The enlightenment and early traditions

Question 1

How did french enlightenment philosophers think about crime?

Answer 1

They argued that imprisonment and surveillance should act as an effort to reform the offender.

Question 2

What are the roots of the classical school?

Answer 2

Enlightenment

Question 3

What are the roots of the positive school?

Answer 3

Modern science

Question 4

How does the classical school view humans?

Answer 4

• As beings with free will
• As morally responsible for our own behavior

Question 5

How does the positive school view humans?

Answer 5

• As beings with no free will
• Human nature is determined by biological, psychological and social environment

Question 6

What is the purpose of sentencing according to the classical school?

Answer 6

Deterrence

Question 7

What is the purpose of sentencing according to the positivist school?

Answer 7

Reform and treatment

Question 8

What points were Beccaria’s (founder of classical school) work formed by?

Answer 8

1. Social contract theory
2. The concept of free will
3. Punishment as deterrent
4. Utilitarianism
5. Secularism

Question 9

What are problems with the classical model

Answer 9

1. It ignores the complexities of human behavior: it makes it seem that when people realize they will be punished, they will be deterred.
2. It regards crime as resulting from free choice - but to what degree are we all equally free to make these choices and do we all face the same choices?
3. Classicism assumes that individuals live in societies that are organised in fair and just ways (while they are often not)

Question 10

How does positivism view criminals and criminality?

Answer 10

Criminals are “a specific type of person” and criminality is caused by factors that are beyond the control of the individual offender

Question 11

Problems with positivism

Answer 11

1. It implies that people are not free nor wholly responsible for their own actions
2. It exaggerates the differences between criminals and non-criminals
3. It has a tendency to neglect the workings of the penal system; crimes are assumed as unproblematic categories and does not wonder why a crime is defined as such

Question 12

What is the difference in point of focus between classicism and positivism?

Answer 12

Positivism focuses on the criminal while classicism focuses on criminal administration