Criminological Theory: Historical Timelines
Classical Theory of Crime and Punishment
A precursor to scientific criminology was the rational thought and economic assumptions of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophy of Cesare Beccaria (1735–1795) and Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832).
Under this theory individuals are said to choose to commit crime based on whether they will derive more pleasure than pain. Burglars, for example, weigh the pros and cons of invading someone’s property by taking into consideration the existence of fences, locks, and guardians; whether they think they will get caught; and, if they are caught, whether they will be seriously punished.
KEY WORKS OF CLASSICAL THEORYTHEORIST / MAJOR WORK / DATE
Montesquieu / De l'Espirist des Lois (The Spirit of the Laws) / 1748
Voltaire / Lettre a M. d'Alembert (Letters) / 1762
Beccaria / Tratto dei Delitti e delle
Pene (Essay on Crimes and Punishment) / 1764
Bentham / An introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation / 1765 1789
Howard / The State of Prisons / 1777
Marat / Plan de legislation criminelle / 1780
Kant / Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals
Philosophy of Law / 1797
Romilly / Observation on the Criminal Law / 1810
Rational Choice Theories of Crime
Subsequent development of classical theory produced the following cluster of theories:
Neo-classicism
Humanitarian Rationalism
Administrative Criminology
Justice Model
Just Deserts Model
Due Process Model
Economic Theory of Crime
Wealth Maximization Theory
Time Allocation Theory
Rational Choice Theory
Situational Choice Theory
Routine Activities Theory
The key works of these contemporary theorists can be classified in the following three categories—(1) contemporary neo-classicists, (2) economists of crime, and (3) post-classical rational choice, situational choice and routine activities theorists.
KEY WORKS OF RATIONAL CHOICE THEORIES OF CRIMETHEORIST / 1.CONTEMPORARY NEO-CLASSICISTS
American Friends
Service Committee / Struggle for Justice / 1971
Fogel / We are the Living Proof: The Justice Model for Corrections / 1975
Von Hirsch / Doing Justice / 1976
2. ECONOMISTS OF CRIME
Becker / "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach" / 1968
Tullock / "An Economic Approach to Crime" / 1969
Reynolds / The Economics of Criminal Activity / 1973
Ehrlich / "Participation in Illegitimate Activities: An Economic Analysis"
"The Market for Offenses and the Public Enforcement of Laws" / 1973
1982
Sullivan / "The Economics of Crime" / 1973
Heineke / The Economics of Crime / 1978
Simon & Witte
Schmidt & Witte / Beating the System: The Underground Economy
An Economic Analysis of Crime and Justice / 1982
1984
3. POST-CLASSICAL RATIONAL CHOICE, SITUATIONAL CHOICE AND ROUTINE ACTIVITIES THEORISTS
Clarke
Cornish & Clarke
Clarke & Cornish / Situational Crime Prevention
The Reasoning Criminal
"Rational Choice Theory"
“The Rational Choice Perspective”
Theory and Practice in Situational Crime Prevention
“Rational Choice” / 1997 1986
1986
2005
2003
2001
Cohen & Felson
Felson / "Social Change and Crime Rate Trends"
"Routine Activities, Social Controls, Rational Decisions and Criminal Outcomes"
"Routine Activities and Crime Prevention in the Developing Metropolis" / 1979
1986
1987
Cooke / "The Demand and Supply of Criminal Opportunities" / 1986
Roshier / Controlling Crime / 1989
Ward, Stafford & Gray / Rational Choice, Deterrence, and Theoretical Integration / 2006
Biological Theories of Crime
The idea that crime is freely chosen was challenged by the early anthropologically and biologically based formulations of the Italian school of criminologists, including Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), Raffaele Garofalo (1852– 1934), and Enrico Ferri (1856–1928), who believed crime was caused, not chosen. Analyzing convicted criminals and cadavers, these founding scientific criminologists claimed to show that crime was caused by biological defects in inferior “atavistic” individuals who were “throwbacks” from an earlier evolutionary stage of human development.
KEY WORKS OF BIOLOGICAL THEORY OF CRIMETHEORIST / MAJOR WORK / DATE
della Porte / The Human Physiognomy / 1586
Lavater / Physiognomical Fragments / 1775
Pinel / A Treatise on Insanity / 1806
Gall / Les Fonctions du Cerveau / 1810
Caldwell / Elements of Phrenology / 1824
Pritchard / A Treatise on Insanity / 1835
Esquirol / Des malades mentales / 1838
Maudsley / The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind
Responsibility in Mental Disease / 1867
1874
Lombroso
Lombroso & Ferrero / L'Uomo Delinquente (The Delinquent Man)
Crime: Its Causes and Remedies
Criminal Man (new translation)
Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman. / 1876
1911
2005
2004
Ferri / The Theory of Immutability and the Denial of Free Will
Criminal Sociology / 1878
1884
Benedikt / Anatomical Studies upon the Brains of Criminals / 1881
MacDonald / Criminology / 1893
Bois / Prisoners and Paupers
The Science of Penology / 1893
1901
Ellis / The Criminal / 1897
Drahms / The Criminal: His Personnel & Environment / 1900
Goring / The English Convict / 1913
Heredity and Constitutional Theory of Crime
Subsequent development of biological theory produced the following cluster of theories:
Constitutional theory
Body-type theory
Criminal somatology
Bio-criminology
Socio-biology
Bio-social theory
Neo-biology
Bio-psychology
Genetic theory
XYY Chromosome theory
Endocrinological theory
Hormone theory
Evolutionary r/K theory
Molecular genetic theory
The idea that individual bodily differences can explain crime carried into late-nineteenth-century United States, with criminal anthropologists such as Ernest Hooton, who believed in the criminal man, and constitutional theorist William Sheldon, who believed crime came from feeble minds and inferior physical constitutions.
