Classical School of Criminology: Principles of Classical Criminology

Originating in the eighteenth-century Enlightenment movement, the classical school of criminology united theorists who believed that reason was a missing but necessary piece of existing criminal justice systems. Criminologists consider Italian philosopher and criminologist Cesare Beccaria the founder of this school of thought. His musings on crimes and punishments have had an enduring impact on due process and modern legal systems.

In Beccaria’s criminology theory, humans enter a social contract with free will and act in self-interest. Humans also know that a peaceful society devoid of criminal acts is in their best interest. Beccaria’s approach to criminal law highlights that deterrents to criminal behavior in the eighteenth century were unclear and that judicial systems’ capital punishments tended to be cruel and unfair. He felt these systems’ reform could lead to greater crime prevention. In England, Beccaria’s contemporary Jeremy Bentham was another social reformer and contributor to the classical school of criminology. Bentham advocated for welfarism, separation of church and state concerning criminology, and the abolition of slavery, capital punishment, and the idea of “natural law” or the belief that jurisdiction power is “God-given.”

The positivist and classical approaches to criminal law differ in how they measure and respond to crime. Philosopher and criminologist Cesare Beccaria’s classical school of criminology dictates that human selfishness can lead to crime, and swift punishment will help deter society from continuing illegal activity. The theory also posits that fair trials are necessary to maintain a person's humanity, and penalties should fit the crime.

The positivist school of criminology takes the emphasis off the crime and puts it on the person, analyzing the reason behind the action. Positivists will study the social barriers some people face and how those constraints can increase crime. Today, criminal justice systems often blend these two methodologies, and their differences, benefits, and disadvantages are frequent points of study in social sciences.

Classical criminology principles include:

1. 1. A clear system of justice: Individual judges often impose their punishments, leading to a variable system. Having clear guidelines and a cohesive criminal justice system means people would know the exact sentence for a crime.
2. 2. Fair and equal treatment: Mild criminal activity often leads to extreme punishment, such as the death penalty. This classical school of thought accounts for human rights and advocates for sentences that match the severity of the crime.
3. 3. Swift punishment: In his study of crime, Beccaria felt that admonishing quick punishment showed definitive consequences to illegal activity, which would lower crime rates. Lengthy trials would show the gray areas of an unclear system and would show those who might commit crimes that punishment does not always directly follow a crime.

Some significant implications of this classical school of thought are that judges act uniformly and fairly, swift punishments deter wrongdoing, and people want to live in a society devoid of crime. Enlightenment criminology thinkers noticed that patterns of discipline varied wildly from court to court and that many rulings did not match the degree of the crime. These theorists imply that their mode of thinking will deter crime by having people know what punishment to expect from crimes via a unified system of rules.

These implications carry over into modern criminal justice systems and sociological theories. For example, the right to a fair trial is a hallmark of the United States Constitution’s Sixth Amendment. Nonetheless, the degree of fairness is still subjective to individual courts and laws, which can impact the pure intentions of the classicists’ thinking. A further implication is that punishment is always a response to a crime, which some contemporary criminal reform advocates question.

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