Theories On Crime Causation Module Partial

PREPARED BY: VINZ REGINALD O.
PANGILINAN, R Crim, CSP, CST

EMAIL: pangilinanvinz20@gmail.com
CONTACT NO. 0926-330-8908
THEORIES ON CRIME CAUSATION
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course describes the role of theory in crime scholarship. It surveys the major
schools of thought related to crime causation (biological, psychological and sociological)
and particular theories in crime and delinquency, places these theories in its historical
context and reviews the primary assumptions of the theories and conclusions reached
from criminology research.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (LO):
Students should have acquired the

1. Identify the elements of a theory and its components to be valid and scientific.
2. Discuss the different supernatural theories of crime
3. Identify the theories of crime according to their perspective and philosophy
4. Discourse the historical context of the different theories of crime causation.
5. Articulate the applications of the theory and its role in the creation of criminal justice
and social policies.
6. Identify and discuss theories that shaped correctional practices based on the various
theories of crime causation.
7. Prepare a case analysis on given case where the theory and policy of crime causation
can be applied.
COURSE CONTENT:
Learning Outcome Topic Week
Vision, Mission and Objective of the Week 1

Institution and Criminology Program
3 hours
Understand the Concept of
Significant Facts in Development Elements of a theory; empirical basis
for criminological theories
PREPARED BY: VINZ REGINALD O. PANGILINAN, R Crim, CSP, CST
CONTACT NO. 0926-330-8908
Analyze the Characteristics of Week 2

Development in each Stage of Life Supernatural Explanations
Span
Understand fully the basic concept  Foundational Theories
and principles of human - Classical, Positivist & Neo-
behaviour Classical
 Rational Choice Perspectives
Analyze the causes of behaviour - Routine Activities, Broken
and the interaction of people Windows, Rational Choice
Theory, Situational Crime
Identify the attributes of human Prevention, CPTED,
behaviour Deterrence theory & Crime
Pattern Theory Week 3
Understand the Concept of  Biological/ Psychological

Defense Mechanism Perspectives
- Biological Determinism
Analyze the Principle of Defense Lombrosso, Somatotyping, Week 4
Mechanism Biosocial, Biochemistry,
Neurological & Evolutionary
Identify the Different types of - Psychodynamic (Freudian)
Defense Mechanism - Mental Illness and crime
Understand the psychology of  Structural Perspectives

crimes Concentric Zone Theory, Social
Structure Theory, Social
Identify the types of abnormal Disorganization Theory , Strain
behaviour and classification of Theory & Culture Deviance
personality disorder Theory Week 5
to 7
Understand and differentiate the
characteristics of personality
disorder, neuroses and psychoses
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Identify and understand the  Process Perspective Differential

different sexual deviancy and the Association, Social Learning,
ways in handling it. Neutralization Theory, Week 8-9
Differential Identification, Social
Control/ Bonding, Labeling
Theory
Identify and understand the and  Critical

concept of victimization Perspective
Conflict
Theory, Week 10
Instrumental,
Structural, Left
Realism,
Critical Theory,
Feminist
Theory, Power
Control Theory
.
Apply knowledge and skills in Developmental Week 11
dealing with offender and victims Perspective
welfare and the role of the Latent Theories &
criminal justice in their Life Course
reintegration to the community. Theories
Ensure offenders’ welfare and  Contrasting
development for their re- similar theories Week 12 to 15
integration to the community in Crime
causation
Theories that shaped
correctional policies
i.e. classical, positivist,
labeling etc.
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References:
1. Materials in Theories on Crime Causation (Eduardo D. Masirag, Ph. D Crim)
2. Reviewer in Criminal Sociology, Ethics and Human Relations (Rhem Rick N.
Corpuz, Ph. D Crim)
3. Essentials of Criminology (Miller F. Peckley, Ph. D Crim)
UNIT 1: Evolution of Theories
This module will begin with an exploration of many early theories of crime
causation, which represent the historical legacy of the discipline, and end with the
modern biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime. Though, many of
the early theories were discredited for lack of scientific explanation, their examination is
warranted not only from the standpoint of gaining a sense of continuity of the
discipline, but also because many expressions of these theories are resurrected in new
forms of modern thinking.
PRE-ASSESSMENT
Instruction: The following are preliminary concepts in Theories on Crime Causation.

You need to identify the statements which you adhere that show factual information
about the topic. You may tick the small circle before the statement/s of your choice.
o 1. Ferri is known as Lombroso’s best associate.
o 2. Theories can be used to help guide policy making, deploying law enforcement
assets, and predicting crime.
o 3. Durkheim advocated the “Anomie Theory”, the theory that focused on the
sociological point of the positivist school which explains that the absence of
norms in a society provides a setting conductive to crimes and other anti-social
acts.
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o 4. The Containment Theory assumes that for every individual there exists a
containing external structure and a protective internal structure, both of which
provide defense, protection or insulation against crime or delinquency.
o 5. Earl Richard Quinney argued that the state exist as a device for controlling the
exploited class – the class that labors for the benefit of the ruling class.
o 6. Gresham Sykes advocated the Sub-Culture Theory of Delinquency.
o 7. Ernest Hooton is the anthropologist who re-examined the work of Goring and
found out that “Tall thin men tend to commit forgery and fraud, undersized men
are thieves and burglars, short heavy person commit assault, rape and other sex
crimes; whereas mediocre (average) physique flounder around among other
crimes.”
o 8. Comparative is an estimate of relative likeness or unlikeness of two objects or
event.
EXPLAIN
This part of the module will give you now the ideas about the Evolution of Theories. Thus, it
is necessary to spend a little of your time to understand the most common terms being used in
the subject, what is globalization, the negative and positive effects of globalization in Law
enforcement and human rights and the methods of comparative research.
Theory – set of statements devised to explain behavior, events or phenomenon,

especially one that has been repeatedly tested and widely accepted.
Theories - can be used to help guide policy making, deploying law enforcement
assets, and predicting crime..
Theories can be used to help guide policy making, deploying law enforcement
assets, and predicting crime. The rational choice theory holds that crime occurs when
rewards for committing crimes outweigh the consequences. Under the social
conflict theory, social pressures drive crime.
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The goal of criminological theory is to help one gain an understating

of crime and criminal justice. Theories cover the making and the breaking of the
law, criminal and deviant behavior, as well as patterns of criminal activity.
Evolution of Theories
PRE-TWENTIETH CENTURY
(18th C – 1738 - 1798)
In the eighteenth century, criminological literature, whether psychological,
sociological, or psychiatric in bent, has traditionally been divided into three broad
schools of thought about the causes of crime: the classical, neo-classical and the
positivist schools of criminology.
Enrico Ferri (1856 – 1929) – He was the best-known Lombroso’s associate. His
greatest contribution was his attack on the classical doctrine of free will, which argued
that criminals should be held morally responsible for their crimes because they must
have made a rational decision to commit the crime.
Raffaele Garofalo ( 1852 – 1934) – Another follower of Lombroso, an Italian

nobleman, magistrate, senator, and professor of law. Like Lombroso and Ferri, he
rejected the doctrine of free will and supported the position that the only way to
understand crime was to study it by scientific methods. Influenced on Lombroso’s
theory of atavistic stigmata (man’s inferior/ animalistic behavior), he traced the roots of
criminal behavior not to physical features but to their psychological equivalents, which
he called “moral anomalies”.
The Classical and Positivist School Compared
Classical School Positivist School

