Criminology Essay: Comparing Classical and Positive Schools of Thought

This essay provides an analysis of the classical and positive schools of criminology, examining their ethical underpinnings and criminological perspectives within the context of the United States. It explores the influence of Cesare Beccaria and the rational choice theory, as well as the principles of deterrence. The paper delves into how these schools explain the incidence of crime in contemporary society and assesses the impact of different approaches to crime control. Furthermore, it discusses specific examples of crime programs and policies, supporting its arguments and findings with relevant research and literature. The essay concludes by suggesting policy adjustments that could potentially decrease crime rates by focusing on the certainty of punishment and evidence-based approaches.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY 0
ANALYSIS OF CLASSICAL AND POSITIVE SCHOOLS OF CRIMINOLOGY
AUGUST 10, 2019
STUDENT DETAILS:

CRIMINOLOGY 1
The Constitution of USA incorporates classical and positive school of criminology. The
Classical school of Criminology provides the rule for the courts that let sentence fit the offence.
In the contradiction of this, positive school of criminology provides opening for the criminals for
getting assistance and reintegration. The following parts contain the ethical base of positive
school and classical school of the criminology. It will explain the criminological perspective to
explain the incidence of offence in contemporary society of USA. This will also discuss the
assessment of the effect of approaches to control the crime based on rational choice theory as
well as deterrence’s principles. In last, this paper will also discuss regarding the particular
examples of the crime programs as well as crime policies to support the finding and arguments of
the paper.
Further, Cesare Beccaria was the founder of classical school of criminology. A
foundation of the school is individuals commit the offence of the personal choice. The
individuals are affected by the terror of criminal penalty related with being caught as well as
sentenced for laws breaches. In addition, the choice theories are based on interpretation that more
simple, positive, as well as precipitate sentence, more probably this is to regulate the offence.
These choice theories are entrenched in classical criminology of Beccaria as well as Bentham.
Beccaria and Bentham are social philosophers of eighteenth century (Paternoster & Fisher,
2018).
In addition, the choice theorists see the crimes as offenses and criminal-particular as well
as cite research stating that the criminals consider the targets prudently before determining on the
course of actions (Cohen, 2017). By the implications, the offence may be stopped or evacuated
by sustaining the possible offenders that the risk of breaching laws exceed advantages. The

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deterrence theory holds that if the offenders are certainly sensible, the inverse connection must
be presented between offence and sentence (Horrn, 2015). The particular deterrence theory keeps
that the rate of crime may be decreased if well-known criminals are sentenced brutally that they
not ever do crime another time. The choice theories are very powerful to create the public
approaches, as well as the criminal law is created for discouraging prospective offenders as well
as for providing punishment fairly those have been caught in unlawful actions. There are certain
courts, which altered punishment approaches to follow the classical principle, as well as
correctional structure in USA seems focused on the breakdown as well as particular deterrence.
One issue with deterrence theory is that it supposes that individuals are sensible players who
consider the significances of the action before determining to conduct the offence (White, Haines
& Asquith, 2017).
In conclusion, the crime as well as sentence may be instantaneously decreased if policy
makers reassess the overreliance on severity-based approaches like the long-term prison
sentence. In its place, the approach based on evidence will involve increasing the faith of
punishment by advancing the likelihood that criminal conduct will be noticed. Such an approach
will also free up resources dedicated to the imprisonment as well as permit for increased
initiative of deterrence along with behaviour.

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References
Cohen, S. (2017). Against criminology. New York: Routledge.
Horn, D. (2015). The criminal body: Lombroso and the anatomy of deviance. New York:
Routledge
Paternoster, R., & Fisher, D. (2018). The Foundation and Re‐emergence of Classical Thought in
Criminological Theory: A Brief Philosophical History. The Handbook of the History and
Philosophy of Criminology, 173.
White, R., Haines, F., & Asquith, N. L. (2017). Crime & criminology. New York: Routledge