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The positivist criminology is based on the idea that the society would become afraid of the public punishment that is associated with wrongdoing and thus adjust their actions. In (Kim, 2010, p. 2) article, Kathleen gets sentenced for stubbing her sister Susan to death. In the case, Kathleen was charged of Susan’s murder but pleaded guilty of lesser charge of manslaughter. Kathleen was a victim of mental and mood disorder. Two months prior to her criminal act, Kathleen was not under regular medication. Justice Fullerton accepted that the horrific death could not have transpired if Kathleen was under medical care.

The positivist criminology theory studies the psychological causes of crime behaviour. In respect to Kathleen and Susan’s case, jailing Kathleen serves as an example to the society, and inflicts fear of committing crime by the society (Kim, 2010, p. 5). Judge Fullerton knew that Kathleen suffered from psychiatric disorders, but still decided to subject her for 4 years and a quarter jail terms after killing her sister. The concept of positivist criminology theory is hereby applied to alleviate deviance in the society. The born criminal people are threatened as the “criminaloids” adjust their behaviour to positivity.

The application of positivist criminology model ensures justice and fairness. The theory helps us understand the reasons why Justice Fullerton sentenced Kathleen to a maximum of 6-year prison term, with the hope that he will be eligible for parole within this duration (Kim, 2010, p. 7). To the other psychiatric derailed people, ignoring or skipping medication is not subject for law exception in a court of law.

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The positivist theory of crime behavior helps in explaining why people commit crime(s). According to (Rebecca, 2016, p. 3), this theoretical approach explains the motivating factors behind people’s behavior to do crime at varying stages in life as well as the things that motivate other people to commit crime in their whole life. Rebecca (2016, p. 5) argues that the control, social learning, and strain theory fall under the positivist class for they all explain deviance behavior by people.

The social learning theory is based on the idea that children imitate the behavior that they observe within their childhood environments. According to (Rebecca, 2016, p. 6), an individual’s experiences during his or her upbringing greatly determines his crime behavior, and these outside sources include community, parents, teachers, the media, siblings, and peers. Under the strain theory, crime results from a strain established between different cultural classes. The society establishes the standards of spending life via marketing, the media, and education; but still unable to supply the right means for all cultural classes in order to meet these set goals.

The last positivist criminology model is the control theory. According to (Rebecca, 2016, p. 8) article, people are assumed to be bad and would thus commit crime all the time. However, the theory affirms that there exist constraints that make persons to desist from doing crime. These constraints include attachment, commitment, involvement, and the belief constraint. In this perspective, courts have a strong belief that imprisoning crime perpetrators is a good approach to preventing crime (Rebecca, 2016, p. 10). It is vital for the society to acknowledge that the courts should exercise control over crime and deviant behavior in the society. Whenever people have freedom to commit crime, then the society cannot grow. This theoretical approach to criminology suits in explaining Judge Fullerton’s argument in Kathleen’s case.