URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY

San Vicente West, Urdaneta City

College of Criminal Justice Education

Subject: Theories of Crime Causation

Schedule: MTW/ 3pm – 4pm

Student: Antonio, Mark Anthony C.

Disono, Bryan Joshua D.

Ellamar, Arvie A.

Rafanan, Kenneth C.

Date:

Criminology and Penology

Criminology is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the scientific study of crime. Penology is the
scientific study of the methods and consequences of the punishment of crime. The relationship between crime and mental
illness is well established, but it is also complex and frequently misunderstood, as we shall explore in detail in this
module. There is also a disproportionate level of mental illness and psychiatric vulnerability within the prison system, and
prisons are familiar working environments for the psychiatrist. It is thus essential that all psychiatrists have a good basic
understanding of the principles of criminology and penology. Indeed, psychiatrists have an important role to play in the
continuing development of the criminal justice system.

What is Penology?

Penology is the study of punishment in relation to the crime. It is concerned with the control and prevention of crime
and the treatment of youthful offenders. Here are some definitions of Penology given by popular penologists.

 F Lieber : It is a branch of criminal science which occupies itself, or ought to do so with the punishment of the criminal.
 Dr. P K Sen : It lays down the fundamental principles that should guide the State, or the sovereign authority in framing its
schemes of punishment.

Models of Penology

1.Retributive Justice Model - Many of the early professional specialists were expert at execution, torture and mutilation,
In fact, the Code of Hammurabi (world's first legal code) didn't specify much of a role for judges, but did specify a
substantial role for those whose job it was to chop off hands or impale somebody on a stake. Under the Code of
Hammurabi, "Sympathetic" an attempt was made to enact punishment or justice in the form of:
a. life for life e. eye for eye
b. tooth for tooth f. hand for hand
c. foot for foot g. burning for burning
d. wound for wound h. stripe for stripe

A similar philosophy is expressed in the bible (Exodus 21:23-25). Punishment of this type
follows the principle of lex talionis (the law of retaliation) and it is based on the notion of talion
(equivalence between crime and its punishment).

Philosophy of Retribution

a. Proportionality- The notion of proportionality is the Idea that we can rank the order of the seriousness of the crime as
well as standard progression in the penalties to administer.

b. Just Desert- Just desert is the right term if we consider the culpability (degree of intent or wilfulness ) of each offender
in addition to the ranked seriousness of his/her offense. That punishment id deserved by the wrongdoer simply because
he/she committed a transgression (Packer 1968). In other word, there should be no other purpose for punishment other
than it is deserved.

c. Equity - It exist if we take consistency to the extreme and see to it that all offenders who commit the same crime with
the same degree of culpability get exactly the same punishment.

d. Reciprocity- It is present if we look at the punishment as a natural part of the social order and feel satisfied that the
offender has been appropriately punished.

e. Retributive - If offender happens to agree with the appropriateness of the punishment, or at least accepts some blame
or shows remorse, or the upholding of human dignity through the mutual acceptance of a fair and just punishment.

2. Justice Model by David Fogel - It was first introduced in 1975 in the book, We Are the Living Proof: the Justice
Model for Correction. Basically, the justice model is a rejection of all hopes for rehabilitation and the indeterminate
sentence. The justice model also contains some strong views on penology, and been described as less concerned with the
administration of Justice than with the justice of administration.

This justice model holds that a correctional Institution exists to execute a sentence that primarily involves a
restriction on freedom of movement. Other than what is necessary to handle this mandate for restricted movement, each
inmate should be allowed (without lecture or advice) to choose whatever rehabilitation program the prison provides, but
even if the inmate chooses not to participate in anything, the prison administration must demonstrate how the confinement
(without rehabilitation) Is still serving justice by treating inmates with dignity, respect and due process.

3.Utilitarianism Model - The philosophy of utilitarianism developed at a time in history when intellectuals were
concerned with the idea of social contract Social Contract consists basically of the doctrine that an individual is only
bound to society by their consent, and that through this consent (often implied if the person remains in that society and
doesn’t move), society has a reciprocal responsibility to them (Such as protecting their life, property, and welfare). Such
intellectuals Montesquieu (1689-1755), Voltaire (1694-1778), Rousseau (1712-1778), Beccaria (1738- 1794), and
utilitarianism as other did. Bentham (1748-1832) all played a large part in shaping the philosophy of

Utilitarian Perspective

The root word in utilitarianism is "utility" which means "useful". Punishment exists to ensure the continuance of
society and to deter people from committing crimes. Deterrence comes, not from trying to be harsh, but from punishment
that is
a. appropriate (severity),
b. prompt (celerity), and
c. inevitable (certainty)

Prisons and penology are of particular interest to utilitarian because prisons are supposed to be the least costly
way to accomplish "pain with a purpose".

Kinds of Deterrence

1. Specific Deterrence (Individual Deterrence) – Often takes the form of an order principle incapacitation. The
idea is to make it impossible for an individual to commit another crime, at least while they're in prison. Specific
deterrence calls for inmate to be closely guarded and monitored at all times. In fact, Bentham proposed a type of prison
system as the Panopticon design (Panopticon Prison) (Panopticon means all-seeing eye).

2. General deterrence (Societal Deterrence) - It is what most people means when they speak of deterrence. The
principle here is that other (potential criminals) will want to avoid criminal behaviour because of the example provided by
punishment.

"A person is punished not so much because they deserved it but in order that other will not be inclined to
do the same or simillar thing.”

This kind of goal makes prisons responsible for crime prevention as police are expected to be. Some basic tenets
in the principle of deterrence:
a. punishment must be used to uphold society at all cost,
b. prisoners should be treated as means to an end,
c. Justice employees ought to be hyper-vigilant in crime detection,
d. the public ought to intimately know about the penal sanction,
e. the threat of punishment may work as well as actual punishment
4. Redemption or Restorative Justice Model

Restorative Justice, a current redemptive philosophy in criminal justice tends to be faith based initiatives, and or
religious-based correctional intervention. Restorative justice approaches are sometimes called;
a. communitarian justice
b. re-integrative justice
c. redemptive justice