- Authority (government, legislatures, kings) had too much power in granting punishment when crimes were committed (Death penalty and torture were abused)
- Laws/Punishment are not a deterrent if the populace are not aware of them
- Need reforms to the criminal justice system
- Introduced Rational Choice Theory into Criminology

Cesare Beccaria Contributions to Classical Criminology

- The Hendonistic Principle that individuals think rationally by attmepting to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain whether their action is illegal or not 

Jeremy Bentham's Contribution to Classical Criminology

- People choose to rationally commit crime through their free will by measuring the pain vs pleasure created from their action
- Two main contributors: Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham

Ohio State University, Columbus

- Classical
- Positivist/Biological
- Economic
- Psychological
- Sociological

Major Criminological Schools of Thought

Schmalleger, F. (2014). Criminology (The Justice Series). Criminology (2nd ed.). Pearson. https://archive.org/details/criminology0000schm. 

Criminology (The Justice Series)

Classical Criminology

- Many different theories related to conscious and unconscious reasons and reasoning for why people commit crimes, began with Freudian Psychology

Psychological Theories


- Using the shape of the skull to determine if someone was or is a criminal and what their personality (the first one to tie the mind to the personality)

Phrenology (Precursor to Positivism)

Economic Theory

- Applying sociological theories to understanding crime

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