18th Century Enlightenment

During the 18th century Enlightenment the concept of rights, classical criminology, came into play. This was a time before law was “relational and obligational” (Classical). These ideas can be traced back all the way back to John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau with “life, liberty, and property” (Siegel 92). With classical criminology comes four basic elements. First, “people in society have free will to choose criminal or conventional solutions to meet their needs or settle their problems” (Siegel 92). Secondly, “criminal solutions may be more attractive than conventional ones, because they usually require less work for a greater payoff” (Siegel 92). Thirdly, “a person’s choice of criminal solutions may be controlled by fear of society’s reaction

His approach to punishment was more rational which created utilitarism. Utilitarism “maintains that people are basically rational creatures who choose their own courses of action” (Siegel 93). Beccaria believed that to prevent crime the “adjudication and punishment should be swift, severe, and certain” (Classical). Beccaria stated, “The fundamental principle that should govern the creation and maintenance of laws is ‘the greatest happiness to be shared by the greatest number of people’” (Siegel 93). Beccaria believed that “criminals have control over their behavior, they choose to commit crimes and they can be deterred by the threat of punishment” (Classical). In 1764 Cesare Beccaria published his ideas on classical criminology in his book, On Crimes and Punishments. He wrote in response to the obituary abuse in the justice system, how to best respond to crime, involvement of man’s behavior in criminal behavior, man is a self-serving individual that do things that benefit to them, and argued in order for punishment to be effective it needs to meet three criteria. Beccaria was taking a huge step by publishing his book because it was during a time with push backs against monarchies. When On Crimes and Punishments was published

“Routine activities refer to generalized patterns of social activities in a society” (Routine). Routine activities structured in society is “influences what kinds of situations people confront” (Routine). With this theory there are three criteria that are meet in order for crime to occur. First, a suitable target must be present. This could be an individual or an object. Second, a capable guardian is absent which could be a person, pet, or sign. Thirdly, a motivated offender is at the potential scene. If any one of the criteria is missing crime should not