Classical Evolution Of Criminology

Criminology is the complex study of why crime happens, when it happens, by whom and who is the victim. Criminology encompasses multiple fields and they all work together to help us understand the world that we live in. Through criminology, we hold out hope that in the end good will prevail. We have come far from the days of Cesare Beccaria, Jeremy Bentham, Richard Dugdale, and many others. When looking at the progression of criminology, we can see that without those pioneers in the beginning, we would not be where we are today. Classical, Neoclassical, Biological, and Psychological theories are each very different, but compliment one another as a jigsaw puzzle that in the end is a map for us to follow. Classical Criminology began by the

Biological criminology does not have the long history of acceptance as Classical, but its contribution is still valuable to the field. Early biological theories did share a core belief of positivism with some of classical theories. Early studies of criminals from the biological angle tended to look at physical traits, such as the size and shape of one’s head or body. One of the earliest examples that we have of this is Franz Gall and his Theory of Craniology. He stated that the shape of the human skull could tell us about personality and wether someone is a criminal or ‘normal’. (Schmalleger, pp. 46-47) Another belief that came from early biological studies was atavism from Cesare Lombroso’s studies. Lombroso, whose studies brought about today’s Criminal anthropology, believed that criminals had a remnant of primitive urges that had not completely been removed through the process of evolution. (Schmalleger, pg. 47) Constitutional theory believed that a criminal could be identified by mere body type and that typically those with a more athletic and muscular (Mesomorphic) body were more likely to commit crimes. (Schmalleger, pg. 49) Although, as we moved into modern day criminology, we can see that these sort of theories are flawed. Today in law enforcement, officers strive to be in as good of shape as

We have come so far in a short period of time of understanding the human body and all that goes into decision making. To take a single field of criminology and make judgments seems unreal to me. I believe that without the contributions of the early criminalist along with the evolving of their theories, we would be missing the mark today. They opened the door for us to truly understand what drives a criminal to criminal activity. We now understand that it is not the size and shape of a brain that tells us if someone is going to be criminal, just as we now know that just because someone’s body chemistry is not like everyone else does not mean they will necessarily be a criminal. Will we ever get to a day where we can identify a criminal and stop crime before it happens? I do not believe we will, because in the end we have free choice. Unfortunately, people with free choice sometimes make the conscious decision to break the law. However, with advances in the study of criminology it is a hope that we can drastically reduce crime and improve citizen