Classicalism vs. Positivism - 1546 Words

Classicalism vs. Positivism What is crime? What makes people commit crimes and how can we stop it? These, and many other questions similar to these, are asked by criminologists everyday. Criminology is an ever growing field, mainly because there is more and more research occurring and new theories linking people and crime coming out everyday. Below the main field of criminology there are many subfields that have different theories and philosophies on what they believe link criminal behavior. Two of the main criminology perspectives are Classical Criminology and Positivist Criminology. Although these two are both studied in the criminology field, their views are distinctly contradictory from each other. These two theories and many†¦show more content†¦Yet another criticism is their belief in deterrence. Research has shown that there is little correlation between punishment and crime, meaning that there is not a significant amount of information showing that deterrence actually works leading it into a controversial issue. People commit crimes for many different reasons that classicalists fail to acknowledge. Classical criminology was the first big step into what makes up the field of criminology today, dominating around the eighteenth century. A change in the way information was assembled with the emergence of the scientific method challenged the classical perspective and introduced the theory of Positivism. Positivist criminology emerged in the nineteenth century after people stopped relying on pure thought and reason and started to observe and analyze to understand the way things worked. â€Å"Positive philosophy was an explicit repudiation or reaction to the critical and ‘negative’ philosophy of the Enlightenment [Classicalist] thinkers† (Bohm 21). Positivism has two main elements: One â€Å"is the belief that human behavior is a function of forces beyond a person’s control [and] the second aspect of positivism is embracing the scientific method to solve problems† (Siegel 7-8). . Positivism is known for the use of science and the scientific method in their research. Positivists such as Lombroso, whom is considered the father of criminology, set the stage for examination of external forces