Cesare Lombroso's Theory Of Criminal Justice

Cesare Lombroso was Italian Criminologist in the 1800’s that published theories of criminal behavior, including physiological theories of criminality. Lombroso, was a firm believer that criminality was inheritable and that there was a divergent biological category of humans that were susceptible to criminality. Part of Lombroso’s Atavistic Theory was that physical features individuals possessed such as: low sloping forehead, large, projection jaw, high cheekbones, flattened or upturned nose, insensitivity to pain, handle shaped ears, and baldness. Precisely, Lombroso also included in his theory that certain criminals (thieves or rapists), possessed distinct features that set them apart from other non - criminals. For a moment, Lombroso was …show more content…
In contrast, Cesare Beccaria, a Classical Theorist developed an essay “On Crime and Punishment” which he discussed diverse views on the death penalty, punishment, rights of offenders, how the criminal justice system should operate, and that citizens should be convicted by a panel of their peers, rather than judges. According to Harcourt (2013) stated: “Bentham and Beccaria agreed on the major outlines of their arguments: they both critiqued the brutalizing effect of excessive punishment and endorsed marginal deterrence as a limiting principle on punishment; they both favored speedy and certain punishments as a way to reinforce the associations of punishment with crime; and more generally, they agreed on the need for formal law and “legality” as giving legitimacy to the criminal justice system and the …show more content…
Positivist criminologists began to assert that the treatment should fit the criminal rather than the punishment should fit the crime. In effect, positivist criminology maintained that criminal actions were not the product of free wills but rather arose as a result of biological, psychological, economic, and social forces that propelled individuals into engaging in