NCJ Number
195948
Journal
Revija za Kriminalistiko in Kriminologijo Volume: 53 Issue: 1 Dated: January-March 2002 Pages: 12-25
Date Published
2002
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the persistence of classical criminology.
Abstract
Classical criminology is a modern way of thinking about criminal offenses and ways of dealing with them. It is often presented as diametrically opposed to positivist criminology. These two important schools of criminology have a number of characteristics in common, including a desire to establish the most effective system of prevention of acts considered to be the most dangerous. Historical development has shown that classical and positivist criminology is not incompatible at the operative level. Modern criminal law is in fact a social institution comprising elements of both of these approaches to crime. The popularity of classical concepts of a criminal offense, criminal offender, and criminal sanctions is not hard to explain because they are deeply rooted in the ideology of the modern world, based on the principle of endless accumulation of capital. World capitalism is reaching a situation of extreme insecurity in the transition to a new world order. A classical paradigm, as well as a positivist, becomes more anachronistic. This fact has to be taken into consideration because of the renewed interest in classic ideas that has been witnessed in the last decade. 49 references