Positivism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Positivism - Essay Example Contrastingly, the school of positivism which followed, introduced the scientific method of the natural sciences for studying criminal behavior. Though the main elements of the two concepts: classical criminology and positivism focus on different issues as causal factors, both emphasize the role of social factors in fuelling crime, as well as psychological, biological and economic reasons underlying criminal behavior. The classical school’s emphasis on the free will of individuals resulting in behavior patterns, which could be corrected by appropriate punishment, was replaced by the positivist school which was geared only towards practical goals such as the elimination of anti-social conduct (Taylor et al, 1973), and not hampered by irrelevant philosophical, ethical, religious, and retributory beliefs of classical criminology. Originating in eighteenth century Europe, classical criminology was the study of human criminal behavior, in which the basic theory was that people are rational human beings who choose to commit criminal behavior, and can be discouraged from doing so by the threat of punishment as consequence for criminal behavior (Burke, 2005). Classical criminology, based on social contract theories formulated by Hobbes, Montesquieu and Rousseau, was developed by reformers such as Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794). This approach described the motive behind the crime, and the method for its control. It was meant to be a more moderate and just approach to crime and punishment, instead of public executions which served to frighten people into obedience. On the other hand, positivism is the branch of social sciences that uses the scientific method of the natural sciences as a basis for studying criminal behavior. According to positivism, human behavior results as a manifestation of several forces: social, b iological, psychological, and economic (Siegel, 2007). In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for