Classical school

1. CLASSICAL SCHOOL
OF
CRIMINOLOGY

2. INTRODUCTIO
N
•THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY MAINLY
FOCUSSES ON THE CRIME ITSELF AND NOT
NECESSARILY THE CRIMINAL.
•THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL AIMS TO PREVENT
CRIMES AND HAVE PUNISHMENTS FOR EACH
OFFENCE COMMITTED BY CRIMINALS
ESTABLISHED UN ADVANCE.

3. THE CLASSICAL
SCHOOL
DURING THE MIDDLE OF 18TH
CENTURY CESARE BECCARIA, THE PIONEER OF
MODERN CRIMINOLOGY EXPOUNDED HIS NATURALISTIC THEORY OF
CRIMINALITY BY REJECTING THE OMNIPOTENCE OF EVIL SPIRIT.
BECCARIA LAID GREATER EMPHASIS ON MENTAL PHENOMENON OF
INDIVIDUAL AND ATTRIBUTED CRIME TO ‘FREE WILL’ OF THE INDIVIDUAL.
THUS, HE WAS MUCH INFLUENCED BY THE UTILITARIAN PRINCIPLE
(PHILOSOPHY) OF HIS TIME WHICH PLACED RELIANCE ON HEDONISM,
NAMELY, THE ‘PAIN AND PLEASURE THEORY’.
DONALD TAFT, THIS IMPLIED THE NOTION OF CAUSATION IN TERMS OF FREE
CHOICE TO COMMIT CRIME, RATIONAL MAN SEEKING PLEASURE AND
AVOIDING PAIN.

4. MAIN TENETS OF CLASSICAL
SCHOOL OF
CRIMINOLOGY
iii.
i. MAN’S EMERGENCE FROM THE STATE’S RELIGIOUS FANATICISM
INVOLVED THE APPLICATION OF HIS REASON AS A RESPONSIBLE
INDIVIDUAL.
ii. IT IS THE ACT OF AN INDIVIDUAL AND NOT HIS TENET WHICH FORMS
THE BASIS
FOR DETERMINING THE CRIMINALITY WITHIN HIM.
THE RIGHT OF THE STATE TO PUNISH THE OFFENDERS IN THE
INTEREST OF PUBLIC SECURITY.
iv. PUNISHMENT AS A PRINICIPLE METHOD OF INFLICATION OF PAIN,
HUMILIATION AND DISGRACE TO CREATE ‘FEAR’ IN MAN TO CONTROL
HIS BEHAVIOUR.
v. PREVENTION OF CRIME MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PUNISHMENT FOR

5. MAN’S EMERGENCE FROM THE STATE’S RELIGIOUS
FANACTISIM INVOLVED THE APPLICATION OF HIS
REASON AS A RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUAL
• THE THEORY IS BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT AN
INDIVIDUAL CAN CONTROL HIS CONDUCT BY EXCERCISING
HIS POWER OF WILL AND MIND.
• THUS, HUMAN BEHAVIOUR INCLUDING THE BEHAVIOUR IS
‘SELF- GENERATED’ AND ‘SELF-CONTROL’.
• THE FEAR OF PUNISHMENT CAN BRING A CHANGE IN
HUMAN ‘WILL’ AND PERSUADE HIM TO DESIST FROM
COMMITTING CRIME.

6. THE RIGHT OF THE STATE TO PUNISH
THE OFFENDERS IN THE INTEREST
OF PUBLIC SECURITY.
• THE ADVOCATES OF CLASSICAL SCHOOL SUPPORTED THE RIGHT OF THE
STATE TO PUNISH THE OFFENDERS IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC
SECURITY.
• RELAYING ON THE HEDONISTICS PRINCIPLE OF PAIN AND PLEASURE, THEY
POINTED
OUT THAT INDIVIDUALIZATION WAS TO BE THE BASIS OF PUNISHMENT.
• IN OTHER WORDS, PUNISHMENT WAS TO BE AWARDED KEEPING IN VIEW
THE PLEASURE DERIVED BY THE CRIMINAL FROM THE CRIME AND THE
PAIN CAUSED TO THE VICTIM FROM IT.
• DISADVANTAGE F PUNISHMENT SHOULD EXCEED THE ADVANTAGE
ANTICIPATED FROM THE CRIME WHERE EMPHASIS SHOULD BE ON THE
CERTAINTY OF PUNISHMENT AND THE LOSS OF THE EXPECTED BENEFIT.

