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CRIMINOLOGY
- according to Edwin H. Sutherland, “criminology is the entire body of knowledge regarding crime as
a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the process of making of laws, of breaking of
laws, and the society’s reaction towards the breaking of laws.”
- Criminology is a body of knowledge regarding crimes, criminals and the efforts of society to prevent
and repress them.
- the scientific study of the causes of crime in relation to man and society who set and define rules
and regulations for himself and others to govern
Is criminology a science?
According to George Wilker, criminology cannot become a science because it has not yet acquired
universal validity. Edwin H. Sutherland, the Dean of Modern Criminology, hoped that it will become a science
in the future since the causes of crimes are almost the same which may be biological, environmental or
combination of the two.
Nature of Criminology
1. It is applied science because criminology as a body of knowledge has already established universally
accepted principles and concepts and these are used by other field of study. (INSTRUMENTATION)
2. It is a social science because it studies crime as a social phenomenon. Crime is a social problem which
has a great impact to society.
3. It is dynamic because the concepts of criminology and their applications adapt to the changing time.
4. It is nationalistic because the study of criminology takes into consideration the history, the culture and
the social norms and the laws of the country. Each country has its own set of laws and crimes are
defined by the laws of the country.
CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES
LEGAL CLASSIFICATIONS:
1. According to law violated
a. Felony – an act or omission punishable by law which is committed by means of dolo (deceit) or
culpa (fault)and punishable under the Revised Penal Code
b. Offense – an act or omission in violation of a special law
c. Infraction – an act or omission in violation of a city or municipal ordinance
2. According to the manner of committing crime:
a. By means of dolo or deceit – if the crime is committed with deliberate intent. Thus, it is called
intentional felonies.
freedom or voluntariness
intelligence
intent
b. By means of culpa or fault
- felonies committed by means of culpa (fault)
- the act or omission of the offender is not malicious and the injury caused by the offender is
unintentional, it being the simply the incident of another act performed without malice
lack of foresight
lack of skill
negligence
imprudence
3. According to the stages in the commission:
a. Attempted – the crime is attempted when the offender commences the commission of a felony
directly or over acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce the
felony by reason of some cause or accident other than this own spontaneous desistance.
b. Frustrated - when the offender performs all the acts of execution which would produce the
felony as a consequence but which, nevertheless do not produce it by reason of causes
independent of the will of the perpetrator.
c. Consummated - when all the elements necessary for its accomplishment and execution are
present
4. According to plurality:
a. Simple Crime – is a single act constituting only one offense.
b. Complex Crime – single act constituting two or more grave felonies or an is a necessary
means for committing the other
Two (2) Kinds of Complex Crime:
1. compound crime (delito compuesto)
2. complex crime proper (delito complejo)
5. According to gravity:
a. Grave felonies - are those to which the law attaches the capital punishment or penalties which in
any of their period are afflictive.
b. Less grave felonies - are those which the law punishes with penalties which in their maximum
period are correctional.
c. Light felonies - are infraction of laws for the commission of which the penalty of arresto menor or a
fine not exceeding 200 pesos or both is provided.
6. According to the nature of the act:
a. Crimes mala in se – are acts that are inherently evil. Examples are murder, robbery, etc.
b. Crimes mala prohibita – are acts which are prohibited only because there are laws forbidding
such acts. Examples are Illegal Possession of firearms, Traffic Violations, etc.
CRIMINAL
- in the legal sense, a criminal is any person who has been found to have committed a wrongful act in
the course of the standard judicial process; there must be a final verdict of his guilt
- in the criminological sense, a person is already considered a criminal the moment he committed a
crime
CLASSIFICATIONS OF CRIMINALS
1. According to etiology
a. Acute criminal – is a person who committed crime as a result of reacting to a situation or during a
moment of anger or burst of feeling.
b. Chronic criminal – is one who committed a crime with intent or deliberated thinking.
1. Neurotic criminal – is one who has mental disorder.
2. Normal criminal – a person who commits crimes because he looks up to, idolizes people
who are criminals.
2. According to the type of offender:
a. Ordinary criminal – a criminal who engages in crimes which do not require specialized or technical
skill
b. Organized criminal – is one who possesses some skills and know-how which enable him to
commit crimes and evade detection.
c. Professional criminal – a highly skilled criminals which are engaged in a large scale criminal
activities ad usually operate in groups.
3. According to criminal activities:
a. Professional criminal – a criminal who earns his living through criminal activities.
b. Situational criminal – a person who got involved in criminal act because the situation presented
itself.
c. Habitual criminal – one who repeatedly commits criminal act for different reasons.
d. Accidental criminal – a person who accidentally violated the law due to some circumstances.
