Early Classical and Positivist Criminology

Classical criminology refers broadly to a period of study on criminological themes from the late-18th century into the early-19th Century. This was a period when Europe was undergoing systemic changes in social institutions coupled with new advances in our knowledge of, and approaches to, causes of crime and deviance. Classical criminology is part of the wider social vibrancy we refer to as the Age of Enlightenment which saw a flurry of new philosophical and scientific ideas that reimagined how humans do, and should, co-exist in the world. This chapter will provide an outline of three of classical criminology's key thinkers, their strengths and weakness and an overview of their impact on contemporary thoughts. It will then turn its attention to Cesare Lombroso, who critiqued classicism by developing the positivist school of criminology.