NCJ Number
147331
Journal
Archiwum Kryminologii Volume: 18 Dated: (1992) Pages: 7-50
Date Published
1992
Length
44 pages
Annotation
The three distinctive paradigms that have emerged in theoretical criminology in opposition to the positivist criminology that emerged in the second half of the 19th Century have usually been considered mutually exclusive, competitive, and occurring as consecutive scientific revolutions; however, they are also somewhat complementary and can be interpreted in terms of the evolutionary process of cumulative knowledge about crime.
Abstract
Cesare Lombroso and Italian positivism still significantly influence contemporary criminological theory. The details of Lombroso's anthropological ideas were proven wrong long ago, but the questions and methods he presented were closely connected with and resulted from particular ideas about society. Positivist criminology's distinguishing features include its naturalism and its assumption of a consensual model of the social order. Two new criminological approaches that emerged during the last 30 years in opposition to positivism include antinaturalistic criminology and radical and critical criminology. During the 1970's, neoclassicism, another criminological current, emerged and criticized positivist criminology in quite different ways. These three approaches are all complementary to some extent. Footnotes