The Classical School Of Criminology

Introduction

According to Locke and Rousseau, all human beings enter into “social contracts” wherein, we trade some of our freedom of our own interests and become fortunate enough to earn a position in the society. The field of criminology is essential based on answering one simple question, “How is society possible?” given that human beings have free will and are self-interested. Now, if there is a breach of contract, society feels fit to punish the violators. (Sociology of Crime (Criminology), n.d). Now, the question that arises is that, what is this “breach of contract” called? In a way, it indicates to the term crime. However, the definition of the same is ever changing due to many “social, political, psychological and economic conditions

Classical School: Cesare Beccaria was an Italian attorney who is known as one of the founding fathers of the Classical School of Criminology. The Classical School of Criminology emerged into existence around the 1700s and 1800s due to the lack of a proper legal framework. The pre-existing system was corrupt and subjective in nature, wherein it was believed that people who committed offenses did so because God was testing the faith they had, punishing them or using them to admonish others. Otherwise, they were sinners who were not under God’s protection and were controlled by the Devil. Due to these reasons, the legal systems didn’t operate well. This school of thought put forth the argument that crime was committed due to the existence of free will and a “risk versus reward” system. Their movement was known as the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. They thought that humanity didn’t need to depend on a religious governance and rather a sensible idea could be used to build upon principles of ethics and justness (Torrence, 2016). According to this, individuals could enter into social contracts and give up some of our self-interests to gain the protection and acceptance of the society (Vold, Bernard & Snipes, 2002). Specific theories under Classical School of Criminology

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