Disabling the wpautop filter in Attitude Theme

I have done some research about what code to apply to the functions file in order to stop WordPress from automatically adding <p> tags but where should I place it within this theme’s files since the functions file only refers to other .php files? Or is this code (see below) not the correct code to resolve this issue for this particular theme?

remove_filter( 'the_content', 'wpautop' );
remove_filter( 'the_excerpt', 'wpautop' );

Thanks in advance for your help!