Positivism

Positivism

Individual Positivism
1. Emergence of New Knowledge
  1. Jean Etienne Esquirol
    1. Homicidal monomania (obsession with murder)
      1. Monomania - people with this aren't idiots, they just lack empathy and solidarity
      2. Criticised for being an excuse for committing crimes - blaming mental illness for actions
        Crime as an illness
  2. French Revolution - challenging classicism's authority in criminal courts
    1. Pinel questioned why state has such power over who is to live or die
      1. Formulated a science of mental illness
2. Theorists
  1. Lombroso
    1. Responsible for emergence of criminology
    2. Atavism (biological)
      1. The idea that criminals revert to their more primitive ancestral type i.e. their minds haven't fully developed, its all down to individual's genetic makeup
      2. Throwback
    3. Concluded that the criminal existed as a lower form of human evolution than the average man
  2. Galton
    1. Fingerprinting
    2. Composite photos
  3. Hegel (1807)
    1. Physical stigmata
      1. Physiognomy = assessing someone's character based on their facial features
      2. Phrenology = measuring human skulls
  4. Foucault (2001)
    1. Monstrous murderer
3. Body types and crime (somatotypes)
  1. Endomorphs
    1. Heavy, soft/round build, extravert personality
  2. Mesomorphs
    1. Muscular, athletic build, aggressive personality
  3. Ectomorphs
    1. Small, lean, delicate/weak build, introverted personality
  4. Most people posses parts of all three (hybrids)
4. Genetic transmission theories
  1. 1920s twin studies
  2. Studying links between testosterone and aggression
5. Useful quotes
  1. "Lunatics and criminals are as manufactured articles as are steam-engines and calico printing machines" - Maudsley 1874
    1. Criminals are produced by society and biologically into acting in certain ways
  2. "Whoever fights monster should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster" - Nietzsche 1966
    1. Society aims to capture criminals, but in turn must avoided becoming criminalised
Sociological Positivism
1. The Chicago School
  1. e.g. of direct hands on observation
  2. A school studying the sociology/criminology of the city its in!
    1. 100 years prior to study, Chicago was a flat prairie
    2. Academics no longer relate their interest to their environment as much
2. Robert Park: Human Ecology
  1. Pragnitism
    1. Knowledge being transaction between person who wants to know something and the environment they want to know things about
  2. Formalism
    1. The way we think/interact is determined by broader social structures
  3. Cities as super organisms; fusions of subpopulations
Criminological positivism
1. Early C19th
2. Unity of scientific method - adoption from natural sciences
3. Characteristics
  1. Focus on the criminal not the crime
  2. Emphasis on social defence and treatment rather than punishment
4. Emergence of positivist crminology
  1. Expansion of sciences and technology
  2. Freud
    1. Id
      1. Having no control over oneself
        Pressures/expectations of society
    2. Super ego
      1. Already feeling guilty before committing a crime
        Offenders offending to relieve the guilt they already have
  3. The Italian School
    1. Founded at end of C19th by Lombroso (1835–1909) and two of his Italian disciples, Ferri (1856–1929) and Garofalo (1851–1934)
    2. Lombroso's conception of the "atavistic born criminal"
    3. Typology of criminals
      1. Differentiation of criminals into separate 'types'
        Born criminals
        Those with true atavist features
        Insane criminals
        e.g. alcoholics, idiots, epileptics etc.
        Open to more psychological explanations
        Criminaloids
        Crimes were explained largely by opportunity
        Epileptic criminals
        Passion to commit crime because of humour, love or anger
        Propelled by irresistible force

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	Created by Grace Feakes over 9 years ago