Classical CriminologyClassical Criminology(1750s – 1850s)(1750s – 1850s) Bentham & Beccaria

The Rise of the Prisons & Penitentiary

Social ContractSocial Contract◦ Rise of Citizen & State◦ Common good

Massive population growth◦ Populations less homogeneous◦ Social bonds weakened◦ 1830s Sir Robert Peel (Britain)

Cash for Labour◦ Individuality (economic &

political)◦ Citizens & the rise of the Nation

State◦ Private v. collective property

Reformation

French Revolution

French RevolutionFrench Revolution

Reign of Terror “devoured its own children”1793 until 1794

Association of Terror with Virtue

NapoleanNapolean

Emperor of the Emperor of the French from 1804 French from 1804 to 1815to 1815

◦TaxationTaxation◦Family namesFamily names◦Millitaristic endsMillitaristic ends

Napoleonic Code/Civil Code 1804

‘All citizens’ were equal before the law*

right to property was inviolable ◦Civil death (1854)

Article 544◦No regulation for

labourers/wages◦Unions illegal

Civil Code Civil Code 18041804

Following the tradition of Roman law, a woman found guilty of adultery could be imprisoned for between 3 months and 2 years depending on the inclination of the husband. 

A husband convicted of adultery (a husband had to introduce the mistress into the home to meet the requirement of adultery) was only subject to a fine of from 100 to 2,000 francs. 

A man who, in a fit of passion, murdered his spouse in flagrante delicto was guilty of no crime.  A woman in the same situation was subject to the rigors of the law. (Holmberg)

Women & The Family Women & The Family Code Code 1974 in Canada (case law)2013 First Nations women…

Law promoted rational control by the central government at the cost of moral emancipation

Individual freedom in so far as one was free to help the state in its pursuit of power.

Bentham - Bentham - UtilitarianismUtilitarianism

Freedom unless harm to others Freedom unless harm to others

-John Stewart Mill & Harriet Taylor -John Stewart Mill & Harriet Taylor expand upon Bentham’s quantificationexpand upon Bentham’s quantification

...since the world is not harmonious, you ...since the world is not harmonious, you must choose the least bad, the greatest must choose the least bad, the greatest happiness of the greatest number. happiness of the greatest number.

Individual freedom is limited to social Individual freedom is limited to social utilityutility

Response to paternalistic and moral Response to paternalistic and moral governancegovernance

Classical CriminologyClassical Criminology

Cesare BeccariaEssays On Crime and

Punishment,1764

Jeremy BenthamPrincipals & Morals of Legislation,1789

“If there is no demonstratable victims, there should be no punishment”

Cecare Beccaria (1738 – Cecare Beccaria (1738 – 1794) 1794) Upper class ItalianDissidents in Milan

◦ “School of Fists”◦ Legal reformers

Response to:Demonic Social ControlCorruption & independent

judges

Essay in Crime and Essay in Crime and PunishmentPunishment 1764

“...a systematic plan for making legal social control more humane and rational” (Pfohl, 1985:55)

Wide appealHarsh arbitrary

punishment loses favour

Principles of Principles of Crime and Crime and PunishmentPunishment

Necessity of Rational Punishment

Preservation of social contract

Remind individuals of common interest in social order

Defense of public liberty

(not tyranny)

Principles of Principles of Crime and Crime and PunishmentPunishment

Legislated Law & Judicial Guilt

Legislators: Define acts that violate

common good Assign appropriate punishment

Judges: Determine guilt/innocence

Principles of Principles of Crime and Crime and PunishmentPunishment

Purpose of social control: Deterrence

Specific and general Swift & certain justice

when a punishment quickly follows a crime, then the two ideas of “crime” and “punishment” will be more quickly associated in a person’s mind.

Control the Act not Actor

Problematic to thesis

All actors assumed to have same ‘free will’ & hedonistic calculators

Principles of Principles of Crime and Crime and PunishmentPunishment

Jeremy Bentham (1748 -Jeremy Bentham (1748 -1832)1832)

Detailed classification of pleasure and pain

1.Intensity2.Duration3.Un/certainty4.Proximity5.Fecundity (chance of

it being continued)6.Purity (chance NOT

continued)7.Extent

Sir Bentham Sir Bentham loses his head...loses his head...

Bentham: The PanopticonBentham: The PanopticonThe Total PrisonThe Total PrisonDeveloped idea living in Russia (1785)Constant surveillanceManipulative & Communicative

Exercising powerPerformance of power

Never constructed (Bentham) although its effects can be found in prison architecture..

Widespread appeal of prison – practical implementation of classical

thinking....

Foucault’s Critique of Foucault’s Critique of PanopticonPanopticon

Docile Bodies◦ natural/normal

Exercising power◦ Rehabilitation

Critiques....Critiques....French Penal Code 1791

Applied classical thinkingOverreliance on incarceration◦Inconsistent with utilitarian thesis

(Foucault)

Neoclassical ModificationsDiscretion◦Premeditation◦Mitigating circumstances◦Insanity

We become ordered We become ordered through...through...SurveillanceEfficiencyBureaucracyExpertise