PICT103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Enrico Ferri, Impulsivity, Hominidae
8 May 2018
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Course
Professor
Pict103 – Module 4
Individual Factors that influence crime
Personality
Upbringing
Emotional Maturity
Age/Gender
Family Background
Mental Health
Personal Morality
Employment Status
Past Trauma
Genetics
Marital Status
Substance use/abuse
Intelligence
Culture
o Our understanding of why crime is caused is what forms the basis of our responses, both
socially and institutionally from the criminal justice system.
o If we get the explanation or theory wrong then our response will also be wrong.
o It is therefore crucial that our understanding of crime causation is as robust and empirically
(evidence) based as possible.
o We need to avoid simplistic assumptions, reflexive political positions (left or right) and
question so-alled oo-sese pespectives.
• Classical Criminology + Rational Choice
• Classical Criminology:
o Notable scholars: Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
o Forms the basis for most modern criminal justice systems
o Rests on assumptions, including:
o Humans are motivated by self-interest
o Humans are rational and calculating of pleasure and pain
o Individuals have responsibility for their own actions
• Hedonistic Calculus:
o Bentham claimed that pleasure vs. pain determine all human decision-making
o Each decision involves a rational person weighing up the potential benefits/pleasure
against costs/pain
o There are different types of pleasure and pain, including moral and spiritual as well as
physical
o When benefits outweigh costs then people commit crime
o Expressed mathematically:
• pleasure > pain = crime
• Rational Choice Theory:
o Contemporary version of classical theory – neo-classical
o Assues offedes ae oal, atioal deisio akes
o Focus is on the immediate environment and present time
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