*Legal definition of crime *No to legal definition
*Punishment fit the crime *Punishment fit the criminal
*Doctrine of free will *Doctrine of determinism
*Death penalty allowed *Abolition of death penalty
*No empirical research *Inductive method
*Definite sentence *Indeterminate sentence
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EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
David Emile Durkheim

(French, 1858 - 1917)
He advocated the “Anomie Theory”, the theory that focused on the sociological
point of the positivist school which explains that the absence of norms in a society
provides a setting conductive to crimes and other anti-social acts. According to him, the
explanation of human conduct lies not in the individual but in the group and the social
organization.
Sigmund Freud
(1856 - 1969)
Psychologists have considered a variety of possibilities to account for individual
differences – defective conscience, emotional immaturity, inadequate childhood
socialization, maternal deprivation, and poor moral development.
The Freudian view on criminal behavior was based on the use of Psychology in
explaining an approach in understanding criminal behavior.
Robert Ezra Park

(1864 - 1944)
Park is a strong advocate of the scientific method in explaining criminality but he
is a sociologyist. He advocated the “Human Ecology Theory”. Human Ecology is the
study of the interrelationship of people and their environment. This theory maintains
that crime is a function of social change that occurs along with environmental change. It
also maintains that the isolation, segregation, competition, conflict, social contract,
interaction and social hierarchy of people are the major influences of criminal behavior
and crimes.
MIDDLE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Ernest Kretschmer
(1888 – 1964)
The idea of somatotyping was originated from the work of a German
Psychiatrist, Ernest Kretschmer, who distinguished three principal types of physique as:
1. Asthenic – lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders

2. Athletic – medium to tall, strong, muscular, course bones
3. Pyknic – medium height, rounded figure, massive neck, broad face
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Kretschmer related these body physique to various pychotic behavioral patterns:

Pyknic to manic depression, asthenics and athletics to schizophrenia.
William H. Sheldon
(1898 – 1977)
Sheldon is an influenced of the Somatotype School of Criminology, which
related body built to behavior. He became popular of his own Somatotyping Theory.
His key ideas are concentrated on the principle of “Survival of the Fittest” as a
behavioral science. He combines the biological and psychological explanation to
understand deviant behavior.
Sheldon’s “Somatotyping Theory” maintains the belief of inheritance as the
primary determinants of behavior and the physique is a reliable indicator of
personality.
Classification of Body Physique by Sheldon
a. Endomorphy – a type with relatively predominance of soft, roundness through

out the regions of the body. They have low specific gravity. Persons with
typically relaxed and comfortable disposition.
b. Mesomorphy – athletic type, predominance of muscle, bone and connective
tissue, normally heavy, hard and firm, sting and tough. They are the people who
are routinely active and aggressive, and they are the most likely to commit
crimes.
c. Ectomorphy – thin physique, flat chest, delicacy through the body, slender,
poorly muscled. They tend to look more fatigue and withdrawn.
Edwin Sutherland
(1883 - 1950)
Sutherland has been referred to as “the most important criminologist of the

twentieth century” because his explanation about crime and criminal behavior can be
seen as a corrected extension of social perspective. For this reason, he was considered as
the “Dean of Modern Criminology.” He said that crime is learned and not inherited.
He advocated the DAT – Differential Association Theory, which maintain that
the society is composed of different group organization, the societies consist of a group
of people having criminalistic tradition and anti-criminalistic tradition. And that
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criminal behavior is learned and not inherited. It is learned through the process of
communication, and learning process includes technique of committing the crime,
motive and attitude.
Walter Reckless
(1899 - 1988)
The Containment Theory assumes that for every individual there exists a
containing external structure and a protective internal structure, both of which provide
defense, protection or insulation against crime or delinquency.
According to Reckless, the outer structure of an individual are the external
pressures such as poverty, unemployment and blocked opportunities while the inner
containment refers to the person’s self control ensured by strong ego, good self image,
well developed conscience, high frustration tolerance and high sense of responsibility.
(Adler, 1995)
Karl Marx, Frederick Engel, Willem Bonger (1818 -1940)

They are the proponents of the Social Class Conflict and Capitalism Theory.
Marx and Engel claim that the ruling class in a capitalist society is responsible
for the creation of criminal law and their ideological bases in the interpretation and
enforcement of the laws. All are reflected in the ruling class, thus crime and
delinquency are reflected on the demoralized surplus of population, which is made up
of the underprivileged usually the unemployed and underemployed.
Willem Bonger, a Marxist-Socialist, on the other hand, placed more emphasis
on working bout crimes of economic gain. He believes that profit -motive of capitalism
generates an egoistic personality. Hence, crime is an inevitable outcome.
LATE 20TH CENTURY:

THE CONTEMPORARY PIONEERS
Robert King Merton (1910)

Robert Merton is the premier sociologist of the modern days who, after
Durkheim, also related the crime problem to anomie. He advocated the Strain Theory,
which maintains that the failure of man to achieve a higher status of life caused them to
commit crimes in order for that status/goal to be attained. He argued that crime is a
means to achieve goals and the social structure is the root of the crime problem.
Merton’s explanation to criminal behavior assumes that people are law abiding but
when under great pressure will result to crime.
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Albert Cohen (1918)

He advocated the Sub-Culture Theory of Delinquency. Cohen claims that the
lower class cannot socialize effectively as the middle class in what is considered
appropriate middle class behavior. Thus, the lower class gathered together share their
common problems, forming a subculture that rejects middle class values. Cohen called
this process as reaction formation. Much of this behavior comes to be called delinquent
behavior; the subculture is called a gang and the kids are called delinquents. He put
emphasis on the explanation of prevalence, origins, process and purposes as factors to
crime.
Gresham Sykes (1922)

He advocated the Neutralization Theory. It maintains that an individual will
obey or disobey societal rules depending upon his or her ability to rationalize whether
he is protected from hurt or destruction. People become law abiding if they feel they are
benefited by it and they violate it if these laws are not favorable to them.
Lloyd Ohlin(1928)
He advocated the DOT – Differential Opportunity Theory. This theory
explained that society leads the lower class to want things and society does things to
people.
Ohlin claimed that there is differential opportunity, or access, to success goals by
both legitimate and illegitimate means depending on the specific location of the
individual with in the social structure. Thus, lower class groups are provided with
greater opportunities for the acquisition of deviant acts.
Frank Tennenbaum, Edwin Lemert, Howard Becker (1822 - 1982)

They are the advocates of the Labeling Theory – the theory that explains about
social reaction to behavior. The theory maintains that the original cause of crime cannot
be known, no behavior is intrinsically criminal, behavior becomes criminal if it is
labeled as such.
Earl Richard Quinney (1934)

Quinney is a Marxist criminologist who advocated the Instrumentalist Theory if
capitalist rule. He argued that the state exist as a device for controlling the exploited
class – the class that labors for the benefit of the ruling class. He claims that upper
classes create laws that protect their interest and at the same time the unwanted
behavior of all other members of society.
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Quinney major contribution is that he proposed the shift in focus from looking
for the causes of crime from the individual to the examination of the Criminal Justice
System for clues.
OTHER THEORISTS
Charles Darwin’s Theory (1809 - 1882)

