The Classical School of Criminology

The main exponents of Classical School were William Blackstone (1723-80). Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). Samuel Romilly (1757-1878) Feuerbach (1775-1833). Robert Peel : Rossi Rane Gorraud, etc.

The main tenets of the classical school of criminology are noted below:

(i) Man’s emergence from the State involved the application of his reason as a responsible individual.

(ii) It is the act of an individual and not his intent which forms the basis for determining criminality in him. In other words, criminologists are concerned with the ‘act' of the criminal rather than his ‘intent. They could never think that there could be something like crime causation.

(iii) The classical writers accepted punishment as a principal method of infliction of pain, humiliation and disgrace to create 'fear’in man to control his behaviour.

(iv) The propounders of this school, however, considered prevention of crime more important than the punishment for it. Thus the real contribution of the classical school of criminology lies in the fact that it underlined the need for a well-defined criminal justice system.

(v) The advocates of classical school supported the right of the Státe to punish the offenders in the interest of public security. Relying on the hedonistic principle of pain and pleasure, they pointed out that individualisation was to be the basis of punishment.

(vi) The exponents of classical school further believed that criminal law primarily rests on positive sanctions. They were against the use of arbitrary powers of Judges. In their opinion, the Judges should limit their verdicts strictly within the confines of the law. They also abhorred torturous punishments.

Thus classical school propounded by Beccaria came into existence as a result of the influence of writings of Montesquie, Hume, Bacon and Rousseau. His famous work Essays on Crimes and Punishment received wide acclamation all over Europe and gave a fillip to new criminological thinking in the contemporary west. He sought to humanise the criminal law by insisting on the natural rights of human beings. He raised his voice against severe punishment, torture and the death penalty.

The contribution of the classical school to the development of rationalised criminological thinking was by no means less important, nevertheless, it has its own pitfalls. The major shortcoming of the classical school was that it proceeded on an abstract presumption of free will and relied solely on the act (i.e., the crime) without devoting any attention to the state of mind of the criminal. It erred in prescribing equal punishment for the same offence thus making no distinction between first offenders and habitual criminals. However, the greatest achievement of this school of criminology lies in the fact that it suggested a substantial criminal policy that was easy to administer without resort to the imposition of arbitrary punishment.

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Dr. Deepak Miglani, Email Id.:- legalbuddy@gmail.com