A. Ancient Times
Many eras occurred prior to the Renaissance, but many people are still confused about when the history of the development of this field of criminology began. According to Bonger, the history of the development of criminology began in the ancient era, i.e., in the Greek and Roman eras. In ancient times, crime was a phenomenon that occurred in society and was part of civilization, so common people and scientists tended to be more interested in studying things that were not common. Most knowledge goes back to ancient times, but it did not apply to criminology. In ancient times, there were philosophers whose opinions became a reference for the world of modern philosophy, i.e., Plato and his student, Aristotle. Even though they do not explicitly provide a scientific description, both provide an initial overview related to what causes crime.
Plato was a famous figure in ancient times who commented about crime in his book entitled Republiek, which stated that gold, humans are the sources of crime. What Plato stated in his book was very reasonable, given that the level of prosperity of a person at that time was measured by the amount of gold and jewelry that he/she had. Of course, one’s wealth status invites others to want to have the same prosperity. At this time, crime can be described as the process of possessing something or fighting over something for glory.
It’s not different from his teacher, Aristotle also stated that crime was caused by poverty. Theft and murder occur for prosperity or just to survive. In more detail than Plato, Aristotle pointed to a certain situation as the cause of the arising of crime.
Since Plato and Aristotle did not mention anything related to there was any attempt to investigate or at least make research that produced hypotheses about the causes of crimes and the perpetrators, so it would be appropriate if ancient times are considered as the era of pre-criminology.
It is known that pre-criminology is used at present since crime is not considered as a social phenomenon that deserves to be investigated or studied in depth. On the contrary, crime is considered a form of ordinary circumstances in society. At this time, there is a very famous adage of Pluto regarding crime that essentially explains that punishment is imposed not because it has an evil smell, but so that no evil comes from it.
In the ancient era, criminology was not studied by humans, so it was considered that crimes that already existed and occurred in society were considered normal. As already mentioned, the cause of crime in the ancient era was poverty. However, no efforts were made at that time to prevent crime. Thus, this phase could not actually be called the phase of development of criminology. It is not wrong if Bonger stated that the phase of criminology in ancient times was called pre-criminology, considering that until the Renaissance era there was no criminology.
In the Greek and Roman eras, Europe made progress in civilization, but suffered a setback after the fall of Rome in the 3rd century. After the fall of Rome, the law in Europe went down, so that all government decisions and state law were not based on parliamentary democracy as in the Roman era. That said, decisions were taken by the Council of Churches where no one had the right to express opinions. Those who had the right to give opinions and issue decisions were Catholic religious experts. The decline of the law also brought the decline of science and Europe into the dark ages, or some call it the Middle Ages, between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance era.
B. Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the structure of society in Europe was not as diverse as it is today. Instead, the structure of European society was more influenced by Church Law. After the fall of Rome, Roman laws were widely used, but Canon Law, or Church Law, was the one which applied as a whole to regulate every relationship in society, including the relationship with God. In the Middle Ages, opinions contrary to Church Law were considered a crime and should be punished according to Church Law. Thus, some scientists’ discoveries which were not in accordance with Church Law were prohibited from being published, and the scientist would be punished for publishing his discoveries which were contrary to Church Law.
In addition to the character of society in the Middle Ages, the European countries, especially Britain, focused more on the wars that occurred in Asia, which were better known as the Crusades. The circumstances of Europe that were sparkling with the progress of civilization in the Greek and Roman eras slowly began to fade in the period around 350-1200 AD. Of course, knowledge as a character of the progress of a civilization did not develop, and even experienced a setback, including the view of crime. The figures that existed at that time also did not have a definite overview of what criminology was, in accordance with Church Law. Thomas van Aquino (Thomas Aquinas), a philosopher who was predicted to be born in early 1225 at Roccasecca Castle, stated that crime at that time arose from poverty. According to Thomas van Aquino, crime was not far from an attempt to defend oneself or an illegal business to meet one’s basic needs.
At that time, theft was the most well-known form of crime. The individuals who committed theft had no other reason than that they really needed it to just survive and meet their basic needs. Thomas van Aquino, in Summa Contra Gentiles, states that poverty encourages people to steal. However, many figures debated two books by Thomas van Aquino, i.e., Summa Theologica and Summa Contra Gentiles, since his interesting thought was considered to allow individuals to steal in a state of compulsion.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
