Crime and punishment According to Benthams utilitarianism, people choose to act when, after weighing costs and benefits,

they believe that their actions will bring them an increase in pleasure and a reduction of pain. It stands to reason that criminal behaviour could be eliminated or controlled if would-be law violators could be convinced that the pain of punishment exceeds the benefits of crime. Cesare Beccaria (17381794) applied these principles to criminal behavior in his famous treatise, On Crimes and Punishment. He agreed that people want to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. He suggested that harsh punishments and routine use of torture were inappropriate and excessive. If every felon were punished with death, he reasoned, there would be little incentive for criminals not to escalate the severity of their crimes. To deter crime, the pain of punishment must be administered in a fair, balanced, and proportionate amount, just enough to counterbalance the pleasure obtained from crime. Beccaria stated his famous theorem like this:
In order for punishment not to be in every instance, an act of violence of one or many against a private citizen, it must be essentially public, prompt, necessary, the least possible in the given circumstances, proportionate to the crimes, and dictated by the laws.7

Classical criminology. As originally conceived in the eighteenth century, classical criminology theory had several basic elements: In every society people have free will to choose criminal or lawful solutions to meet their needs or settle their problems. Criminal solutions can be very attractive because for little effort they hold the promise of a huge payoff. A person will choose not to commit crime only if they believe that the pain of expected punishment is greater than the promise of reward. This is the principle of deterrence.

 In order to be an effective crime deterrent, punishment must be severe, certain, and swift enough to convince potential criminals that crime does not pay. This classical perspective influenced penal practices for more than 200 years. The law was made proportionate to crime so that the most serious offenses earned the harshest punishments. Executions were still widely used but slowly began to be employed for only the most serious crimes. The catchphrase was let the punishment fit the crime. As the nineteenth century was coming to a close, a new vision of the world challenged the validity of classical theory and presented an innovative way of looking at the causes of crime.

CRIMINOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
The major perspectives of criminology focus on individual (biological, psychological, and choice theories), social (structural and process theories), political and economic (conflict theory), and multiple (developmental theory) factors.

Classical/Choice Perspective Situational forces. Crime is a function of free will and

personal choice. Punishment is a deterrent to crime. genetic, personality, intelligence, or mental traits.

Biological/Psychological Perspective Internal forces. Crime is a function of chemical, neurological, Structural Perspective Ecological forces. Crime rates are a function of

neighbourhood conditions, cultural forces, and norm conflict.

Process Perspective Socialization forces. Crime is a function of upbringing, learning, Conflict Perspective Economic and political forces. Crime is a function of competition Developmental Perspective Multiple forces. Biological, social-psychological, economic,
and political forces may combine to produce crime. for limited resources and power. Class conflict produces crime. and control. Peers, parents, and teachers influence behaviour.