The brief history of criminology progressed through several perspectives on the causes of crime. The Demonic perspective during the Middle Ages viewed crime as the result of demonic possession or temptation. The Classical school that emerged in the late 1700s focused on free will and deterrence through punishment. The Positivist school in the mid-1800s took a scientific approach and viewed criminals as biologically or mentally different. Sociological criminology from the mid-1800s onward examined social factors like family, peers, and environment that influence criminal behavior.

1. Brief History of Criminology
1. Criminology
2. Brief History of Criminology
3. Quiz # 1

2. Social Science
Not too long ago, criminology separated
from its mother discipline, sociology
It has since developed habits and methods
of thinking about crime and criminal
behavior that are uniquely its own

3. Criminology is …
The scientific approach to studying
criminal behavior
Interdisciplinary discipline: political
science, psychology, economics, natural
sciences, and biology

4. Edwin Sutherland and Donald
Gressey
Scope of criminology includes:
1. Processes of making laws
2. Processes of breaking laws
3. Processes of reacting toward the breaking
the laws

5. The main question
CAUSE CRIME

6. Brief History of Criminology
Demonic Perspective (Middle Ages, 1200-1600)
Classical School (the late 1700s and the early
1800s )
Neo-classical school (emerged between 1880 and
1920 and is still with us today)
Positivism (the mid 1800s and early 1900s)
Sociological Criminology (mid 1800s till now)

7. Demonic Perspective
It is not surprising that any discussion of the
existence of evil behavior in the world
would begin with religious explanations

8. Demonic Perspective
Temptation Model
Possession Model

9. Temptation Model
Mat 26:41 (NIV) "Watch and pray so that
you will not fall into temptation. The spirit
is willing, but the body is weak."

10. Temptation Model
People are weak
…temptations to sin are impossible to avoid.
(Matt. 18:7)
No matter how tempting the devil's offers might
be, the individual always retains the ability to
refuse to sin
"good force" offers rewards and frequently
promises spiritual aid to help the beleaguered
individual resist the devil's temptations

11. Temptation Model
This model has a deterrent
component
The threat of hellfire or other eternal
punishment for those who chose to do evil

12. Temptation Model-how to treat
criminals? Other Punishment
Public humiliation and banishment were
frequently used by religious societies as ways
of controlling their deviant populations
For serious deviants,
capital punishment would
be a final solution

13. Possession Model
Once possessed by an evil spirit the person
is no longer responsible for his/her actions
The devil now has taken control of the
individual's mind and body resulting in evil
behavior

14. Possession Model-how to treat
criminals?
One way of "curing" the individual is
through exorcism-a religious ritual aimed at
jettisoning the unclean spirit from the body

15. Exorcism today
Mario Garcia ended up in jail on
charges of puncturing his mother-
in-law's esophagus with a pair of
crucifixes
Prior prior to the incident, the
mother-in-law display of erratic
behavior. The hospital had
suggested psychiatric treatment for
her

16. Exorcism today
Garcia had the woman lie down on a bed, while the woman's son, her
husband, Garcia's wife, and three young children contributed prayers
for support Garcia shoved not one but two 8-inch steel crucifixes into
his mother-in-law's mouth
The crosses went deep enough down her throat to pierce her
esophagus
Police who were called to the scene found the woman bleeding
profusely from the mouth on Garcia's front porch, with Garcia
shouting, "The devil is inside her!"
Garcia was arrested for assault with a dangerous weapon and taken
under psychiatric observation.
Police are in agreement with Garcia's family that he did not act with
intent to harm
“I've seen suspects who thought they had psychic powers, but never
one that had a family who believed it, too.”

18. Is There a Place for a Demonic Perspective in
Contemporary Criminology?
Surprisingly religious models are adhered to
by many
Criminal justice officials in the U.S. have
paid satanism little mind until the mid-
1980s
This was the case in the 1980s and 1990s as
a satanic panic swept the US

19. Satanists
At that point the country was swept by an
epidemic of allegations that murders, sexual
or ritual abuse of children, and ritual
sacrifice of animals were commonplace
activities among satanists

20. The origin of classical school
Started in Europe (the late 1700s and the early
1800s)
Criminal justice needed to be updated
Throughout Europe the use of torture to secure
confessions and force self-incriminating
testimony had been widespread
Classical school was against tortures

21. Physical Torture
Infliction of bodily pain to extort evidence or
confession
Torture employed devices such as the rack (to
stretch the victim's joints to breaking point), the
thumbscrew, the boot (which crushed the foot),
heavy weights that crushed the whole body, the iron
maiden (cage shaped like a human being with
interior spikes to spear the occupant)

22. Classical School
The Classical School was not interested in
studying criminals, but rather law-making and
legal processing
Crime, they believed, was activity engaged in out
of total free will and that individuals weighed the
consequences of their actions. Punishment is made
in order to deter people from committing crime
and it should be greater than the pleasure of
criminal gains.