In the theory of evolution, he claimed that humans, like other animals, are
parasite. Man is an organism having an animalistic behavior that is dependent on other
animals for survival. Thus, man kills and steal to live.
Charles Goring’s Theory (1870 - 1919)

The medical officer in prison in England who accepted the Lombroso’s challenge
that body physique is a determinant to behavior. Goring concluded that there is no such
thing a physical chemical type. He contradicted the Lombroso’s idea that criminality
can be seen through features alone.
Nevertheless, Goring accepted that criminals are physically inferior to normal
individuals in the sense that criminals tend to be shorter and have less weight than non-
criminals.
Earnest Hooton’s Theory (1887 - 1954)

An Anthropologist who re-examined the work of Goring and found out that
“Tall thin men tend to commit forgery and fraud, undersized men are thieves and
burglars, short heavy person commit assault, rape and other sex crimes; where as
mediocre (average) physique flounder around among other crimes.”
He also contended that criminals are originally inferior; and that crime is the
result of the impact of environment.
Adolphe Quetelet (1796 - 1874)

Quetelet was a Belgian Statistician who pioneered Cartography and the
Carthographical School of Criminology that placed emphasis on social statistics. He
discovered, basing on his research, that crimes against persons increased during
summer and crimes against property tends to increase during winter.
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ELABORATE
You are now about to do another activity which will strengthen your knowledge
about the lesson. This activity will just take 25 minutes of your time. If you are ready,
let’s begin.
Instruction: This activity is called Mind Mapping. Your task now is to fill up the
missing related word; you may indicate your answers by writing on the space
provided.
PROTECT LIVES AND
PROPERTY
Classification of
Body Physique by
Sheldon
The Classical and Positivist School Compared
Classical School
Positivist School
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UNIT 2: The Classical and Neo Classical Theory
Module Learning Objectives:
At the end of the module the students must be able to:
 Recognize the major principles of the Classical School of criminological thought

 Explain the philosophical bases of classical thought
 Discuss the Enlightenment, and describe its impact on criminological theorizing
 Identify modern-day practices that embody principles of the Classical School
 Discuss the policy implications of the Classical School
 Assess the shortcomings of the classical approach
PRE-ASSESSMENT
Instruction: Here are some notions or beliefs about the terminologies in Classical and
Neoclassical Theories. Decide which are correct and which are not. Put a check mark
(√) on the space provided if your answer is True or False. You have 10 minutes to finish
it.
1. Hedonism is the belief that people choose pleasure and avoid pain.
___ TRUE ___ FALSE
2. Bentham advocated the concept of freewill in relation to crime.
___ TRUE ___ FALSE
3. Prior to the formulation and acceptance of classical theory, the administration of

criminal justice in Europe was cruel, uncertain and unpredictable.
___ TRUE ___ FALSE
4. The Classical school of criminology argued that situations or circumstances that

made it impossible to exercise freewill are reasons to exempt the accused from
conviction.
___ TRUE ___ FALSE

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5. The rational choice theory has sprung from older and more experimental collections
of hypotheses surrounding what has been essential, the empirical findings from many
scientific investigations into the workings of human nature.
___ TRUE ___ FALSE
EXPLAIN
This part of the module will give you now the ideas about the Classical and Neoclassical
Theories. Thus, it is necessary to spend a little of your time to understand the most common
terms being used in the subject, what is globalization, the negative and positive effects of
globalization in Law enforcement and human rights and the methods of comparative
research
Criminological Paradigms
Classical School Theories
– Focus on individual free will and our ability to make choices as the central
explanation for committing delinquency/crime.
Theories within Classical School
Deterrence Theory
 Certainty, severity, and celerity

 General and specific
Rational Choice Theory (Millennial Version of Classical School) by Ronald Clarke
and Derek Cornish)
 In criminology, rational choice theory adopts a utilitarian belief that humans are
reasoning actors who weigh means and ends, costs and benefits, in order to
make a rational choice. This method was designed by Cornish and Clarke to
assist in thinking about situational crime prevention.
 The rational choice theory has sprung from older and more experimental
collections of hypotheses surrounding what has been essential, the empirical
findings from many scientific investigations into the workings of human nature.
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 The conceiving and semblance of these social models which are hugely
applicable to the methodology expressed through the function of
microeconomics within society are also similarly placed to demonstrate that a
sizable amount of data is collated using behavioural techniques which are
tweaked and made adjustable in order to ensure compatibility with the
spontaneous motivational drives displayed by the consumer
 Salient Features of Rational Choice Theory
a) People have preferences for outcomes (goods, services, states of being,
etc.); preferences do not typically refer to actions or behaviors.
b) People’s preferences are influenced by the expected benefits of an
outcome, relative to its costs. There are several types of potential benefits
(e.g., monetary, emotional, and social) and costs (e.g., opportunity,
external, sunk as well as monetary, emotional, and social). The
anticipated cost-benefit ratio associated with an action is an indicator of its
expected utility.
c) People can order their preferences for outcomes from most to least valued.
Preferences are relatively stable: they do not change during a decision, but
can be modified as a result of new information.
d) People’s assessments of the benefits and costs of outcomes are influenced
by the information they collect. Gathering information is however, itself a
cost.
e) Thus, although people prefer to have all available information when
making decisions, choices are made frequently with incomplete
information. People may believe they have adequate information when
they do not, they have imperfect memories, and they often miscalculate.
In other words, people have subjective expectations about the utility they
will receive from their choices.
f) Preferences are also influenced by people’s orientation to time.
Individuals with a positive time preference will need greater future
compensation in order to forgo a present benefit, whereas those willing to
forgo a current benefit for a lower level return in the future have a
negative time preference.
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g) Time preferences are not fixed across all decisions but are influenced by
several factors, including a person's current level of a valued outcome
h) Preferences are further affected by attitudes toward risk and uncertainty.
People do not have a preference for risk taking in itself (i.e., risk taking is
not an outcome); rather, people’s attitudes toward risk taking influence
the utility they associated with an outcome.
i) A risk-averse person generally refuses to accept what is calculated to be a
fair gamble; those who generally have a preference for taking fair
gambles, rather than a sure thing are risk-seekers; and between these
extremes are people who are risk-neutral: those who are generally
indifferent to accepting or refusing a fair gamble. Some rational choice
theorists assume that risk disposition if relatively fixed, whereas others
assume it will vary across types of decisions and situations.
j) Rational actions are those that are consistent with the above assumptions.
Common shorthand is to describe such actions as being consistent with
the maximization of utility.
k) Determining a behavior’s “rationality” depends on knowing, or making
assumptions about a person’s information, preference ordering, and
approach to risk-taking, and time discounting. People’s rational choices
may, therefore, result in different behaviors, even when they are faced
with the same situation.
l) The RCT does not preclude people from acting irrationally and people
may pursue a course of action inconsistent with their preferences for a
variety of reasons. Their decisions may be negatively influenced by an
intense emotion or a sudden change in context. They may have limited
cognitive skills that reduce their ability to use effectively the information
they gather or to reflect upon previous choices, or they may be unaware of
the interests that motivate them (these may be equally obscure to
observers).
m) Explanations of behavior that emphasize false consciousness, habitus,
national culture, inertia, determinism (biological, psychological, or social)
or similar forces suggest that these may also prompt people to make
choices that are inconsistent with their preferences.
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Classical Theory
Prior to the formulation and acceptance of classical theory, the