KEY WORKS OF HEREDITY AND CONSTITUTIONAL THEORY OF CRIMETHEORIST / MAJOR WORK / DATE
Dugdale / The Jukes: A Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease, and Heredity / 1877
Henderson / An Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, Defective and Delinquent Class / 1893
Goddard / The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeblemindedness
Feeblemindedness, Its Cause and Consequences / 1912
1914
Lange / Crime and Destiny / 1919
Kretschmer / Physique and Character / 1921
Hooton / Crime and the Man
The American Criminal / 1931
1939
Sheldon et al / The Varieties of Human Physique
The Varieties of Temperament
Varieties of Delinquent Youth / 1940
1942
1949
Glueck & Glueck / Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency
Physique and Delinquency / 1950
1956
Genetic and Sociobiological Theories of Crime
With the advent of genetics, the biological theory of crime became more sophisticated, incorporating biosociology, and more nuanced, recognizing that biology is not destiny and depends on an interaction with the environment in a dynamic, mutually influencing contingent relationship from which crime is sometimes the behavioral outcome. In the work of Anthony Walsh, Lee Ellis, Kevin Beaver and Diana Feinstein, biology is integrated with other theories of criminal behavior.
KEY WORKS OF GENETIC THEORY OF CRIMETHEORIST / MAJOR WORK / DATE
Hutchings / "Genetic factors in criminality" / 1974
Mednick
Mednick & Christiansen
Mednick & Shoham
Gabrielli & Mednick
Mednick, Moffit &Stack / Genetics, Environment and Psychopathology
Biosocial Bases of Criminal Behavior
New Paths in Criminology
"Genetic Correlates of Criminal Behavior"
The Causes of Crime: New Biological Approaches / 1974
1977
1979
1983
1987
Hurwitz and Christiansen / Criminology / 1983
Jeffrey
Jeffrey
Jeffrey / Biology and Crime
Criminology
Biological and Neuropsychiatric Approaches to Criminal Behavior / 1979
1990
1994
Ellis
Ellis
Ellis & Walsh / Genetics and Criminal Behavior
"Criminal Behavior and r/K selection: An extension of gene-based evolutionary theory"
“Gene-Based Evolutionary Theories in Criminology” / 1982
1988
1997
Wilson & Herrnstein / Crime and Human Nature / 1985
Denno / Biology and Violence: From Birth to Adulthood / 1990
Rafter (Historian of) / Creating Born Criminals
The Criminal Brain: Understanding Biological Theories of Crime / 1997
2008
Niehoff / The Biology of Violence / 1999
Fishbein / Biobehavioral Perspectives in Criminology
The Science Treatment and Prevention of Antisocial Behavior: Applications to the Criminal Justice System. 2 vols / 2001
1999/
2004
Rowe / Biology and Crime / 2002
Walsh
Walsh & Beaver / “Behavior Genetics and Anomie/Strain Theory”
Biosocial criminology: Introduction and integration
Biology and criminology: The biosocial synthesis.
“Evolutionary psychology and criminal behavior.”
Feminist criminology through a biosocial lens.
Social class and crime: A biosocial approach.
Criminological Theory: Assessing Philosophical Assumptions
Biosocial Criminology: New Directions in Theory and Research / 2000
2002
2009
2006
2011
2011
2014
2009
Nelson / Biology of Aggression / 2006
Rutter / Genes and Behavior: Nature-nurture Interplay Explained / 2006
Anderson / Biological Influences on Criminal Behavior / 2007
Ross & Hilborn / Rehabilitating Rehabilitation: Neurocriminology for Treatment of Antisocial Behavior / 2008
Beaver / “Molecular genetics and crime”
Biosocial Criminology: A Primer / 2009
2009
Psychological and Psychoanalytical Theory of Crime
One early challenge to the founding biological theories came from the Freudian-influenced psychoanalysis popular in the early twentieth century. For thinkers such as Augusta Bronner, the root of crime lay in the failure of family socialization in a child’s early years, resulting in a defective personality. Thus, the antisocial delinquent act of vandalism might be explained by inadequate parenting leading to a failure to develop affective ties with others and therefore a lack of respect for their property.
KEY WORKS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY OF CRIMETHEORIST / MAJOR WORK / DATE
Freud / Civilization and its Discontents.
