HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY
As previously introduced, criminology is an advanced, theoretical field of study of crimes, the causes of crimes (etiology), the meaning of crimes in terms of law, and community reaction to crim. Not too long ago, criminology separated from its mother discipline, Sociology, and although there are some historical continuity, it has since developed habits and methods of thinking about crime and criminal behavior that are uniquely own. The history of criminology dates back from the works of criminological thinkers or theorists in criminology. The origins of criminology are usually located in late-eighteenth century writings of those who sought to reform criminal justice and penal systems that they perceived as cruel, inhumane, and arbitrary. These old system applied the law unequally, were subject to great corruption and often used torture and death penalty indiscriminately. A timeline is presented for a better portrayal of criminology in the past to the present times:
THEORY Demonology (5,000 BC – 1692 AD) Astrology (3500 BC – 1630 AD) Theology (1215 BC – present) Medicine (3000 BC – present) Education
MOTIVE
THEORY
MOTIVE
Demonic Influence
Social Work (1903 – present)
Community relations
Zodiac/Planetary Influence
Sociology (1908 – present)
Social/ Environemental factors
God’s Will
Castration (1907 – 1947)
Secretion of androgen
Natural Illness
Ecology (1927 – present)
Relation of person with environment
Academic
Transexualism
Trapped in body
(1642 – present)
underachievement /bad teachers
(1937 – 1969)
of wrong sex
Psychiatry (1795 – present)
Mental Illness
Psychosurgery (1935 – 1959)
Psychoanalysis (1895 – present)
Subconscious guilt/defense mechanisms
Culture Conflict (1938 – 1980)
Frontal lobe dysfunction Conflict of customs from old country
Classical School (1690 --)
Free will/reason/hedoni sm
Differential Association (1939 – present)
Learning from bad companions
Anomie (1938 – present)
State of normlessness Need for acceptance
Phrenology (1770-1895)
Determinism/beyo nd control of individual Bumps on the head
Cartography (1800 – present)
Geographic location/climate
Mental testing (1895 – present) Osteopathy (1892 – present)
Feeble-mindedness Abnormalities of bones
Gangs Formation (1927 – present) Behavior Modification (1938 – 1959) Control Theory (1961 – present) Strain Theory (1954 – present)
Chiropractics (1895 – present)
Misalignment of spine
Subcultures (1955 – present)
Imitation (1843 – 1905)
Mind on mind crowds
Labeling Theory (1963 – 1976)
Positivist School (1840 --)
Economics (1818 – present) Case Study Approach (1909 – present) Differential Opportunity (1961 – present) The “New Criminology”
Poverty Emotional/social development Absence of legitimate opportunities Ruling Class operation
Neutralization (1957 – 1990) Operant Conditioning (1953 – 1980) Biosocial Criminology (1977 – 1989) Conflict Criminology
Reward/punish ment Weak social bonds Anger, relative deprivation Criminal values as normal within group Name-calling Self-talk Stimuli-tostimuli contingencies Environment triggers inherited “markers” Structural barriers to class
(1973 – 1983) Critical Criminology (1973 – present) General Strain Theory (1994 – present) Criminal Personality (1976 – 1980) Feminism (1980 – present)
1.1
Segmented group formations
(1969 – present) Radical Criminology (1976 – present)
interests Inarticulation of theory
Stress, Hassles, Interpersonal Relations
Left Realism (1984 – present)
Working class prey on one another
53 errors in thinking
Criminal Pathways Theory ((1979 – present)
Critical turning in life events
Patriarchal power structures
Low Self Control (1993 – present)
Impulsiveness, sensationseeking
The Pre-Classical Period The theoretical dimension of criminology has long history and ideas about the causes of crime cam be found in philosophical thought over two thousand years ago. For example, in Politics, Plato’s Student, Aristotle (384-322 BC), stated that “poverty engenders rebellion and crime. Religious scholars focused on causes as diverse as natural human need, deadly sins, and the corrupting influence of Satan and other demons. The validity of such theories was founded in religious authority and they were not viewed as theories, subject to verification through any form of systematic observation, measurement and analysis. 1.2 The Classical Beginning The leading theorists in criminology history started with the advocates of this classical school of criminology, the Italian Cesare Beca 1.3 The Neo-Classical Era 1.4 Positivist Determinism 1.5 Cartographical Thougt 1.6 The Socialist Criminology 1.7 Critical Criminology 1.8 Feminist Criminology 1.9 Control Theory 1.10 Containment Theory
