Term of Criminology

Anthropometry: The attempt to derive character traits by measuring the human body. Anthropometrical approaches to crimininality include Lombroso's measurement of atavistic stigmata, and Sheldon's measurement of general physique, or "somatotype."

Atavism: Atavism refers to Lombroso's theory that while most individuals evolve, some devolve, becoming primitive or "atavistic". These evolutionary "throwbacks" are "born criminals," the most violent criminals in society. Born criminals could be identified through their atavistic stigmata. (For a good account of Lombroso's theories of atavism, see Gould's The Mismeasure of Man, pages 151-75.)

Celerity: Swiftness. Beccaria argues that in order to be an effective deterrent, punishments must possess celerity. A punishment that occurs quickly after the crime helps to form a strong connection between the punishment and the crime in the minds of the general public, so that whenever a citizen contemplates a criminal act, he will instantly recall the punishment and weigh it into his deliberation. See also certainty and severity.

Certainty: According to Beccaria, a punishment must be certain to follow from the crime in order to be an effective deterrent. The greater the extent to which a would-be offender thinks that she can get away with a crime, the less she will weigh the punishment into her deliberation of whether or not to commit the crime. See also celerity and severity, or play the proportionality game!

Constitutional Theories: Theories such as Lombroso's or Sheldon's that locate the origins of criminality in a person's biological or psychological make-up. Refers to one's physical constitution (not a legal constitution).

Culture: The development of criminology to some degree can be told as the story of a deepening understanding of culture. For early sociological criminologists—and for many today—'culture' is primarily understood as the values and goals that orient individual actors. Many subcultural and labeling theorists deepen this understanding, seeing a 'culture' as the understandings and behaviors that arise, in the words of Howard Becker, ". . . in response to a problem faced in common by a group of people . . ." (Outsiders, 81). Finally, recent criminologists—especially feminist and critical criminologists—view culture very broadly, as the beliefs and values, tastes and interests, knowledge, behavior, and even the very ways that individuals conceive their of 'selves'. Culture, in short, has come to be seen as the fabric out of which the social is made.

Deterrence: A strategy of punishment associated with the Classical School. Deterrence can either be specific, punishing an individual so that she won't commit a crime again, or general, punishing an individual to set an example to society, so that others will not commit the same crime. For the Classical School, punishment was primarily justified in terms of general deterrence. See also Retribution, Rehabilitation, and Incapacitation.

Etiology: The study of the causes or origins of behavior. Positivist approaches to criminology are characterized by their interest in determining the etiology of criminal behavior.

"Ex-Post Facto": Laws that apply retroactively, that is, to punish actions conducted before they were pronounced illegal.

Free Will: For Beccaria and the classical school, even though people are hedonistic, they also possess reason, and can therefore calculate the course of action that is really in their self-interest. This gives them a degree of freedom over their situation.

Hedonism: The idea held by the classical school, that people only act according to what they find pleasurable and in their self-interest. See also Free Will/Reason.

Incapacitation: A strategy of punishment associated with positivist approaches to criminology. Sick offenders are removed from society (institutionalized or imprisoned) if they cannot be cured and rehabilitated, in order to protect society from harm. See also Deterrence and Retribution.

Positivism: In criminology, 'positivism' has two meanings. (1) Specifically, it refers to the evolutionary assumptions and scientific methods of the 'positivist school' of criminology. (2) More generally, it is used to characterize all approaches to criminology that are primarily concerned with questions of etiology, and which believe that social phenomena can and should be explained in the manner of the natural sciences. And the origins of the term? Talk to Comte.

"Promoting the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number . . .": The purpose of laws and punishments for the classical school. Thinkers differ, however, on who the "greatest number" are. For Beccaria and other thinkers who believed that the state should be conceived as a social contract, this meant that because the state was created by a decision made by each one of its citizens, it was obligated to produce the greatest good shared equally among all of its citizens. For Bentham, whose utilitarianism accepted that the purpose of legislation should be "promoting the greatest happiness for the greatest number" but rejected the idea of the social contract, the "greatest number" could mean the greatest good for the majority of people in society. . . so that the interests of particular individuals might need to be sacrificed for the greater social good. See The Social Contract Exercise to learn how the social contract can be used to argue for social and legal equality.

