This theory stated that punishment of crime should not depend upon the biased opinions of the noblemen or the clergy relying on superior beings to provide answers on how to punish criminals. The Classical School was against the barbaric responses to crime that had been done previously. It states that the rule of law where everyone was treated equally without fear of facing favoritism in the courts should be followed. This meant that the law would treat everyone the same, no matter what the circumstances of the crime were, the age of the perpetrator, the history between the victim and the perpetrator etc.
Those that supported this theory believed that crime was an injury to society and that punishment should try to avoid causing any more injuries to the society. Therefore, punishment should help to deter and discourage crime instead of using it as an act of revenge. This theory believes that people are rational, calculating actors who look to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Punishment would serve to remind the public that committing crime would actually maximize pain and therefore encourage people to stay away from it.
Punishment should be for the function of deterrence and that deterrence should be aimed at both society and the individual. Individual deterrence should make sure that individuals who are involved in criminal activity are discouraged from continuing to do so. Meanwhile, general deterrence ensures that the rest of the general public is also deterred from committing crime for fear of what the consequences may be.
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