23. 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
Two famous writers during this classical period
were Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) and Jeremy
Bentham (1748-1832)

24. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
People should be presumed innocent until
proven guilty (no torture)
The law should be codified (written) with
punishments prescribed in advance
Punishment should be limited (less harsher)
to only that necessary to deter people from
ever committing it again (no capital
punishment)

25. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
Punishment should be severe, certain, and
swift
Severity is the least important, certainty
the next in importance, and celerity, or
swiftness, is about as equal in importance
as certainty)
The criminal justice system should be
organized around crime prevention

26. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
Believed that individuals weigh the
probabilities of present and future pleasures
against those of present and future pain
People act as human calculators, they put all
factors into a sort of mathematical
equation to decide whether or not
to commit an illegal act

27. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
Punishment should be just a bit in excess of
the pleasures derived from an act and not
any higher than that
Since punishment creates unhappiness it
can be justified if it prevents greater
evil than it produces

28. Does punishment deter?
What do you think?

29. The Neo-classical School
A form of revisionism
Neo-classical criminologists recognized that
the free will approach had a number of
shortcomings
Leading proponents were Gabriel Tarde
(1843-1904) and his student Raymond
Saleilles (1898)

30. The Neo-classical School
Some behaviors are very irrational
Self-defense or mistake of fact
So, not all persons were completely responsible
for their own actions
Positive treatment toward "mental illness" type
explanations

31. Categorization of Motives
Understanding homicide
The accurate determination of motive in any
crime is highly subjective
Social scientists have used several
approaches to categorize motives
One strategy is to distinguish b/w
instrumental and expressive motivation

32. Instrumental Motivation
Violent acts with instrumental motivations are
directed at some valued goal beyond the act itself
(Menendez brothers may have killed their parents
for the instrumental goal of protecting themselves
or collecting the insurance payment)

33. Instrumental Motivation
Eric and Lyle Menendez were convicted of first-
degree murder for the brutal shotgun slaying of their
parents in Beverly Hills. Their defense was based on
the “abuse excuse”
The apparent motives ranged from the brothers’ fear
of their father’s abuse to their desire to collect $11
million in insurance

34. Expressive Motivation
Expressive actions are those motivated
exclusively by rage, anger, frustration, or
more generally, the heat of passion (self-
defense, accidental homicides)

35. UCR Supplementary Homicide
Reports classification of motives
Arguments (53%)
Participation in other felony crimes, especially
robbery and drug offenses (32%)
Youth gang activity (8%)
Brawls under the influence of drugs or alcohol
(4%)
Miscellaneous situations such as killings by
babysitters, gangland slaying, and sniper attacks
(1%)

36. The Victim-Offender Relationship
Three types of relationships are often identified:
A. Familial (especially spouses and siblings)(22%)
B. Acquaintances (including friends, girlfriends,
boyfriends, neighbors, and coworkers)(57%)
C. Strangers (21%)

37. Positivist School in Criminology
The demand for facts, for scientific proof
(determinism)
There are body and mind differences between people
Punishment should fit the individual criminal, not
the crime (indeterminate sentencing, disparate
sentencing, parole)
Criminals can be treated, rehabilitated, or corrected
(if not, then they are incurable and should be put to
death)

38. Fundamental assumptions
The basic determinants of human
behavior are genetically based
Observed gender and racial differences in
rates and types of criminality may be at
least partially the result of biological
differences b/w the sexes and racially
distinct groups

39. Positivist School in Criminology
Most people believe the leading figure of
positivist criminology (often called the
father of criminology) was Lombroso
(1835-1909).
On Criminal Man, was first put together in
1861, and made the following points:

40. The Underlying Logic
Atavism Inability to
Mental and Learn and Criminal
Physical Follow legal Behavior
Inferiority rules
Defective
genes

41. Sociological Theories of Crime
Search for factors outside the individual -
socialization, subcultural membership,
social class
Explains crime by reference to the
institutional structure of society