Classical v. Positivistic Theory of Criminal Justice
Classical theory proposes that criminal behavior is a result of deprivation, that criminals dont think properly in their need to commit crimes to survive and the only way to control them is to punish them, to set them up as an example to other criminals so that the punishment itself stands to countermand criminal behavior. Somewhere after the entry of philosophers like Emmanuel Kant, it became accepted over time that man is more than an animal responding to external forces, but a controlled beast, one controlled by rational thought, and one with which one can reason, and it was believed this positivistic approach could be used to modify criminal behavior to create contributing members of society from criminals. Today, the debate still rages while the justice system seeks to understand and treat criminal behavior, in the courts, in jails and in regards victims of crime.
