Criminology is the scientific study of crime , criminals, criminal behavior, and the criminal justice system . The criminal justice system consists of the police , the courts , and the correctional system, which is often simply called corrections. Criminologists conduct research that examines factors related to crime, juvenile delinquency , and criminal and juvenile justice. They also study individuals to learn how and why people become criminals. Most research in criminology involves such related fields as sociology , social work , and psychology , including psychiatry . Sociology is the study of the individuals, groups, and institutions that make up society.
The results of criminological research help guide community leaders and law enforcement officials in preventing crime and administering justice . Criminologists also help determine the best methods of dealing with offenders.
In Australia, Canada, and the United States, criminology is taught chiefly in departments of criminology and criminal justice at colleges and universities. It usually consists of specific courses on the police, on law and prosecution, and on jails and prisons , as well as on the theories of criminology. Some high schools in the United States also offer courses in these areas. In Europe, criminology is generally taught in law schools or medical schools.
What criminologists study
Criminologists devote much research to individual and social factors that may cause crime. Individual factors include both biological and psychological factors, such as brain abnormalities, chemical imbalances, mental illness , and poor impulse control. Social factors include the relationship between crime and other social problems, such as poverty , poor housing and overcrowding, poor parenting, and discrimination. Child abuse is considered a possible factor in causing criminal behavior. Criminologists look at the ways in which some individuals learn criminal behavior through association with people—including criminals—who have little regard for the law.
Certain criminologists study penology, the science of the punishment and treatment of offenders. Punishment and treatment have multiple purposes, and these purposes have received different emphases over the course of history. The purposes include imprisoning criminals, for example, in order that they may not endanger society; preventing or discouraging anyone considering committing a crime; giving criminals suitable punishments for violating society’s laws; and rehabilitating offenders so they will not offend again.
Most criminologists do not consider criminal investigation techniques as a part of criminology. People who analyze evidence and do other investigative police work are called criminalists or forensic scientists (see Crime scene investigation ). A number of popular TV shows deal with this subject.
Methods of criminology
Criminologists use a wide variety of research techniques. These techniques are divided into what are called quantitative or statistical studies and qualitative studies. Both types of studies help criminologists formulate and test their theories. These theories may, for example, be about why children become juvenile delinquents, or about how the police might best relate to the community. Criminologists choose the most appropriate method to use for a particular research need at a particular time.
Quantitative studies.
Crime data collected, for example, by the police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) help criminologists find relationships between crime rates and certain physical or social conditions. Those conditions are measured by using such data as statistics on housing, unemployment , school dropout rates, and other factors. For example, such studies may show that the crime rate increases when poverty and unemployment rise and that juvenile delinquency is higher among school dropouts.
In addition to using government data, criminologists may also use existing tests and measures, such as intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, to learn about personality traits or social conditions that are more common among criminals than other people. In this instance, researchers compare a group of criminals with a group of noncriminals who are otherwise similar to the lawbreakers in most ways. Any personality trait or social condition that occurs more frequently among criminals may be one of the causes of their criminal behavior.
Qualitative studies.
Criminologists also conduct studies using interviews, surveys, observation, and case studies. Case studies are detailed examinations of a particular person, group, or situation over time. All of these types of studies produce what is called primary (original) data. Primary data is different from the secondary, already existing, data relied upon in quantitative studies. For example, qualitative studies may include surveys of young people that ask them whether they have committed any of a number of deviant (abnormal) acts, ranging from smoking in school and disobeying their parents to stealing things. These are called self-report surveys. Case studies may focus on an individual criminal in an attempt to learn what accounts for that person’s criminal behavior. Other case studies are conducted on certain groups of criminals, such as rapists or juvenile gangs . A criminologist may use the results of a case study to work out a theory about the development of criminal behavior.
History
Criminology began to develop as a distinct area of study during the 1700’s. In 1764, an Italian economist named Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di Beccaria, wrote On Crimes and Punishments. This book became the foundation of the classical school of criminology.
The classical school assumed that criminals had free will and that pleasure and pain determined their actions. Crime could be prevented by the certainty and speed of punishment, rather than by its severity. These principles are still important and influential in preventing and controlling crime today. For example, the theory that criminal behavior is the result of rational choice is derived in part from the principles of the classical school.
The positive school of criminology, also known as the Italian school, developed during the late 1800’s. In general, this school shifted the emphasis of criminology from the crime itself to the study of criminals and the possible causes of their actions. The positivists believed criminal behavior resulted from conditions beyond the criminal’s control. Cesare Lombroso, an Italian physician, was the most important leader of the positive school. He studied many criminals and concluded that certain physical traits made them different from other people. Although many of his ideas have been discredited, his scientific approach to crime laid the basis for much of modern criminology.
Social-factor theories tend to be the most dominant in criminology today. One of these theories is the theory of differential association developed by Edwin H. Sutherland, an American criminologist. Sutherland’s theory states that all criminal behavior is learned through association with criminals or people with unfavorable attitudes toward the law. One of the most studied theories of recent years is the theory of low self-control popularized by sociologists Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi. Gottfredson and Hirschi stated that low self-control forms the basis of criminal behavior. According to their theory, children who have low levels of self-control may be more inclined to commit crime in adolescence and then continue doing so into adulthood.
Careers
Most criminologists have university training in criminal justice, criminology, sociology, psychology, psychiatry, or related areas. Requirements vary for a career, but all criminologists have a master’s or doctor’s degree. Many of them conduct their research and teach criminology at universities and colleges.
Many social workers are employed in the general area of criminology. They usually work with offenders, the families of offenders, or the victims of crime. Parole and probation officers must have a knowledge of criminology. More and more police officers have college degrees and have studied criminology. The same is true of FBI agents and other federal government employees who work in such areas as drug enforcement, border control, homeland security, and immigration and customs enforcement. People trained in criminology also work in various crime prevention programs and in the treatment of offenders. Lawyers who work in the area of criminal law, criminal court judges , and the heads of jails and prisons also should have some knowledge of criminology.
Many countries have professional organizations for criminologists. These organizations include the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Inc., the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in the United States, the Canadian Criminal Justice Association, and many others. Together, these organizations have thousands of members. Each has its own website, produces a number of publications, and holds an annual meeting.
