SOCI 2450 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Giambattista Della Porta, Cesare Beccaria, Physiognomy
19 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Neoclassical period = late 18th to mid-19th c. scientific discoveries and founding of new scholarly disciplines (i. e. criminology) Classical criminology: attempt to apply rationality and the rule of law to brutal and arbitrary criminal justice processes. Judges had discretionary power to convict a person for an act not legally defined as criminal. Classical criminology as reaction against barbaric system of law, punishment, and justice. No real cjs in europe until french revolution, 1789. Lettres de cachet: individual could be imprisoned for almost any reason or for no reason at all. 14th-17th c core of gov"t in europe was christian church (e. g. witch hunt) Punishments branding, burning, flogging, mutilating, drowning, banishing, beheading, etc. Europe grew increasingly modern/industrial/urban in 18th c still medieval penal practices. Growing educated classes began to see inconsistencies in policies. Mid-18th c social reformers beginning to suggest more rational approach to crime & punishment.