STUDY OF CRIMINAL LAW
EVOLUTION OF CRIMINAL LAWS
A) PREHISTORIC CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Primitive Tribes
- punishment may be in the form of ostracism and expulsion
- adultery may be punished by the aggrieved husband who may kill the adulterer and his own offending
wife
- crime may be avenged by the victim himself or by the victim’s family
1) CODE OF HAMMURABI
- Hammurabi, the king of Babylon during the eighteenth century BC, is recognized as the first codifier of
laws
- it provides the first comprehensive view of the laws in the early days
- the Code was carved in stone
- the “law of talion”, or the principle of “tit for tat”,(an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth) appears
throughout the Code
- under the principle of the law of talion, the punishment should be the same as the harm inflicted on
the victim
2) THE HITTITES
- the Hittites existed about two centuries after Hammurabi and eventually conquered Babylon
3) CODE OF DRAKON
- knows as the “ultimate in severity”
- codified by Drakon, the Athenian lawgiver of the seventh century BC
4) LAWS OF SOLON
- Solon was appointed archon and was given legislative powers
- Solon repealed all the laws of the Code of Drakon, except the law on homicide
- Solon was one of the first to see that a lawgiver had to make laws that applied equally to all citizens
and also saw that the law of punishment had to maintain proportionality to the crimes committed
CRIMINAL LAW
– is that branch of public law which defines crimes treats of their nature and provides for their
punishment.
3. Prospectivity - the provisions of the RPC cannot be applied if the act is not yet punishable on
the time the felony was committed. However, it may have a retroactive effect if it is favorable to
the accused who is not a habitual delinquent.
5. It is uniform in application.
An act described as a crime is a crime no matter who committed it, wherever committed in the
Philippines and whenever committed. No exceptions must be made as to the criminal liability. The
definition of crimes together with the corresponding punishment must be uniformly construed, although
there may be a difference in the enforcement of a given specific provision of the penal law.
Theory – set of statements devised to explain behavior, events or phenomenon, especially one that has
been repeatedly tested and widely accepted.
1. DEMONOLOGICAL THEORY - asserts that a person commits wrongful acts due to the fact that he
was possessed by demons.
HIGHLIGHTS OF CESARE BECCARIA’S IDEAS REGARDING CRIMES AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM
1. In forming a human society, men and women sacrifice a portion of their libery so as to enjoy peace and
security.
2. Punishments that go beyond the need of preserving the public safety are in their nature unjust.
3. Criminal laws must be clear and certain. Judges must make uniform judgments in similar crimes.
4. The law must specify the degree of evidence that will justify the detention of an accused offender prior
to his trial.
5. Accusations must be public. False accusations should be severely punished.
6. To torture accused offenders to obtain a confession is inadmissible.
7. The promptitude of punishment is one of the most effective curbs on crime.
8. The aim of punishment can only be to prevent the criminal from committing new crimes against his
countrymen, and to keep others from doing likewise. Punishments, therefore, and the method of
inflicting them, should be chosen in due proportion to the crime, so as to make the most lasting
impression on the minds of men…
9. Capital punishment is inefficacious and its place should be substituted life imprisonment.
10. It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. That is the chief purpose of all good legislation.
Utilitarianism
– is a philosophy which argues that what is right is the one that would cause the greatest good for the
greatest number of people.
- others refer to it as the greatest happiness principle or the principle of utility.
- from this principle, Bentham formulated the “felicific calculus”.
Felicific Calculus or the pleasure-and-pain principle – is a theory that proposes that individuals calculate the
consequences of his actions by weighing the pleasure (gain) and the pain (suffering) he would derive from
doing the action.
3. NEOCLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY
This theory modified the doctrine of free will by stating that free will of men may be affected by
other factors and crime is committed due to some compelling reasons that prevail. These causes are
pathology, incompetence, insanity or any condition that will make it impossible for the individual to
exercise free will entirely. In the study of legal provisions, this is termed as either mitigating or
exempting circumstances.
August Comte
- was a French philosopher and sociologist and is believed to be the one who reinvented the French
term sociologie.
- he was recognized as the “Father of Sociology and Positivism”.
Cesare Lombroso
- recognized as the “Father of Modern and Empirical Criminology” due to his application of modern
scientific methods to trace criminal behavior, however, most of his ideas are now discredited
- known for the concept of atavistic stigmata (the physical features of creatures at an earlier stage of
development).
- he claimed that criminals are distinguishable from non-criminals due to the presence of atavistic
stigmata and crimes committed by those who are born with certain recognizable heredity traits.
- according to his theory, criminals are usually in possession of huge jaws and strong canine teeth, the
arm span of criminals is often greater than their height, just like that of apes who use their forearms to
push themselves along the ground.
- other physical stigmata include deviation in head size and shape, asymmetry of the face, excessive
dimensions of the jaw and cheekbones, eye defects and peculiarities, ears of unusual size, nose
twisted, upturned or flattened in thieves, or aquiline or beaklike in murderers, fleshy lips, swollen and
protruding, and pouches in the cheek like those of animal’s toes
- Lombroso’s work supported the idea that the criminal was a biologically and physically inferior person
Enricco Ferri
- he focused his study on the influences of psychological factors and sociological factors such as
economics, on crimes.
