The man credited with the birth of the classical school was Cesaer Beccaria (1738-1794), who emerged during the Enlightenment period of the 18th century . Some argue that criminology as an independent discipline emerged only 60 to 70 years ago (Garland 2002) and that although it is not concerned with the study of criminals per se in the same way that we associate with criminology today, the classical school has had a huge influence in the field. formation of the criminal justice system as we know it today. Farner (quoted in Taylor et al. 1973), a 19th-century commentator on Beccaria, asserts: "Whatever improvement our criminal laws have seen in the last hundred years is mainly due to Beccaria, and to an extent that has not always been recognized. Lord Mansfield would never have spoken his name without a sign of respect. Romilly mentioned this in his very first speech in the House of Commons on law reform. And there is no English writer of this period who, in dealing with criminal law, does not make reference to Beccaria. “The classical school is not concerned with why criminals are criminals, but seeks to reduce crime by using punishment as a deterrent. on the basis that individuals will choose to exercise their own free will and make rational decisions. In contrast, Ceasare Lombrosso (1835 – 1909) and the positivist school rejected these ideas and theorized that criminality is a personality trait one is born with and can be diagnosed by certain physical appearances, and is therefore a more scientific to establish the reasons. for criminal behavior. However, this essay will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the classical school. Although Beccaria is in the middle of paper......punishment even if they knew of its existence. Statistics show that between 1993 and 1998, the average number of people incarcerated increased from 44,566 to 65,298, an increase of more than 46%, and the Halliday Report Making Punishments Work (Appendix 6, p. 130) published by the Home Office in 2001 estimated that the average offender had committed 140 offences. per year. (Source: Civitas) This would surely indicate that the threat of punishment, even when considered by a rational and mentally competent person (we can assume that people incarcerated in regular prisons were assessed as mentally competent), exercising his free will, is not enough to have a deterrent effect? As a recent blog on the webpage of London Assembly member James Cleverly put it: "the central problem with British justice is that we have no concrete vision of what our underlying theory is in terms of punishment.”