivism  Determinism  Scientific method  Emphasis on the actor, not the act  Individualized justice  Rehabilitation  Consensus view of crime Hereditary Theory  Crime runs in the family o A direct manifestation of hereditary (genetic) defects o Family studies, twin studies and adoption studies  Family studies o Richard dugdale – “The Jukes”  Crime was the result of “degenerate nature” o Henry Goddard – “The Kalikaks”  Feeblemindedness was inherited

Biosocial Theory  No crime gene  Criminal behavior is the result of: o Nature + Nurture  Biologically inherited factors provide a predisposition toward criminal behavior  Environmental factors provide the trigger Limitations of Biological Explanations  Lack of consistent, conclusive evidence  Genetic defects are not common in criminals  Potentially discriminatory  Does not distinguish between occasional offender and repetitive offenders Policy Implications

 Eugenics (killings)  Medical model  Manipulative environment o Currently used somewhat Soft Determinism  Probabilistic causality suggests that human behavior is neither completely determined by external forces nor free will  Behavior is best understood as soft determinism  Recognizes that various factors influence and limit actions – but recognizes that individual choices do occur and can’t always be predicted...