administration of criminal justice in Europe was cruel, uncertain and unpredictable.
In England alone in early nineteenth century there were over one hundred crimes
punishable by the death penalty. Penal policy was designed to control the
“dangerous classes”, the mass of property less peasants, workers and unemployed.
Emerging liberal philosophies espoused by such writers as Locke, Hobbes and
Rousseau advocated the “natural rights of man” and reason as a guide to
regulating human conduct.
This is the school of thought advocated by Cesare Beccaria whose real name is
Cesare Bonesara Marchese de Beccaria together with Jeremy Bentham (1823) who
proposed “Utilitarian Hedonism”, the theory, which explains that a person always acts
in such a way as to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
Cesare Beccaria in his “ESSAY on Crimes and Punishment” presented his key
ideas on the abolition of torture as a legitimate means of extracting confessions. The
Classical theory maintains that man is essentially a moral creature with absolute free will
to choose between good and evil therefore tress is placed upon the criminal himself;
that every man is responsible for his act.
Freewill (Beccaria) – a philosophy advocating punishment severe enough for
people to choose, to avoid criminal acts. It includes the belief that a certain criminal act
warrants a certain punishment without any punishment without any variation.
Hedonism (Bentham) – the belief that people choose pleasure and avoid pain.
Cesare Beccaria
Italian Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), actually Cesare Bonesana, the Marquis

of Beccaia, was, along with British Philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the
principal advocate of the Classical School of Criminological Theory. Beccaria’s
(1963) essay entitled On Crimes and Punishments (Dei Delitti e delle Pene), originally
published in 1764, had a profound impact upon continental European as well as on
Anglo-American jurisprudence. His essential point is expressed in the concluding
paragraph of his work:
“From what has thus far been demonstrated, one may deduce a general
theorem of considerable utility, though hardly conformable with custom,
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the usual legislator of nations; it is this; in order for punishment not to be,
in every instance, an act of violence of one or many against a private
citizen, it must be essentially public, prompt, necessary, the least possible
in the given circumstances, proportionate to the crimes dictated by laws”.
The classical theorists viewed individuals as acting based freewill and as
being motivated by hedonism. The latter refers to a pleasure principle, which
consumes that the main purpose of life is to maximize pleasure while minimizing
pain. Individuals are viewed as entirely rational in his decision-making process in
which they will attempt to increase pleasure, even illicit desires, until the anticipated
pain to be derived from particular activity appears to outweigh the enjoyment to be
derived.
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham, Beccarea’s counterpart in Britain, borrowed from
Beccarea the notion that laws should provide “the greatest happiness shared by the
greatest number.” Bentham has been called an advocate of “Utilitarian Hedonism”
or “Felicific Calculus” or “Penal Pharmacy.”
The Neo-Classical School of Criminology (Sir William Blackstone)
The neo-classical school of criminology argued that situations or circumstances
that made it impossible to exercise freewill are reasons to exempt the accused from
conviction.
This school of thought maintains that while the classical doctrine is correct in
general, it should be modified in certain details,that children and lunatics should not be
regarded as criminals and free from punishment, it must take into account certain
mitigating circumstances.
It recognizes as practical matter that not all persons are equally rational, particularly
the young, the mentally disturbed, and those confronted with other unusual
circumstances that decrease responsibility. As a result, judges were allowed some
discretion in sentencing to account for extenuating circumstances.
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ELABORATE
You are now about to do another activity which will strengthen your knowledge
about the lesson. This activity will just take 25 minutes of your time. If you are ready,
let’s begin.
Instruction: This activity is called IDENTIFICATION. Your task now is to

supply the answer to each sentences being asked; you may indicate your answers by
writing on the space provided.
__________________ 1. Assume that people will make a rational choice to commit crime.
__________________ 2. School of thoughts focused on individual free will and the

ability to make choices as the central explanation for committing delinquency/crime.
__________________ 3. A belief that people choose pleasure and avoid pain.
__________________4. Theories assume that people will make a rational choice to

commit crime.
____________________5. A philosophy advocating punishment is severe enough for
people to choose, to avoid criminal acts. It includes the belief that a certain criminal act
warrants a certain punishment without any punishment without any variation.
__________________ 6. He is the founder of Classical theory.
__________________ 7. He is the founder of Neo Classical theory.
__________________ 8. What is the real name of Cesare Becarria?
_________________ 9. It refers to pleasure principle.
_________________ 10. He has been called an advocate of “Utilitarian Hedonism” or

“Felicific Calculus” or “Penal Pharmacy.”
Unit 3: The Positivist Theory

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 Tell what a trial by ordeal might have been like.

 Discuss the modern criminal justice system’s relationship toward supernatural
explanations of crime.
 Summarize the Enlightenment’s effect on the study of crime.
 Explain the classical school of criminology.
 Outline Beccaria’s approach to crime.
 Outline Bentham’s approach to crime.
 Discuss the positivist school of criminology.
 Differentiate biological and psychological theories of criminology.
 Distinguish critical sociological theories of crime from other sociological theories.
 Analyze what makes integrated theories of crime and life-course and
developmental theories of crime different from other types of positivist theory.
PRE-ASSESSMENT
Instruction: Here are some notions or beliefs about the terminologies in Classical and
Neoclassical Theories. Decide which are correct and which are not. Put a check mark
(√) on the space provided if your answer is True or False. You have 10 minutes to finish
it.
1. The Positivist/Italian School maintained that crime as any other act is a natural
phenomenon and is comparable to disaster or calamity
___ TRUE ___ FALSE
2. Phrenology concerns palm reading, interpreting lines on the palm which to predict
future behavior.
___ TRUE ___ FALSE
3. Biological or Biosocial Positivism assumes that genetic make-up contributes

significantly to human behavior. It contends that not all human are born with equal
potential to learn and achieve
___ TRUE ___ FALSE
4. Pseudo-Criminals are those who commit crime due to insignificant reasons that
pushed them to do at a given occasion.
___ TRUE ___ FALSE

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5. Maintained that crime as any other act is a natural phenomenon and is comparable to
disaster or calamity.
___ TRUE ___ FALSE
EXPLAIN
This part of the module will give you now the ideas about Positivist Theories Thus, it is
necessary to spend a little of your time to understand the most common terms being used in the
subject, what is globalization, the negative and positive effects of globalization in Law
enforcement and human rights and the methods of comparative research.
Positive School Theories
 Embraces determinism and scientific method: Recognizes the role of forces that
individuals cannot control or may not be aware of on crime and the role of
science to discover what these factors are
 The positive school has 3 basic approaches: biological, psychological, and
sociological.
Positivist Theory
The Positivist/Italian School (1838 – 1909)

