NCJ Number
66527
Date Published
1980
Length
122 pages
Annotation
THE HISTORY OF CRIMINOLOGY IS REVIEWED FROM ITS 18TH CENTURY ORIGINS THROUGH A PROGRESSION OF DOMINANT THEORIES TO THE CURRENT DICHOTOMY OF THE FIELD, DIVIDED INTO FUNCTIONALIST AND CONFLICT SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT.
Abstract
CRIMINOLOGY, A SEPARATE DISCIPLINE CONCERNED WITH CRIME, CONFLICT, AND CONTROL, EMERGED WITH THE PUBLICATION OF BECCARIA'S 'ESSAY ON CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT' IN 1764. THIS WORK FOUNDED THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY BASED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF FREE WILL. THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL VIEWS PUNISHMENT AS THE EFFECTIVE DETERRENT OF CRIME. THE POSITIVE SCHOOL AROSE IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY IN OPPOSITION TO THE HARSHNESS OF CLASSICAL THOUGHT AND TO THE DISREGARD OF CRIME CAUSES. THIS WAS AN APPROACH BASED ON SCIENTIFIC DETERMINISM AND THE STUDY OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. FATHERED BY THE WORK OF CESARE LOMBROSO, IT DELINEATED A CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINALS. THE SOCIOLOGY OF CRIMINOLOGY, A DEVELOPMENT OF THE 1950'S, ARGUES AGAINST POSITIVISTIC ASSUMPTIONS AND THE STUDY OF INDIVIDUAL OFFENDERS. IT MAINTAINS THAT THE LEGAL CRITERION IS THE ONLY STANDARD DISTINGUISHING THE CRIMINAL FROM THE NONCRIMINAL BUT DIVERGES FROM THIS TENET INTO TWO DISTINCT BRANCHES. FUNCTIONALISM, ESPOUSED BY THINKERS SUCH AS DURKHEIM, RADCLIFFEE-BROWN, AND MERTON, VIEWS CRIMINAL LAW AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR AS HAVING COMMON ROOTS IN THE CUSTOMS OF SOCIETY. IN CONTRAST, THE MOST RECENT SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY, BASED ON THE CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE OF MARXISM, SUGGESTS THAT SOCIETY IS AN ARENA IN WHICH STRUGGLES OVER SCARCE COMMODITIES TAKE PLACE. CRIMINAL LAW, A TOOL OF THE RULING CLASS, PROVIDES THE STATE WITH COERCIVE FORCE TO REPRESS THE RULED. EARLY POSITIVIST CRIMINOGENIC THEORIES WERE BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL. LATER SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES EVOLVING CONCURRENTLY CAN BE DIVIDED INTO CONTROL, CULTURAL DEVIANCE, STRAIN, AND SYMBOLIC INTERACTION THEORIES. THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION HAS PROGRESSED FROM EMPHASIS ON THE ACT TO THE ACTOR AND FINALLY TO SOCIETY ITSELF. THE RADICAL 'NEW CRIMINOLOGY' FOCUSES ON SOCIAL CONFLICT AND QUESTIONS THE POWER ROLE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS AND THE VALIDITY OF THE WRITTEN LAW. REFERENCES AND AN INDEX ARE PROVIDED. (MRK)