Classical and Neo-Classical Schools, Essay Example

Classical school, which was represented by such philosophers as Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham, is focused primarily on the principals of free will and punishment. According to this stream of criminology, every person has a free will to act in some way or another. Secondly, the severity of the punishment must be equal to the level of the committed crime. In its turn, neo-classical school of criminology is based on the principals of classical school. It also supports the idea that punishment is the way of responding to the crime. Courts, law enforcement, imprisonment are the parts of punishment. Both theories are concerned with the very action of the crime, but not with its causes.

Though these schools are very similar, there are some differences in how the punishment is perceived.  In classical school of criminology, “there should be as little law as possible, and its implementation should be delineated by due process” (Hamlin, 2009). Neo-classical school justifies increased monitoring, huge development of the judicial branch, etc. Secondly, in classical school, there are no special circumstances that may affect the process of punishment. If the person has committed a crime, he/she should be found guilty. In neoclassical school, there are certain mitigating circumstances, which may decrease the severity of the punishment.

References

Hamlin, J. (2009). Social theories of deviance. Classical School Criminology. Retrieved May 6, 2009 from http://www.d.umn.edu/~jhamlin1/classical.html.