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CLASSICAL PERSPECTIVES - Coggle Diagram
CLASSICAL PERSPECTIVES
HISTORY
key book = 'Foucault's Discipline and Punish'
- set in the 1750s
- crime and punishment before classical theory: conducted in public, corporal punishment, justice is viewed as vengeance
Enlightenment Period
- emergence of classical theories
- move away from religion and the monarchy
- desire to understand society and the natural world; 'religion of science'
Transitional Period
- transition from feudalism to capitalism and hence increased bureacracy
Previous Criminal Justice System
- lettres de cachet :star: Tierney 2009, 45 = the King would order something to be done via letters
SCHOLARS
CESARE BECCARIA
Life
- Italian mathematician
- published 'On Crime and Punishment' in the 18th century
- highly critical of European justice system
- hated lettres de cachet; 'we see the same court punish the same crime differently at different times'; :star: Beccaria [1767] 2012, 89
His beliefs
- criminal law should bind society by having clear rational rules
- all citizens should be treated equally
- judges should act impartially; 'there must be a proportion between crimes and punishment'; :star: Beccaria [1767] 2012, 90
JEREMY BENTHAM
Life
- British philosopher
- published 'Principles of Morals and Legislation' in the 18th century
- thought of individuals as 'rational beings who apply a pleasure-pain principle when assessing whether or not to commit crime' ; :star: Tierney 2009, 47
- adopts the concept of utilitarianism
His beliefs
- to punish better as opposed to less--punish the mind not the body; The Panopticon
- only justifiable purpose of punishment is deterrence or prevention
THOMAS HOBBES
Main beliefs
- need to move away from the state of mature to a social contract
- social contract = give up some rights so that the state protects us
- positives = ensures common interests, provides a well-ordered society by giving stability, prevents dog-eat-dog environment
- negatives = assumes societal consensus
KEY INFORMATION
Definition = 'concern with the establishment of a reformed, equitable, efficient system of justice [for] a better regulated social order' ; :star:Tierney 2010, 54
- :check: classical theory is premised on the nation of individual rights, human capacity to reason and the rule of law :check:
Main Beliefs
- law and punishment as deterrence and punishment
- sanction the action not the actor
- people are not inherently bad or inherently good
- belief in natural justice (fair and equal)
classical theorists want to codify and simplify the law for accessibility
Classical Perspective on free will:
- individuals are rational people that possess reason
- problem = left to their own devices people will follow their own selfish interests
APPLICATION
Changes to punishment
- PROMPT = 'the smaller the lapse of time between the misdeed and punishment, the stronger...the association...of crime and punishment'; :star: Beccaria
- PROPORTIONATE = 'punishment should...fit the nature of the crime'; :star: Beccaria
- CERTAIN = 'the contingency of crime and punishment is of the highest importance'; :star: Beccaria
Policy Outcomes
- mandatory sentencing
- opportunity reduction
- situational crime prevention
CRITIQUES
- who writes the law [to make it clear, administered through rule of law, prompt, proportionate and certain]?
- slim relationship between due process and fairness
- criminology isn't interested in laws beyond the state
- these principles were exported during colonial expansion
- people do not have equal capacity
- if offending results from temporary irrationality, why isn't crime distributed evenly through the social structure?
- doesn't take into account organisations harming individuals, e.g. Gov, environment etc
POSITIVES
- promotes systematic system of justice
- argues for rights of individuals
- humanitarian approach