7. THE CLASSICAL WRITERS
ACCEPTED PUNISHMENT AS A
PRINCIPAL PUNISHMENT OF
INFLICTION OF PAIN,HUMILIATION
AND DISGRACE TO CONTROL
THEIR BEHAVIOUR USING FEAR.

8. PREVENTION OF CRIME MORE IMPORTANT THAN
THE PUNISHMENT FOR IT.
•THE PROPOUNDERS OF THIS SCHOOL,
HOWEVER CONSIDERED PREVENTION OF
CRIME MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE
PUNISHMENT FOR IT.
•HENCE THEY STRESSED ON THE NEED FOR A
CRIMINAL CODEIN COUNTRIES LIKE FRANCE, ITALY
AND GERMANY TO SYSTEMATISE PUNISHMENT
FOR FORBIDDEN ACTS.

9. CRIME AND
PUNISHMENT
BECCARIAIN HIS BOOK ‘CRIME AND
PUNISHMENT’ DENOUNCED RETRIBUTIVE BASIS OF
PUNISHMENT AND OBSERVED THAT THE
AIM OF THE PUNISHMENT SHOULD ONLY
BE TO PREVENT THE CRIMINAL FROM
COMMITTING NEW CRIMES AGAINST THE
PEOPLE,AND TO KEEP OTHERS FROM DOING
LIKEWISE

10. THE CRIMINAL LAW PRIMARILY RESTS ON
POSITIVE SANCTIONS.
•THE EXPONENTS OF CLASSICAL SCHOOL WERE
AGAINST THE USE OF ARBITRARY POWERS OF
JUDGES.
•IN THEIR OPINION, JUDGES SHOULD NOT TRY TO
INTERPRETTHE LAWS AND SHOULD LIMITTHE
VERDICTS STRICTLY WITHIN THE CONFINES
OF THE LAW.
•THEY WERE ALSO AGAINST TORTUROUS
PUNISHMENTS.

11. CONTRIBUTION OF CLASSICAL
SCHOOL
•THUS THE REAL CONTRIBUTIONOF
CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY LIES IN THE
FACT THAT IT POINTED OUT THE NEED
FOR A WELL DEFINED AND A BETTER
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
•HIS VIEWS INSPIRED OTHER CRIMINOLOGISTS TO
LAYTHE FOUNDATION FOR POSTITIVE
CRIMINOLOGY AND PENOLOGY.

12. •CLASSICAL SCHOOL PROPOUNDED BY
BECCARIA CAME TO EXISTENCE AS A
RESULT OF THE INFLUENCE OF WRITINGS OF
MONTESQUIE,HUME,BACON AND ROUSSEAU.
•HE RAISEDHIS VOICE AGAINST
SEVERE PUNISHMENT, TORTURE AND
DEATH PENALTY.
•HE SOUGHT TO HUMANISE THE CRIMINAL
LAW BY INSISTING ON NATURAL RIGHTS OF
HUMAN BEINGS.

13. SHORT COMINGS OF CLASSICAL
SCHOOL
OF
FREE
• IT PROCEEDED ON ANABSTRACT
PRESUMPTION WILL AND RELIED SOLELY ON
THEACT(THE
CRIME)WITHOUT GIVING ANY ATTENTIONTOTHE
MENTAL STATEOFTHE CRIMINAL
• IT FOCUSED ON GIVING THE EQUAL
PUNISHMENT FOR THE SAME CRIME THUS MAKING NO
DISTINCTION BETWEEN FIRST OFFENDERS AND
HABITUALCRIMINALS AND VARYINGDEGREES OFGRAVITY