CJCJ's Executive Director Daniel Macallair, is a practitioner-in-residence at San Francisco State University (SFSU)'s Department of Criminal Justice Studies. These slides are from his Juvenile Justice course materials.

1. Classical Criminology
Provided first theories about crime causation
and prevention
40 Boardman Place www.cjcj.org
San Francisco, CA 94103 © Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013

2. Charles de
Secondat, baron de
Montesquieu
Published Spirit of
the Laws in 1748 in
advocated:
the rule of law and
the elimination of
arbitrary power
40 Boardman Place www.cjcj.org
San Francisco, CA 94103 © Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013

3. CESARE BECCARIA (1738-
1794)
Author of Essays on Crime and
Punishments 1764 where he argued
that:
• Criminal law should be rational
• Penalties should be preventative
not retributive
• Criminal penalties should be
equitable and proportionate
• Certainty of punishment more
important than severity
40 Boardman Place www.cjcj.org
San Francisco, CA 94103 © Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013

4. Jeremy Bentham 1748-1832
English advocate of Utilitarianism
Coined term: Hedonistic Calculus
“Nature has placed mankind under
the governance of two sovereign
masters, pain and pleasure. It is for
them alone to point out what we
ought to do, as well as to determine
what we shall do. On the one hand
the standard of right and wrong, on
the other the chain of causes and
effects, are fastened to their throne.
They govern us in all we do, in all
we say, in all we think...[16]”
40 Boardman Place www.cjcj.org
San Francisco, CA 94103 © Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013

5. Elements of Classical Criminology
• Human Beings are Rational
• Deterrence is the purpose of punishment
• Human being balance pleasure with pain
• Punishment should be proportionate to the
crime
• Sanctions should be proclaimed prior to
their use
40 Boardman Place www.cjcj.org
San Francisco, CA 94103 © Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013