Crime Through The Enlightenment Era

502 Words3 Pages
Through the Enlightenment era, many things were questioned and researched more than they ever had been before. Among these subject was crime causation, or the “why?” behind criminal activities. These theories that were created proposed that crime was beyond the element of mysticism and superstition that had been blamed before, instead implying that man was responsible for his own actions, all of which were products of free choice. These theories employed more rationality and logic behind criminology. Through the development of these ideas, several philosophers came up with five basic assumptions to make when questioning the causation of crime. The first is that crime is a product of human free will. Human beings have a base of rationality,