- He believed that criminals could not be held morally responsible because they did not choose to
commit crimes, but rather were driven to commit crimes by conditions in their lives.
Raffaelle Garofallo
- He treated the roots of the criminals’ behavior not to physical features but to their psychology
equivalent, which he referred to as moral anomalies.
- He rejected the doctrine of freewill.
- Classified criminals as Murderers, Violent Criminals, Deficient Criminals, and Lascivious Criminals.
1. BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
- this refers to the set of theories that point to physical, physiological and other natural factors as the
causes for the commission of crimes of certain individuals.
- This explanation for the existence of criminal traits associates an individual’s evil disposition to
physical disfigurement or impairment.
a. Physiognomy – the study of facial features and their relation to human behavior.
b. Phrenology, Craniology or Cranioscopy – the study of the external formation of the skull in
relation to the person’s personality and tendencies toward criminal behavior.
1. Franz Joseph Gall
- he developed cranioscopy which was later renamed as phrenology.
c. Physiology or Somatotype – refers to the study of body build of a person in relation to his
temperament and personality and the type of offense he is most prone to commit.
1. Ernst Kretschmer
- he distinguished three (3) principal types of physiques: asthenic, athletic, pyknik and
dysplastic.
a. asthenic – characterized as thin, small and weak.
b. athletic – muscular and strong.
c. pyknic – stout, round and fat.
d. dysplastic – combination of two body types
2. PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES
- refers to the theories that attribute criminal behavior of individuals to psychological factors, such as
emotion and mental problems.
a. Sigmund Freud
- he is recognized as the FATHER OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
- known for his psychoanalytic theory
- according to him, criminality is caused by the imbalance of the three (3) components of
personality: the id, the ego, and the superego.
- according to him there are three parts of personality:
1. ID – this stands for instinctual drives; it is governed by the “pleasure principle”; the id
impulses are not social and must be repressed or adapted so that they may become socially
acceptable
2. EGO – this is considered to be the sensible and responsible part of an individual’s personality
and is governed by the “reality principle”; it is developed early in life and compensates for the
demands of the id by helping the individual guide his actions to remain within the boundaries of
accepted social behavior; it is the objective, rational part of the personality
3. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
- sociological factors refer to things, places and people with whom we come in contact with and
which play a part in determining our actions and conduct. These causes may bring about the
development of criminal behavior.
a. Emile Durkheim
- he stated that crime is a normal part of the society just like birth and death.
- proposed the concept of “anomie” or the absence of social norms. It is characterized
by disorder due to lack of common values shared by individuals, lack of respect for
authority and lack of appreciation for what is acceptable and not acceptable in a society.
b. Gabriel Tarde
- introduced the theory of imitation which proposes the process by which people
become criminals.
- according to this theory, individuals imitate the behavior of other individuals based on
the degree of their association with other individuals and it is inferior or weak who tend to
imitate the superior and strong.
b. Strain Theory
- strain refers the individual’s frustration, anger and resentment.
- holds that crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they
can use to legally obtain them. This also argues that the ability to obtain these goals is class
dependent; members of the lower class are unable to achieve these goals which come easily to
those belonging to the upper class. Consequently, they feel anger, frustration and resentment,
referred to as STRAIN.
d. attachment – refers to the degree to which an individual care about the opinions of
others.
e. commitment – refers to an individual’s investment of energy and emotion in
conventional pursuits, such as getting good grades.
f. involvement – refers to the amount of time an individual spends on a conventional
pursuit.
g. belief – refers to acceptance of the norms of conventional society.
CRIME STATISTICS
- refers to the measure of the level or amount of crimes.
- The collection or study of numerical data of crimes recorded/reported to the police.
- it uses the terms index crimes and non-index crimes in classifying crimes.
Index crimes are crimes which are sufficiently significant and which occur with sufficient regularity to be
meaningful, such as murder, homicide, physical injury, robbery, theft and rape.
Non-index crimes are crimes that are not classified as index crimes. Violations of special laws and other
crimes against moral and order. These crimes are generated from the result of positive police initiated
operations.
STATISTICAL FORMULA:
1. Crime Solution Efficiency (CSE) – percentage of solved cases out of the total number of reported
crime incidents handled by the police for a given period of time. It is a general measure of law
enforcement agency’s investigative capability or efficiency.
Formula:
2. Crime Rate – the number of incidents in a given period of time for every 100, 000 inhabitants of an
area/place.
Formula:
𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
CR = {_________________________} 𝑋 100, 000
𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
3. Average Monthly Crime Rate (AMCR) – the average number of crime incidents occurred per month
for every 100, 000 inhabitants in a certain area.
Formula:
𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
AMCR = { _________________ } 𝑋 100, 000 ÷ 𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠
𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
4. Variance (or % change) – one way of analyzing crime trends. It measures the percentage change over
a given period of time.
Formula:
5. Crime Analysis
Formula:
Formula:
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒
{ ________________________________________________________ } 𝑋 100
𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑒