1700’s (demonological theory) – people believed that criminal acts were due to being possessed. They thought that criminals were sinners who didn’t have faith in god. late 18th century-Cesare Beccaria (free will theory aka classical school of thought)- Believed that criminals had free will and recieved benefits or pleasure from their crimes. He thought that if the punishment was harsher and fit the crime, then this would lessen the crime rate. late 1800’s-Cesare lombroso ( ativist theory ) – He believed that some people were born criminals.
He thought that certain genetics were the cause of criminal behavior, such as different hair or head shape, etc. late 1800’s-richard dugdale and henry goddard (family-type theory ) – the belief was that criminal behavior was genetic and ran through bloodlines. they even did studies on certain families. early 1900’s-sigmund freud (psychoanalytic theory ) – believed that criminal behavior wasn’t biological, but was psychological.
he thought that due to improper parental rearing in their early years that their pesonality didn’t develop properly. 1900-1940-clifford shaw and henry mckay(social disorganization theory) – they believed that criminal behavior came from the area the criminals lived in. so their theory was that certain areas had more criminals than others due to that specific area. late 1930’s-robert merton, Albert Cohen,(strain theory) – He theorized that criminal behavior was a response to social structure in american society. so instead of social disorganization, he thought it was more likely the pressure from society to act a certain way.
1949-William sheldon ( body-type theory ) – believed that strong large boned individuals were more likely than soft round or tall and thin people to be criminals.
