CRM/LAW C7 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Scientific Method, Critical Criminology
8 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Week 1: lecture 1 - human behavior & crime control. Emerges out of the enlightenment and the social contract. Humans freely and willingly give up part of their liberty to the state. Punishment is necessary and justified when laws are broken and the public is endangered. People know what they are doing, and if they break a law, they should be punished. Equality before the law is the fundamental principle. Rule of law - legislators make laws and set punishment. Judges" only job is to determine guilt or innocence. Punishment should fit the crime, not the criminal. If i want to prevent crime, then i should fiddle with those 3 settings to find the right recipe to deter crime. Punishment should only be so severe so that pain is greater than pleasure. We shouldn"t be punishing people just to punish them. Certainty and swiftness of punishment are more crucial to the prevention of crime than is severity.