It maintained that crime as any other act is a natural phenomenon and is
comparable to disaster or calamity. That crime as a social and moral phenomenon
which cannot be treated and checked by the imposition of punishment but rather
rehabilitation or the enforcement of individual measures.
Cesare Lombroso and his two students, Enrico Ferri and Rafaele Garofalo
advocated this school.
Cesare Lombroso (1836 – 1909) – The Italian leader of the positivist school of
criminology, was criticized for his methodology and his attention to the biological
characteristics of offenders, but his emphasis on the need to study offenders
scientifically earned him the “father of modern criminology.” His major contribution is the
development of a scientific approach to the study of criminal behavior and to reform
the criminal law. He wrote the essay entitled “CRIME: Its Causes and Remedies” that
contains his key ideas and the classifications of criminals.
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Classifications of Criminals by Lombroso
1. Born Criminals – there are born criminals according to Lombroso, the belief that
being criminal behavior is inherited.
2. Criminal by Passion – are individuals who are easily influenced by great
emotions like fit of anger.
3. Insane Criminals – are those who commit crime due to abnormalities or
psychological disorders. They should be exempted from criminal liability.
4. Criminoloid – a person who commits crime due to less physical stamina/self self
control.
5. Occasional Criminal – are those who commit crime due to insignificant reasons
that pushed them to do at a given occasion.
6. Pseudo-criminals – are those who kill in self-defense.
Positivism is a philosophical approach proposed by French sociologist

Auguste Comte (1798-1857) and stated in his work, A System of Positive Polity
(1877), originally published in 1851. Comte proposed the use of empirical and
scientific investigation for the improvement of society.
There are three basic premises of positivism, namely:
1. Measurement
2. Objectivity
3. Causality
In applying Comte’s approach, criminological positivists emphasize a

consensus world view, a focus upon the criminal actor rather than the criminal
act, a deterministic model (usually biological and psychological in nature), a
strong faith in the scientific expert, and a belief in rehabilitation of sick offenders
rather than punishment of rational actors. Stressing a scientific rather than
philosophical orientation, there are Three Elements to the Positivistic
Approach:
1. Application of the scientific method
2. The discovery and diagnosis of pathology
3. Treatment
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Through the systematic application of the scientific method, the positivist

seeks to uncover the basic cause of crime and, once this is discovered, to
prescribe appropriate treatment in order to cure the individual criminal.
Precursor to Positivism
Prior to and competing with emergent positivism were various popular

pseudo sciences, some of which had existed since ancient time, such as:
1. Phrenology
This is an attempt to determine intelligence and personality on the

basis of the size and shape of the skull and posited that certain areas of
the brain correspond to various psychological and intellectual
characteristics.
Franz Gall, an Austrian Anatomist measured bumps on the head in

order to identify brain development. Since sections of the brain do not
completely govern specific personality characteristics and could hardly
be detected by measuring configurations of skulls, phrenology was
rapidly outpaced.
2. Physiognomy
It involves the measurement of facial and other body characteristics as

indicative of human personality.
3. Palmistry
It concerns palm reading, interpreting lines on the palm which to

predict future behavior.
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These theories have been discredited simply due to the fact that they
were unable to provide any proof of accuracy in their forecasts and were
rapidly overtaken by development in modern biology and social sciences.
The Birth of Positivist Theory of Crime

The works of Charles Darwin, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century,
had profound impact upon theory in the social sciences as well as on criminology.
Concepts such as evolution, natural selection, survival of the fitest, and human
genetic connections to a savage past captured the imaginations of theorists in the
young social sciences, including criminology.
Categories of Positivist Theory (Trait Theory)
1. Biological/Biosocial
Biological or Biosocial Positivism assumes that genetic make-up contributes

significantly to human behavior. It contends that not all human are born with equal
potential to learn and achieve. There are four subcategories of biological/biosocial
positivism, namely:
1.1 Evolutionary – As a human race evolved, traits and characteristics have become
ingrained. Some of these traits make people aggressive and predisposed to
commit crime.
Cesare Lambroso
Cesare Lambroso (1835-1909), who is known to be the “Father of

Criminology”, is certainly the most influential figure in biological positivism.
Although he is best known for his early work, which gives an overly simplistic
figure of later, more sophisticated writing, Lombroso’s ideas are important due
to the large number of adherents and subsequent research which he inspired.
His most important was L’oumo Deliquente (The Criminal Man), first published
in 1876. Lambroso was highly influenced by Charles Darwin’s Theory of
Evolution and this led him to the development of his theory of “ATAVISM” –
the criminals were throw backs to an earlier and more primitive evolutionary
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period. Such born criminals could be identified by certain physical stigmata,

outward appearances particularly facial, which tended to distinguish them from
non-criminals. He claimed to have made his discovery almost by serendipity
during the autopsy of criminal, which he was performing in his duties as a
prison physician, to wit:
“This was not merely an idea, but a revelation. At the sight of the skull, I
seemed to see all of a sudden, lighted up as a vast plain under a flaming
sky, the problem of the nature of criminal-and atavistic being who
reproduces in his person the ferocious instincts of primitive humanity
and the inferior animals. Thus were explained anatomically the
enormous jaws, high cheek-bones, prominent superciliary arches, solitary
lines in the palms, extreme size of the orbits, handle shaped of sessile ears
found in criminals, savages, and apes, insensibility to pain, extremely
acute sight, tattooing, excessive idleness, love of orgies, and the
irresistible craving for evil for its own sake, the desire not only to
extinguish life in the victim, but to mutilate the corpse, tear its flesh, and
drink its blood.”
While Lombroso’s early work was well received at the time, it is not
seriously regarded today. What remains, however, was his emphasis upon
observation, data collection, and the need to obtain positive facts to support the
theory. When his theories of atavism come under attack from mounting
evidence to the contrary, Lambroso modified his theories, although still
indicating that atavism existed in about a third of all criminals. His other
categories were the insane criminal, the epileptic criminal, and the occasional
criminal.
Lombroso’s notion of biological determinism of criminality were very

compatible with the ideological climate of the late nineteenth century in which
the philosophy of social Darwinism provided intellectual backing to the harsh
realities of emergent industrial capitalism. Social Darwinism claimed that there
is a survival of the fittest in society among men and social institutions. The
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success or failure of the individuals in competing in society was not being

interfered with, since they were all part of a natural system of societal evolution.
The Lombrosian model, minimizing the importance of social conditions

such as inequality, and ignoring the extensive literature of the ecological school,
pointed the blame of criminality at the individual rather than the society. This
triumph of Lombrosian theory represented a seizure of power of the medical
profession who viewed criminology as a branch of medicine. Criminal behavior
was viewed as a matter of defective individuals who were unable to adjust to an
otherwise healthy society, the unfit in the struggle for survival.
The other two important figures in the Italian or Continental Posistivists

