Classical School of Thought Originated by Cesare Beccaria Similar to the choice theory this theory ascertains that people think before they proceed with criminal actions that when one commits a crime it is because the individual decided that it was advantageous to commit the crime 1 Rational Choice Theory Cesare Beccaria 2 Deterrence Theory Perceptual Deterrence Theory 3 Routine Activities Theory Felson and Cohen Rational Choice Theory Reasons that an individual thinks through each action deciding on whether it would be worth the risk of committing a crime to reap the benefits of that crime whether the goal be financial pleasure or some other beneficial result Rational choice theorists believe that factors such as poverty IQ impulsiveness or broken homes are not required to explain crime The choice is made in context of personal and situational constraints and the availability of opportunities Criminal acts are specific examples of the general principle that all human behavior reflects the rational pursuit of maximizing utility which is the modern economists version of Bentham s principle of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain Routine Activity Theory Followers of the routine activity theory believe that crime is inevitable and that if the target is attractive enough crime will happen effective measures must be in place to deter crime from happening A likely offender A suitable target The absence of a capable guardian Deterrence Theory Proponents of deterrence believe that people choose to obey or violate the law after calculating the gains and consequences of their actions Overall however it is difficult to prove the effectiveness of deterrence since only those offenders not deterred come to the notice of law enforcement Thus we may never know why others do not offend General Deterrence General deterrence is the concept that the choice to commit delinquent acts can be controlled by the threat of punishment That statement means that if a juvenile knows that there will be consequences for their actions and those actions if against the law will be punished General deterrence will be greater if the crimes that are committed receive the strictest punishment It would also help if the guidelines were stuck to The punishment may not be very effective in some instances There are instances where even though the punishment is severe it may not matter Peer pressure is one of those instances If a juvenile is with a group of his or her friends and the others want to try to steal something at the mall it is very possible that the juvenile will commit the crime also There could also be instances where the juvenile is under the influence of some type of alcohol or drugs This behavior can make rational thinking disappear Specific Deterrence Specific deterrence is the concept that if young offenders are punished severely the experience will convince them not to repeat their illegal acts Being convicted of a crime and having to spend time in jail may be a very good deterrent to some juveniles There are some instances though where even severe deterrence will not pose any effect on irrational juveniles There have been some research done on why juveniles may commit a crime and some of the research states that the likelihood of jail may not deter some and actually may not have an effect at all on those who have been in jail and are thinking about reoffending Moreover their punishment must be swift in order to deter crime In short deterrence theorists believe that if punishment is severe certain and swift a rational person will measure the gains and losses before engaging in crime and will be deterred from violating the law if the loss is greater than the gain Classical philosophers thought that certainty is more effective in preventing crimes than the severity of punishment Philosopher Cesare Beccaria defends his view about the swiftness of punishment by appealing to the theory of the association of ideas According to associationists if we know the rules by which the mind connects together two different ideas such as the ideas of crime and punishment then we can strengthen their association For Beccaria when a punishment quickly follows a crime then the two ideas of crime and punishment will be more quickly associated in a person s mind Also the link between a crime and a punishment is stronger if the punishment is somehow related to the crime Beccaria presents one of the first sustained critiques of the use of capital punishment Briefly his position is that capital punishment is not necessary to deter and long term imprisonment is a more powerful deterrent since execution is transient He starts by describing the connection between the social contract and our right to life The brutalizing effect also known as the brutalization hypothesis argues that the death penalty has a brutalizing or coarsening effect either upon society or those officials and jurors involved in a criminal justice system which imposes it Capital punishment supposedly sends the message that it is acceptable to kill in some circumstances or that society has a disregard for the sanctity of life The brutalizing effect of the death penalty may even be responsible for increasing the number of murders in jurisdictions in which it is practiced This suggests that the death penalty may actually cause murders Executioner syndrome is when the offender believes that killing performs a public service by eliminating a problem Some offenders actually have a pathological desire to die by execution Some kill to gain the attention and notoriety The idea behind perceptual deterrence theory is that the perceived certainty severity and celerity of punishment are inversely related to the decisions by would be offenders to commit crime Positivist Theory The positivist rejects the idea that each individual makes a conscious rational choice to commit a crime rather some individuals are abnormal in intelligence social acceptance or some other way and that causes them to commit crime In the 19th century criminologists began to move away from the classical assumptions especially the assumption of free will as it is commonly understood and toward a more scientific view of human behavior The increasingly popular view among criminologists of this period was that crime resulted from internal and or external forces impinging on individuals biasing or even completely determining their behavior choices determinism Modern criminology is the product of two main
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