The criminal theory has been around for quite a while and crime has always been there as long as people have existed. As a result, criminology was conceived to provide an in-depth study of crime and its elements including the causes, suppression, and counteraction ( Simon, 2006) . As humans, our understanding of crime and response to it has been advancing over the years and we can now apply it to several crime control techniques. To start with, positivist schools and classical schools view and apply the criminal theory from different a different perspective compared to classical schools. According to Simon (2006), c lassical schools are built on the basis that people can feely formulate decisions and crime can be deterred through punishment as long as it is undertaken without delay, is equally proportional to the committed crime, and it is appropriate. Consequently, classical schools believe that perpetrators commit crime from their free will and therefore making it necessary for them to be held accountable for their crime. With that being said, the government is expected to enforce and implement laws and punishments that can effectively guide people on decision-making. Positivist schools are different from classical schools since they form rational independence for the measurement and quantification of criminal behaviors ( Simon, 2006) . The school emphasizes on psychological and social factors that increase the probability of certain individuals to commit crime compared to others. After a careful assessment of the disadvantages and advantages of classical schools, positivist schools oppose the notion that all crimes are caused by individual choices ( Bruni & Porta, 2014) . This school considers the perpetrator’s environment and background and measures them before making any conclusion. Simon (2006) points out that positivist school studies natural causes of crimes along with its social outcomes and weighs them before passing any judgment. On the other hand, the classical school focuses on justice and penology via the notion that humans are devious creatures. Other demographics that relate to crime include gender. Apparently, in most cultures across the globe, more men are often associated with crime compared to women. Class is also linked to crime in the sense that people from either the middle or lower class are more likely to engage in criminal activities compared to their rich counterparts ( Bruni & Porta, 2014). Lastly, the topic of race has become a controversial subject in criminal activities especially in the U.S. whereby the black population is significantly related to criminal activities. The criminal theory has been around for a long time and its study has facilitated in the formulating the best ways in tackling and preventing crime. As students, understanding crime from an in-depth perspective is vital in growing and enhancing our careers.
References
Simon, J. (2006). Positively Punitive: How the Inventor of Scientific Criminology Who Died at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Continues to Haunt American Crime Control at the Beginning of the Twenty-first. Texas Law Review, 84, 7, 2135-2172.
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Bruni, L., & Porta, P. L. (2014). Cesare Beccaria's 'On crimes and punishments'. History of Economics Review, 60, 64-74.