School of Criminology were Lambroso’s students, Enrico Ferri (1856-1929) and
Raffaele Garofalo (1852-1934) Ferri’s Criminal Sociology (1917) was first
published in 1878, and Garofalo’s Criminology (1914) was originally published
in 1884. Lambroso, Ferri, and Garofalo have been called “The Holy Three of
Criminology” by Stephen Schafer.
Enrico Ferri proposed four types of criminals, namely: insane, born,

occasional, and those who were criminal by passion. He proposed a Multiple –
Factor approach to crime causation, admitting both individual and
environmental factors. Often ignored in considering the diversity of Ferri’s view
was the fact that long before twentieth century criminologists began to consider
the shortcomings of official statistics.
Earnest Hooton
Earnest Hooton (1887 – 1954), a Harvard Antropologist who in “Crime
and Man” (1939) claimed that, on the basis of a very detailed and extensive
study of physical differences between criminals and non-criminals, he had
discovered the causes of criminality-physical inferiority. His twelve – year
study of 14,000 prisoners and 3,200 college students, firemen and other led him
to this conclusion.
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Some physically distinguishing characteristics of Hooton’s damned

included: tattooing; thin beard and body hair, but thick head hair; red-brown
hair; blue-gray and mixed eye color; thin eyebrows; low and sloping
foreheads; thin lips; pointed and small ears; and long, thin necks with sloping
shoulders. These findings and their interpretations could be regarded with a
tolerant, mild curiosity if they had appeared in Lombroso’s 1876 work, but these
were released in 1939 by a professor from one of America’s finest universities.
The totalitarian compatibility of positivism was again illustrated.
Ernst Kretschmer and Wiliam Sheldon
Advocates of attempts to discover distinctive Body Types and relate them

to crime include Ernst Kretschmer (1926), William Sheldon (1940) and Sheldon
and Eleanor (1950). The best known of these efforts was Sheldon’s (1940), in
which he proposed three “somatotypes” – body builds which had relationships
to personality characteristics (temperaments). Endomorphs have soft, round, and
plump physiques and tend to be relaxed, easygoing, and extroverted;
Mesomorphs are hard and muscularly built, assertive, extroverted and action
seekers; and ectomorphs are thin and fragile of form as well as introverted,
sensitive, and subject to worrying. Comparing judgmental samples of “problem”
youths with college males. Sheldon claimed that the problem youths tended to be
mesomorphic.
1.2 Neurological – Criminals and delinquents often suffer brain impairment.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity and minimal brain dysfunction are related to
antisocial behavior.
Charles Goring
Charles Goring (1870 – 1919) in 1913 published The English Convict,

the results of a study begun in 1902 of 3,000 English Convicts and comparison
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groups of college students, hospital patients, and soldier. He compared these

“criminals” with “non criminals” with respect to physical characteristics,
personal histories and mental qualities. The only differences he was able to
discover were that criminals were shorter and weighted less and most
importantly, was “mentally defective.” While refuting Lombroso’s Physical
stigmata. A distinctive physical criminal type, as a characteristic, he launched
yet another search for hereditary mental deficiency as the cause of crime.
Antonio Moniz
While the early phrenologists were convinced of their ability to map

areas of the brain, which controlled aspects of personality, modern attempts to
prove the brain were begun by the Portuguese physician Antonio Moniz, who,
beginning in 1935, performed prefrontal lobotomies as a last resort for non-
responsive mental patients.
Psychosurgery, surgical alterations of brain tissue in order to alter

personality or behavior, became quite popular. Roughly 50,000 such operations
were performed in the U.S alone from the mid-thirties to mid-fifties.
Lobotomized patients were indeed more controllable with respect to behavior,
but were often described as resembling hollow shells of human beings, zombies,
or human vegetables, devoid of a full range of human emotions. As an
illustrative case of the misapplication of such a drastic procedure, in the forties,
actress Frances Farmer was forced into psychiatric treatment allegedly for
alcoholism and other related problems. Her real problem was radicalism, which
was treated with psychosurgery.
1.3 Genetic – Criminal traits and predispositions are inherited. The criminality of
parents can predict the delinquency of children.
Richard Dugdale and Henry Goddard

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Attempts to stress hereditary as a source of criminality appeared in two

case studies of generations of criminals who were claimed to be examples of
degeneracy and depravity. Published only a year after Lombroso’s Criminal
Man, Robert Dugdale’s (1841 – 1883). The Jukes (1870) was a case study of
generations of an American Family. Tracing over 1, 000 descendants of Ada
Jukes (a pseudonym), he found 280 paupers, 60 thieves, 7 murderers, 140
criminals, 40 venereal disease victims, 50 prostitutes, as well as other various
deviants proof positive, he claimed of inherited criminality.
A similar case study was conducted by Henry Goddard in his The

Kallikak Family (1912), which dealt with the offspring of one Martin Kallikak,
a militiaman during the American Revolutionary War, Kallikak fathered a child
out of wedlock to a “feebleminded, or deviant. The offspring of his marriage to
a “respectable” woman were, on the other hand, all of the highest moral
standards. Goddard took these findings as proof positive of the real cause of
crime – feeblemindedness or low mentality. He also was the first to use the term
“moron”
Twin Studies
Studies of twins and adoptees are ingenious ways of attempting to

address the “nature vs. nurture debate,” that is, whether criminality is
inherited or learned. Such studies are ex post facto in nature and begin with
criminals who have a twin and then attempts to find the other twin in order
to discover whether he or she is also a criminal. Such studies often also
compared monozygotic (MZ) with dizygotic (DZ) twins. Monozygoric
(identical) twins are produced by a single egg and therefore exhibit the same
hereditary environment while therefore dizygotic (fraternal) twins are
produced by separate eggs and portray less biological similarity.
In the study conducted by Dalgard and Kringlen of all twins in

Norway between 1900 and 1935 they concluded that the significance of
hereditary factors in registered crime is non-existent. However, their study, as
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well as of those others, found greater concordance among monozygotic than

dizygotic pairs. A review of studies conducted from 1929 to 1961 by Mednick
and Volavka found roughly 60 percent concordance among monozygotic
twins and about 30 percent among dizygotic fairs.
Adoption Studies
Related in design and execution to twin studies have been done in

adoption studies. The assumption underlying such studies is that, if behavior
of children more closely matches that of their biological parents than that
their adoptive parents, this would lend greater support to the argument of a
biological base of human behavior. Schulsinger (1972) for instance, found
criminality in adoptive boys to be higher when biological fathers had criminal
records. Hutchings and Mednick (1977) studied 1, 145 male adoptees with
criminal records and found the criminality of the biological father was a
major predictor of the child’s behavior.
XYY Syndrome
In the late fifties in England, speculation began regarding males who

possessed an XYY chromosome pattern- an extra male chromosome. Of the 46
chromosomes most humans posses, males receive an X chromosome from
their mothers and a Y chromosome from their fathers, while female receive
two X chromosomes, one from each parent. Beginning with papers by Patricia
Jacobs et al. (1965), in which a large number of the 197 Scottish inmates they
studied were found to be double Y’s, the hypothesis had been proposed of a
double male or super male syndrome. This theory held that the possession of
an extra Y chromosome caused males to be violent behavior. During the late
sixties, defense attorneys for brutal murderers in France and Australia and for
Richard Speck, the murderer of eight Chicago nurses, employed as part of
their claim that their client was XYY’s. Only in the Australian case was the
accused acquitted.
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Biochemical
Crime, especially violent, is a function of diet, vitamin intake,

hormonal imbalance, or food allergies.
Edward Wilson
In the 1970’s ideas proposed by Edward Wilson (1975) in his book

