Question

Criminal Justice

CJBS 415 – Capstone Seminar for BS in Criminal Justice

Below, please find the final exam which is worth 30% of the overall grade for this course. You must complete the final exam by 11pm on the date indicated in your syllabus. There are four questions which are based on the various fields of criminal justice which we covered this semester. Please number all questions and submit in size 12 font, Times New Roman, double-spaced. Please complete in Microsoft Word format. Answer all questions.

FINAL EXAM

1. Cesare Lombroso applied the methods of natural science (observation, measurement, experimentation, statistical analysis) to the study of criminal behavior. Lombroso rejected the classical theory of crime, associated with Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham, which explained criminal activity as freely chosen behavior based on the rational calculation of benefit and loss, pleasure and pain. Critically analyze both schools of thought and provide an opinion as to what theory you believe is more relevant.

2.William Chambliss, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Felix Frankfurter examined the foundations of the Anglo-American legal tradition by focusing on the relationship between law and society. Discuss the approach of all three and give your opinion as to what the law really is.

3.William Westley’s study looked at policemen operating at the street level. Fogelson’s study focused mainly on the management level in policing, which has tended to be somewhat cut off from street level policing. Goldstein’s study examined policing at the political level where a police department encounters the currents of local government. Critically analyze all three and give your opinion as to whether you think studies of police should concentrate on the street level, managerial level or at the political level.

4.In western civilization for the past two thousand years the most common symbol of justice has been the “Lady of Justice”. She is blindfolded; she holds a scale with balance pans in one hand and a sword in the other hand. The scale represents the idea that for every offense there must be a punishment of equal weight. The sword represents the necessity of punishment. In your opinion are prisons an adequate form of punishment for justice to be served? Discuss.


Expert Solution

Question 1:Cesare Lombroso's theory explains criminals based on observation and physical features. For example, the "born criminal" theory explains that criminals charged with theft can be identified through their expressive faces and wandering eyes (Campa, 2020). Therefore, a study on criminal behavior would be more beneficial to a criminal case than any other study, according to him. Jeremy Bentham states that crimes are unrelated and not similar and should therefore be judged individually (Schofield, 2019). From his theory, many criminologists argue that legal systems view this as a suggestion to inflict more pain and longer sentences on criminals. This theory places great importance on the law, which should protect individual citizens and itself before making any decisions about treating criminals. Cesare Beccaria argues that people can make choices that determine whether or not they commit an offense. In his theory, he explains that until an offender's crime has been established to know if they're guilty, no legal punishment should be taken against them (Schofield, 2019). 

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