“Criminals from a Sense of Guilt” / 1927
1950
Healy
Healy & Bronner / The Individual Delinquent
Delinquents and Criminals: Their Making and Unmaking
New Light on Delinquency and its Treatment / 1915
1926
1936
Aichhorn / Wayward Youth / 1935
Bowlby / Forty-four Juvenile Thieves / 1944
Abrahamsen / Crime and the Human Mind
The Psychology of Crime / 1944
1960
Friedlander / The Psychoanalytical Approach to Juvenile Delinquency / 1947
Redl & Wineman / Children Who Hate
Controls from Within / 1951
1952
Personality Theory of Crime
Psychological and Psychoanalytical theories led to the development of a variety of psychological approaches:
Traditional psychiatric criminology
Contemporary psychiatric criminology
Forensic criminology
Organismic theory
Psychogenic theory
Criminal personality theory
Problem behavior theory
Cognitive theory
Criminal personality theory sees human personalities and personality traits developing from interaction with parents and significant others, which is why these theories are also seen as a subcategory of trait-based theory. Some traits produce tendencies or proclivities toward crime. Hans Eysenck’s (1964) criminal personality theory, for example, asserted that some people were less susceptible to conventional socialization because they were extroverted personalities. Others, such as Robert Hare and Adrian Raine, saw crime resulting from extreme personality defects such as psychopathy.
KEY WORKS OF PERSONALITY THEORY OF CRIMETHEORIST / MAJOR WORK / DATE
Cleckley / The Mask of Sanity / 1955
Trasler / The Explanation of Criminality / 1962
Eysenck
Eysenck & Gudjonsson / Crime and Personality
Personality Conditioning and Anti-social Behavior
The Causes and Cures of Criminality / 1964
1983
1989
Hare / Psychopathy: Theory and Research / 1970
Halleck / Psychiatry and the Dilemmas of Crime / 1971
Jessor & Jessor / Problem Behavior and Psychosocial Development / 1977
Raine / The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal behavior as a Clinical Disorder / 1993
Blair, Mitchell, & Blair / The Psychopath: Emotion and the Brain / 2005
Cognitive Theory of Crime
Cognitive theory superseded both the criminal personality theory of Hans Eysenck (1964), who asserted that some people are predisposed to being under-socialized because they are extroverted personalities—and the criminal thinking patterns theory of Samuel Yochelson and Stanton Samenow (1976, 1977), who maintained that people learn to think antisocially and then become locked into that way of thinking. While Samenow had moved the somewhat static personality theory to a more dynamic cognitive theory, major developments came from Albert Bandura, who began as a social learning theorist, and Aaron Beck.
KEY WORKS OF COGNITIVE THEORY OF CRIMETHEORIST / MAJOR WORK / DATE
Yochelson & Samenow / The Criminal Personality Vols. 1-3 / 1976
1977 1987
Samenow / Inside the Criminal Mind
Before It’s too Late: Why Some Children Get into Trouble and What Their Parents can do about it / 1984
2001
Ross and Fabiano / Time to Think: A Cognitive Model of Delinquency Prevention and Offender Rehabilitation / 1985
Bandura / Social Foundation of Thought and Acquisition
Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control
“A Social Cognitive Analysis of Substance Abuse: An Agentic Perspective”
“A Social Cognitive Theory: An Agentic Perspective” / 1986
1997
1999
2001
Beck / Prisoners of Hate: The Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility and Violence / 1999
Farrington / The Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) Theory / 2005
Personality Organization and Latent Trait Theories of Crime
More recent developments in trait-based theories of crime see traits emerging from interaction with a variety of factors, including treatment by others, particularly in ways others try to control their behavior and social and environmental conditions that can predispose them to more risk taking behaviors resulting in anti-social behavior, crime or victimization. These theories, which some call latent trait theory or personality organization theory, like cognitive theory, move away from a static version of personality traits toward a dynamic version that can be affected by a variety of factors including cognition. These theories overlap with and are sometimes discussed together with lifecourse development theories.
KEY WORKS OF PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION AND LATENT TRAIT THEORIES OF CRIMETHEORIST / MAJOR WORK / DATE
Mischel
Mischel & Shoda / Personality and Assessment
“A cognitive-affective system theory of personality” / 1968
1995
Patterson / Coercive Family Process / 1982
Rowe, Osgoode & Nicewander / A Latent-Trait Approach to Unifying Criminal Careers / 1990
Gottfredson & Hirschi / A General Theory of Crime / 1990
Colvin / Crime and Coercion: An Integrated Theory of chronic Criminality / 2000
Horney / “An alternative psychology of criminal behavior” / 2006
Lifecourse Theories of Crime and Developmental Criminology
Lifecourse theory argues that people’s propensity for crime is affected by significant events called “turning points” or “transitions” in the course of their life or in their life’s trajectory. These turning points can result in criminal activity becoming persistent or desistent and this can be early onset or late onset. In this theory, crime or its absence is related to age, and maturation out of crime or commitment to it.