Positivist School Of Thought In Criminology

Criminology “is an interdisciplinary profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including their forms, causes, legal aspects, and control” (Schmalleger 11). In criminology, there are several ways to study and analyze crime and criminal behavior in order to help reduce it. A crucial way to predict and accomplish this goal is with the help of scientific theories. A theory “is a series of interrelated propositions that attempts to describe, explain, predict, and ultimately control some class of events” (Schmalleger 30). Today, I will be explaining and going into depth about two theories in criminology. I will be talking about the classical school of thought and the positivist school of thought. I will be getting …show more content…
Hard determinism is said to be a motion that leads to a crime, but this crime occurs beyond the control of the individual. The approach of crime from this school of thought has three key points. Biological, psychological, and sociological are the three elements that this theory revolves around. The biological perspective is that of a human being not being able to think logically and completely, because he or she is not genetically capable to think this way. Socialization, economic conditions, and peer groups definitely fall under the category of hard determinism. Socialization is a problem that deals with neglect and abuse. Economic conditions are definitely a factor in this view from the positivist school of thought, because of the desperateness and stress a certain individual goes through. Peer groups have a lot to do with the actions individuals do, because of peer pressure. Most, if not all, human beings do things in a group that they would not ever do if they were by themselves. Positivist focus more on the possible reasons why offenders commit crimes instead of the crime as a whole. For example, the 17-year-old boy who killed 4 people may have had problems with socialization. He may have experienced neglect and did not receive proper love, care, and affection as he was growing up. He may have grew up with parents that did not show him the difference between right and wrong. The young adult could have also had psychological problems, because of how he killed his two brothers. He may have been the one bullied the most and ended up not being able to take it anymore. As a result, the dilemma between his siblings and him got way out of proportion. This implies that the individual is not capable of thinking logically when making a decision. Therefore, the individual is a great example of a biological