SOCI 325 Lecture 6: The Classical Approach
20 Jun 2020
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Document Summary
People are pushing back against the notion that human behaviour is guided by temptation and possession. Some classical reformers and academics took great risks to topple that way of thinking and imposing a different way of thinking. Punishment was arbitrary: if you"re wealthy get no punishment, if poor get extreme punishment. Deviants were considered partially responsible for their misdeeds. Society does set up the crime or criminal to certain extent. In the times when we punished people in most hurtful way, crime rates were highest. Foucault has argued that why is it that when punishment became more gentle, crime rates go down. Many people today in favour of restorative punishment, but reality is decrease in crime is linked to more leniency in punishment. When we dropped punishment, we increased certainty of getting caught. To catch people more frequently, that will have high deterrence value. They (bentham and beccaria) challenged monarchy of europe.