“Sociobiology” attracted adherents. Basically, the sociobiological perspective
insists upon the genetic base of human behavioral differences. Individuals are
born with different potentialities; their reactions to their social environment
are modified by biochemistry and the cellular reactions of the brain. Each
individual’s unique genetic code and nervous system react differently to the
same environmental stimuli.
Variables such as diet, environmental pollution, endocrine imbalance

and allergies have been claimed to have criminogenic influence. A further
claim was made that sugar consumption (too little or too much) is a causal
agent in crime. Low blood sugar (Hypoglycemia) also has been claimed to be
linked to impaired brain function and violent crime.
Explorations of endocrine imbalance have found an obvious

connection with sexual functioning, but no clear relationship with crime.
Injection of the female hormone (estrogen) has been found to decrease male
potency. Dalton’s study of “Menstruation and Crime” found that nearly half
of the crimes of her sample of female inmates had occurred during
menstruation or pre-menstruation.
Cerebral and neuroallergies to food substances have also been

suggested as a potentially criminogenic factor. In Schauss’s study comparing
nutritional differences of delinquents and nondelinquents, the surprising
major difference found was that delinquents drank more milk. Similar
investigations of environmental pollution upon aberrant behavior indicate
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that deadly substance such as lead, mercury, and other poisonous substances
can adversely affect human behavior and life itself.
I. Demonological Theory
Before the development of more scientific theories of criminal behavior, one of the most
popular explanations was Demonology (Hagan, 1990). According to this explanation
individuals were thought to be possessed by good or evil spirits, which caused good or
evil behavior. The theory maintains that criminal behavior was believed to be the result
of evil spirits and demons something of natural force that controls his/her behavior.
Centuries ago, Guilt and innocence were established by a variety of procedures that
presumably called forth the supernatural allies of the accused. The accused were
innocent if they could survive an ordeal, or if miraculous signs appeared. They were
guilty if they died at stake, or if omens were associated with them (Bartol, 1995). Harsh
punishments were also given.
Demonological or supernatural explanations of criminality dominated

thinking from early history to the eighteenth century and still have modern
remnants. In a system of knowledge in which theological explanations of reality
were predominant, the criminal was viewed as a sinner who was possessed by
demons is damned by otherworldly forces. Mankind was viewed as at the mercy of
the supernatural: Fates, ghosts, furies, and/or spirits. Mankind was viewed as
manifestations of basically evil human nature reflecting either with the prince of
darkness or an expression of divine wrath. The Salem Witch Trials in Puritan
England and the Spanish Inquisition serve as an example of the torture, burning at
the stake, and other grim executions awaiting heretics, witches and criminals. Such a
worldview perceived the violator’s actions as deterministically controlled by forces
beyond individual’s mastery.
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ELABORATE
You are now about to do another activity which will strengthen your knowledge about
related concepts in Positivist Theory. This activity will just take 25 minutes of your time.
If you are ready, let’s begin.
Instruction: This activity is called Identification. Your task now is to fill up the missing
related word; you may indicate your answers by writing on the space provided.
Identification: identify the following and write your answer on the space provided
before each number.
_______________ 1. The theory maintains that criminal behavior was believed to be the
result of evil spirits and demons something of natural force that controls his/her
behavior.
________________ 2. He is known to be the “Father of Criminology”, is certainly the
most influential figure in biological positivism.
________________3. Are those who commit crime due to abnormalities or psychological
disorders they should be exempted from criminal liability.
________________4. This is the prediction of the fate of human behavior in terms of the
alignment of stars.
_______________ 5. He also was the first to use the term “moron”.
_______________ 6. He compared these “criminals” with “non-criminals” with respect
to physical characteristics, personal histories and mental qualities.
_______________7. What best known efforts of William Sheldon in the field of
criminology?
_______________8. , He was the one who performed prefrontal lobotomies as a last
resort for non-responsive mental patients.
_______________9. Criminal traits and predispositions are inherited.
_______________10. A body build that is hard and muscularly built, assertive,
extroverted and action seekers;
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Unit 4: Ecological, Geographical and Conflict Theory
 Identify the crime committed on a particular month based from the Thermic Law
of crime
 Determine the cause of crime based from Conflict theory of crime
PRE-ASSESSMENT
Instruction: The following are definitions in Ecological, Geographical and

Conflict Theory. You need to identify the statements which you adhere that
show factual information about the topic. You may tick the small circle before the
statement/s of your choice.
o 1. In Marxist theory, the cause of crime is capitalism

o 2. Guerry is known as the Father of Criminological Statistics
o 3. Geography is the branch of biology that deals with the interrelationship
between human organisms and the physical environment.
o 4. The ancient origin of human interest in astrology and the assumed roler of
astrological bodies upon human behavior represent just one of many attempts to
predict human emotion and activity on the basis of outside physical forces, the
moon, the weather, climate and the like
o 5. According to Wilhelm Bonger, capitalism was viewed as precipitating crime
commission by competition as a sign of status.
EXPLAIN
This part of the module will give you now the ideas about Ecological, Geographical and
Conflict Theories. Thus, it is necessary to spend a little of your time to understand the most
common terms being used in the subject, what is globalization, the negative and positive
effects of globalization in Law enforcement and human rights and the methods of
comparative research.
The Ecological School of Criminological Theory is also referred to as the

Statistical Geographic, or Cartographic. ECOLOGY is the branch of biology that
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deals with the interrelationship between human organisms and the physical
environment. This school was called Statistical because it was the first to attempt to
apply official data and statistic to the issue of explaining criminality. The labels
geographical and cartographic have been assigned due to the fact that writers in this
group tended to rely upon maps and aerial data in their investigations.
Andre Michael Guerry and Adolphe Quetelet
Sometimes after 1825, A.M. Guerry published what may regard as the first
book in “Scientific Criminology”. Guerry was more cartographic in his approach,
relying exclusively upon shaded areas of maps in order to describe and analyze
variations in French official crime statistic. Since he employed these sections of maps
and used these as his principal unit of analysis, he is often viewed as the “Founder
of the Ecological or Cartographic School of Criminology”. Another adherent of this
school was Henry Mathew (1862), who in his London Labour and the London Poor
made extensive use of official and aerial maps.
Quetelet (Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet) was the first to take

advantage of the criminal statistic that was beginning to become available in the
1820’s. He was the “First Scientific Criminologist”, employing an approach to his
subject matter, which was very similar to that of modern criminologists, and is the
“Father of Criminological Statistics”. Challenging the classical school’s view that
the individuals exercise free will in deciding upon their actions, Quetelet insisted
upon the impact of group factors and characteristics. In his “Treatise on Man and
the Development of his Faculties” (1835-1869 which was a “remarkable
consistency” with which crimes appeared annually and varied with respect to age,
sex, economic conditions, and other sociological variables. This consistency in-group
behavior, in crime rates and the like, speaks against crime being solely a matter of
individual choice. He argued that:
“We can count in advance how many individuals will soil their hands
with the blood of their fellows, how many will be swindlers, how many
prisoners, almost as we can number in advance the births and deaths that
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will take place< society carries within itself, in some sense the seeds of all
crimes, which are going to be committed, together with the facilities
necessary for their development.”
In the sense, the stage and script are provided by society and only the faces
playing the individual character change.
Some Quetelet’s findings included the propensity for crime among

younger adults and males, and the tendency of crimes against persons to increase in
summer and property crimes to predomination winter, in what is called his famous
“Thermic Law” of crime, he claimed that crimes against persons increase in
equatorial climates while property crimes are most prevalent in colder climates.
Social conditions such as heterogeneity of population tended to be associated with
increased crime, as did poverty, although the latter not in the manner usually
supposed. Noting that some of the poorest provinces of France also had very low
crime rates, Quetelet anticipated the concept of “relative deprivation” by suggesting
not absolute poverty but a gap between status and expectation as a variable in crime
causation.
Other Geographical Theories
The ancient origin of human interest in astrology and the assumed roler of
astrologiacal bodies upon human behavior represent just one of many attempts to
predict human emotion and activity on the basis of outside physical forces, the moon,
the weather, climate and the like. The word lunatic came from the word Luna, or moon,
indicates the belief that human mind can be affected by phrase of the moon.
II. Economic/Marxist (Conflict Theory)

