The Positivist School of Thought PDF

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The Positivist School of Thought What is it? ▫

Scientific approach to understanding the criminal (largely focused upon the individual deficits)

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Distinguishing facts from values (morals) – causes beyond rational choice

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Natural scientific approaches – favoured quantitative methods over qualitative

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Mission – reduction/elimination of crime

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Is divided into 3 subcategories: 1. Biological  Traditionally related to attributes and appearance  Relevant theorist: Cesare Lombroso, Raffaele Garofalo, Charles Goring 2. Psychological 

Seek to explain crime by focusing attention on the criminal's personality and how it was formed

 Relevant theorist: Sigmund Freud, Edwin Sutherland, John Bowlby 3. Social 

Exploration of the social, economic and political factors that contribute to crime

 Relevant theorist: Enrico Ferri, Emile Durkheim Cesare Lombroso ▫ ▫ ▫

Believed that criminals hold peculiar physical characteristics like unusually sized ears, excessively long arms, twisted nose, etc. He moved the studies of crime from the narrow perspective to a scientific study Occasional criminals divided into 3: 1. Pseudo criminals who involuntary commit crime through passion 2. Criminaloids who use opportunistic tactics more than other criminals 3. Habitual criminals who have no anomalies but fall foul of primitive activity due to poverty and/or lack of education

Raffaele Garofalo ▫

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Introduced ‘natural crime’ which was identified by: 1. Offending the moral sentiment of pity 2. Probity (respect for others’ property rights) He identified 4 classes of criminals: 1. The murderer...