Chapter 2 Reflection

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Number and Name

Instructor Name`

Due Date

Chapter 2 Reflection

The issue of classical school is an important one in understanding criminology and how punishment methods evolved from around the 18th-century up to now. The classical school of thought is what introduced the new forms of punishment that were not present before and this made the society better because the level of crime was reduced a great deal (Paudel, 2020). All the different arguments presented by different people brought about a reform which made the society a better and a fair place to live in. these include the social contract, Beccaria, Bentham, and spiritual explanation of crime.

The social contract explains the relationship manly between governments and their citizens. However, it can also refer to other institutions which owe each other something due to their mutual nature of issues (Williams III & McShane, 2018). Beccaria published his book ‘On Crimes and Punishments’ where he stated that criminal punishment was not supposed to be based on the harm of the person it was directed to but rather the harm it caused towards the society. Bentham argued that everything done was supposed to be for the happiness of the highest number of individuals in society. When a crime was committed and it had to be punished and there was no clear or completely no explanation about the same, the explanation which was given was spiritual in nature (Yagi, 2021). Judges during this period were also given more freedom to decide since every person accused was different. Deterrence was also a main goal or objective of any punishment.

References

Paudel, K. (2020). Classical School of Criminology and Its Application in Nepali Criminal Justice System. NJA LJ, 14, 143.

Williams III, F.P., & McShane, M.D. (2018). Criminological theory (7th ed.). New York: Pearson. 

Yagi, K. (2021). Marx’s theory of capital in the history of economics: Marx’s concept of capital, classical school, Austrian School, and growth theory. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 1-25.