Karl Marx
In Marxist theory, the cause of crime is capitalism. The law and the
criminal justice system are used to protect the interests of the capitalist elite. In a
capitalist system, the means of production are owned by a small elite (bourgeoisie)
and are used to control the working-class laborers (proletariat). Instrumental
Marxists view the entire political state, to include the law and the criminal justice
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system as tools of the ruling class. Structural Marxists believe that in the short run,
the political state is relatively independent and may reflect the interests of the
working class. Crimes committed by the bourgeoisie are crimes of domination and
repression, and are designed to keep the proletariat in place. Crimes committed by
the proletariat are crimes of accommodation or resistance to the bourgeoisie.
The inspirational figure behind most economic criminological theories
was an economic determinist. He insisted that the economic substructure determines
the nature of all Karl Marx other institutions and social relationships in society. In
his view, the emergence of capitalism produces economic inequality in which the
proletariats (workers) are exploited by the bourgeoisie (owners or capitalist class).
This exploitation creates poverty and also is at the root of the existence of other
social problems. Since Marx did not specifically address the issue of crime. Marxist
criminologists draw upon his economic and philosophic writings and apply them to
the crime issue.
Marx viewed the history of all existing societies as one class struggle.
Influence by writings of German Philosopher Hegel. Marx described this conflict as
a dialectical process in which thesis (existing ideas or institutions) spawn their
opposites or antithesis until a final synthesis (new idea or social order) emerges.
Thus for Marx, capitalism (thesis) breeds its own destruction by giving birth to a
proletariat revolution (antithesis) and finally a new world order of socialism
(synthesis). Since Marx applied Hegel’s theory to the material world, this is often
described as Marx’s Theory of Dialectical Materialism. For Marx the resolution of
social problems such as crime would be achieved by the creation of a socialist
society characterized by communal ownership of the means of production and an
equal distribution of the fruits of these labors.
Willem Bonger
The foremost early Marxist criminologist was the Dutch Philosopher

Willem Bonger (1876-1940), whose most noted work was CRIMINALITY AND
ECONOMIC CONDITION (1969), which first appeared in 1910. Bonger viewed the
criminal law as primarily protecting the interest of the propertied class. In contrast
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to precapitalistic societies emphasized egoism (selfishness). Capitalism was viewed

as precipitating crime commission by competition as a sign of status. Bonger’s work
provides a very detailed literature review of a large of works of the time, which
examined the impact of economic conditions upon crime, a persistent theme since
early times.
Some Basic Claims Made by Bonger Regarding Criminality
1. Notions of what constitutes crimes varies among societies and reflects

existing notions of morality;
2. Criminal law serves the interest of the ruling class in capitalist systems and
is enforced by force rather than by consensus;
3. Hedonism is natural among people, but capitalism encourages egoism to an
extreme and to the disadvantage of the society and the poor;
4. All groups are prone to crime in a capitalist society, but seldom are the
crimes of the wealthy punished;
5. Poverty resulting from capitalism encourages crime. The unequal

distribution of rewards and encouragement of egoistic material
accumulation encourages crime;
6. Most crimes, other than those due to mental problems would be eliminated
in a socialist system in which the goods and wealth of a society would be
equally distributed.
CONTACT NO. 0926-330-8908
ELABORATE
You are now about to do another activity which will strengthen your knowledge about
related concepts in this lesson. This activity will just take 25 minutes of your time. If you
are ready, let’s begin.
I. Identification: Identify the following and write your answer on the space provided
before each number.
___________.1. A branch of biology that deals with the interrelationship between
human organisms and the physical environment.
___________ 2. He viewed the criminal law as primarily protecting the interest of the
properties
___________ 3. Criminality and economic condition was first appeared in what year?
___________ 4. This was viewed as precipitating crime commission by competition as a
sign of status.
____________ 5. He was the one who viewed the criminal law as primarily protecting
the interest of the propertied class.
____________ 6.This indicates the belief that human mind can be affected by phrase of
the moon.
___________ 7. Proletariats is known as<
____________ 8. Bourgeoisie is known as
___________ 9. The “Father of Modern Sociological and Psychological Statistic”.
___________ 10. A law claimed that crimes against persons increase in equatorial
climates while property crimes are most prevalent in colder climates.

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Theories On Crime Causation Module Partial

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PREPARED BY: VINZ REGINALD O.

PANGILINAN, R Crim, CSP, CST

THEORIES ON CRIME CAUSATION

LEARNING OUTCOMES (LO):

Students should have acquired the

Learning Outcome Topic Week

Vision, Mission and Objective of the Week 1

Analyze the Characteristics of Week 2

Understand the Concept of  Biological/ Psychological

Understand the psychology of  Structural Perspectives

Identify and understand the  Process Perspective Differential

Identify and understand the and  Critical

UNIT 1: Evolution of Theories

Instruction: The following are preliminary concepts in Theories on Crime Causation.

o 1. Ferri is known as Lombroso’s best associate.

assets, and predicting crime.

norms in a society provides a setting conductive to crimes and other anti-social

containing external structure and a protective internal structure, both of which

provide defense, protection or insulation against crime or delinquency.

o 6. Gresham Sykes advocated the Sub-Culture Theory of Delinquency.

crimes; whereas mediocre (average) physique flounder around among other

o 8. Comparative is an estimate of relative likeness or unlikeness of two objects or

Theory – set of statements devised to explain behavior, events or phenomenon,

The goal of criminological theory is to help one gain an understating

Raffaele Garofalo ( 1852 – 1934) – Another follower of Lombroso, an Italian

The Classical and Positivist School Compared

Classical School Positivist School

EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

David Emile Durkheim

Robert Ezra Park

MIDDLE TWENTIETH CENTURY

1. Asthenic – lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders

Kretschmer related these body physique to various pychotic behavioral patterns:

Classification of Body Physique by Sheldon

a. Endomorphy – a type with relatively predominance of soft, roundness through

Sutherland has been referred to as “the most important criminologist of the

Karl Marx, Frederick Engel, Willem Bonger (1818 -1940)

LATE 20TH CENTURY:

Robert King Merton (1910)

Albert Cohen (1918)

Gresham Sykes (1922)

Frank Tennenbaum, Edwin Lemert, Howard Becker (1822 - 1982)

Earl Richard Quinney (1934)

Charles Darwin’s Theory (1809 - 1882)

Charles Goring’s Theory (1870 - 1919)

Earnest Hooton’s Theory (1887 - 1954)

Adolphe Quetelet (1796 - 1874)

The Classical and Positivist School Compared

UNIT 2: The Classical and Neo Classical Theory

Module Learning Objectives:

At the end of the module the students must be able to:

 Recognize the major principles of the Classical School of criminological thought

___ TRUE ___ FALSE

2. Bentham advocated the concept of freewill in relation to crime.

___ TRUE ___ FALSE

3. Prior to the formulation and acceptance of classical theory, the administration of

___ TRUE ___ FALSE

4. The Classical school of criminology argued that situations or circumstances that

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE

_ TRUE _ FALSE