Assignments

Table of Contents

Exam 11

1. Comparison of the Classical School with the Positive School1

2. Chicago School's Impact on Criminological Theory3

3. Analysis of Criminal Behavior with Different Theories4

4. Key Historical Social and Cultural Events9

Exam 212

1. Analysis of the Issue of Women Getting Involved In Criminal Behavior12

2. Impact on the U.S. Criminal Justice System and Social Policy15

3. Social Control Theory and Rational Theory17

4. Changes in Contemporary Theories I17

Essay21

Future of Criminological Theory21

Lesson 1 - Introduction of Theory27

Lesson 2 - The Classical School29

Lesson 3 - The Positive School32

Lesson 4 - The Chicago School34

Lesson 5 - The Differential Association36

Lesson 6 - Anomie Theory41

Lesson 7 - Subculture Theories43

Lesson 8 - Labeling Theory44

Lesson 9 - Conflict Theory45

Lesson 10 - Social Control Theory47

Lesson 11 - Social Learning Theory49

Lesson 12 - Rational Theories52

Lesson 13 - Gender-based Theories54

Lesson 14 - Contemporary Theories I - Updating Older Perspective56

Lesson 15 - Contemporary Theories II - Diversity in Theory58

References60

Exam 1

1. Comparison of the Classical School with the Positive School

The Classical School defined crime within the strict limits of criminal law. Emphasis has been placed on the crime, not on the criminal. The studies are much more concerned with the consequences of the act than with the motivation for the act. It was opposed to the barbaric and arbitrary practices associated with the court system in England during his time. It was believed in the social contract theory of government, that is, that sovereignty resided in the people and the law applied equally to all members of society. The Classical School believed in the doctrine of criminal activities, no crime without a law (Wilson 2011).

The Positive School attacked the legal definition of crime, and in its place substituted a concept of natural crime. The positivist rejected the juridical concept of crime in favor of the sociological notion of crime. Garofolo notes that the concept of a "criminal" presupposes the concept of "crime." He observed that although the naturalists speak of the criminal, they have omitted to tell us what they understand by the word crime. The positivist's rejection of the legal definition was based on the idea that for scientific purposes the concept of crime cannot be accepted as a legal category, since the factors which produce the legal definition are contingent and capricious. Garofolo then defined natural crime as an act that offends the moral sentiments of pity and probity in the community (Garofalo 1914).

Allen and Hall have pointed out the fact that the positivistic notion of crime is susceptible to corruption in the hands of corrupt political officials. The fact that Ferri became a member of the Fascist movement in Italy is of concern to those who regard civil liberties as a fundamental aspect of criminal law (Ferri 2004). Whereas for Beccaria individual rights are supreme; there are no safeguards against abuse of state power in the work of Garofolo (Garofalo 1914). As a result of the rejection of legal categories by the Positive School there is no agreement in criminology today as to "what is crime?" Sellin and others have ...