Proportionality: The Classical School believed that punishments could only deter if they were "proportional" to their crime, where proportionality means (1) that the severity of punishments correspond to the severity of the harm done by the crime, so that more serious crimes receive more serious punishments, and (2) that the type of punishment resembles the crime, so that others in society can best associate the punishment with the crime (see general deterrence). Beccaria further argues that proportionality is the only punishment that is morally acceptable according to the social contract. Examine Beccaria's arguments and play The Proportionality Game... or go straight to chapter 6 of Beccaria's On Crimes and Punishments!

Reciprocal Obligation: The basis of the social contract according to The Classical School. Because people are hedonistic, driven by their self-interest, yet rational, capable of rationally considering what is really in their self-interest, they will come to the conclusion that life is more pleasurable with a degree of security—attained by everyone in society promising not to act in ways that will harm others. These "reciprocal obligations"—the promises that all rational individuals would make in a society—can be considered a society's fundamental "social contract."

Rehabilitation: A strategy of punishment associated with positivist approaches to criminology. Offenders are understood to be sick; the state attempts to cure them and reintroduce them into society. See also Incapacitation, Retribution, and Deterrence.

Retribution: A justification for punishment that argues the guilty must be punished not, or not only, for instrumental ends, but because criminal actions simply 'deserve' to be punished. See also Deterrence, Rehabilitation, and Incapacitation.

Somatotyping: The derivation of behavioral types from particular forms of the body. Somatotyping was first applied to criminology by William Sheldon and Eleanor and Sheldon Glueck.

Severity: According to Beccaria, punishments ought to proportional in their severity. See also certainty and celerity, and Beccaria's arguments on proportionality.

Social Contract: The idea of Beccaria and other members of the Classical School that government can be thought of as created by its citizens for certain shared and common ends. "Social contract theory" uses this notion to determine when laws are just or unjust, by arguing that just laws ought to be thought of as promises that everyone in society would realize is in their best interest to make to one another. To examine this argument in more detail, see Beccaria's argument for a social contract!

Stigmata: As a term of medicine, 'stigmata' refers to the physical marks and characteristics that suggest an individual is abnormal. For Lombroso, 'atavistic stigmata' were those physical characteristics that suggested an individual to be atavistic. Such stigmata included abnormal skull sizes, hawk-like noses, large jaws and cheekbones, and fleshy lips.

Utilitarianism: Specifically, utilitarianism refers to the theory of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill that the overall utility or benefit produced by an action ought to be the standard by which we judge the worth or goodness of moral and legal action. More generally, utilitarian principles can be seen in the arguments of the early social contract theorists: the idea that government was utilitarian in nature followed from their understanding of human nature as hedonistic, and bringing about government because they realize it is in their benefit. See the social contract, "Promoting the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number," and instrumentalism.



* TERMS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE *


Correlates:

Epistemology: Strictly speaking, refers to philosophies or theories of the nature of knowledge. In social science, epistemology often refers to how individuals perceive "truth," and the social processes by which knowledge is constructed and accepted as "true."

Extrinsic: Existing outside of a thing.

Instrumental: Actions done to accomplish a greater consequence or end. For example, punishments carried out in the name of (general) deterrence punish particular individuals in order to prevent others in society from commiting the same actions; punishment teaches others in society a lesson. This is in contrast to retributionist justifications for punishments.

Inter-:

Intra-:

Macro-:

Micro-:

Reciprocal: Something exchanged, given, or owed between two or more individuals. According to The Classical School, the basis of order in society are those promises that every individual in society would make if they thought about it rationally, and therefore would make reciprocally.






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Courtesy of Crimetheory.com
© January 23, 2002

Posted in: Kuliah Kriminologi