"Criminology focuses on the behaviour that violates the criminal law and seeks explanations for that behaviour. The study of the origin of laws that define certain behaviour as criminal is a primary focus of the sociology of law, although a number of sociologists include in criminology the study of how certain behaviour has come to be defined as criminal. As important as it is to know why laws are passed to criminalize certain behaviour, such knowledge does not explain why certain people violate the law whereas others do not. It is useful to understand the origin of the law of theft, but it is also important to know why some people steal and others do not, and why some of those use force against their victims in robberies whereas use stealth."
"Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding delinquency and crime as social phenomena. It includes within it’s scope the process of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting towards the breaking of laws.
Certain acts that are considered undesirable are defined by the political society as crimes. In spite of this definition some people persist in the behaviour and thus commit crimes; the political society reacts by punishment, treatment, or prevention. This sequence of interactions is the subject matter of criminology.
Crime consists of three principle divisions, as follows: 1. the sociology of law, which is an attempt to systematically analysis the conditions under which criminal laws develop and also an explanation of variations in the policies and procedures used in the administration of criminal justice. 2. Criminal etiology, which is an attempt at scientific analysis of the causes of crime; and 3. Penology, which is concerned with the control of crime.
The objective of criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principles and of other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime and reaction to crime. This knowledge will contribute to the development of other sciences, and through these other social sciences will contribute to an understanding of social behaviour. In addition, criminology is concerned with the immediate application of knowledge to programs of social order and crime control. This concern with practical programs is justified, in part, as experimentation which may be valuable because of its immediate results but at any rate will be valuable in the long run because of the increased knowledge which results from it."
"Criminology in the broadest sense covers the whole of criminal science. In a narrower sense it refers to the part of criminal science which empirically describes criminal behaviour and explores individual and social factors associated with crime and criminals.
Criminology is aimed principally at elucidating the connection between crime and the personal characteristics of the offender or his environment, with special reference to the origin of the offence ( etiology, genesis ). As an object of research, however, the genesis of criminal behaviour cannot be separated from the behaviour itself. Therefore, criminology must also contain a descriptive part, criminography. Furthermore, criminology encompasses prognosis or the science or prediction. Victimology, which is research into the relation between offender and the victim, is also included under criminology."
Crime is ever changing, so it becomes difficult for criminologists to define it. What is not legal here, maybe legal in another state or country. While what isn’t banned now, might be banned tomorrow. Murder is wrong, and a crime (homicide) but in certain situations and under certain instances, like war, it isn’t a crime, instead is a hero’s action.
In America, if I white person kills a black person, the sentence is not as serious as that of a black man killing a white man. Law is not static.
Criminology includes sentencing, punishment, laws, etc. etc. Another way to look at it is society builds the individual, who in turns builds the criminal; thus it can be reverted back to society.
Geographical crime is relative to where you live. It changes from where you live.
Ontology - What is the nature of this crime? Do certain things really exist, or do we make up the concept in our own minds. Each person has a different view, based on their own thinking. Realists believe that certain things do exist, and therefore crime is real, and so is evil, and it is up to us to find and research it. Nominalists on the other hand, do not believe in anything except what we make up in our own minds. We create the concept, and then act as though it were real, but in reality, it is in name only. We search people out and label them, just like witch hunts (age, person, sex, character, looks etc.).
Epistemology - How we find out about things? How do we know what we know? What counts as knowledge? Positivism, must have objective knowledge, hard facts. It is the belief there is a real world out there, and through technology and techniques we can find out positive knowledge about crime. Anti-Positivists do not believe that anything can show them truth, for example, a computer statistics read out is not real proof, they desire empathy, but scientists do not like empathy for it can not be recorded.
Human Nature - What motivates Humans? Determinists believe things are determined by forces out of ones control, for example, a criminal could not help themselves, it was brought on by an internal malfunction. They liken human behaviour to an item (physical object - like a set of billiard balls on a table, one reacts against another) that can be studied. Voluntarism is all about free will; actions that are brought about by choice. This relates to the criminal by deciding if a criminal chooses to act as they do, or are they forced to by outside forces?
Free contract (social contract)
Humans give up a measure of freedom in order to be able to co-exist. Criminals are those who break this consensual contract.
Humans are reasoning creatures. They can weigh up what is best for them and act accordingly.
Humans freely choose their course of action. Human nature is ‘voluntaristic’ rather than ‘determined’.
Humans naturally pursue pleasure and avoid pain.
Modified classical principles. Took account that ‘free’ will and choice are relative concepts subject to both physical and social constraints; that humans are not always as rational as they seem, and that other values may override the simple ‘Hedonic’ nature of humans.----
Positivism is based on deterministic theories. All events are caused by something. So a criminal had events running up to his crime, this takes away free choice, and makes it out that the person had no choice. Its almost like saying there where universal laws of nature that had to take place.
There is a continues fight between free will and determinants.
‘Imperical’ meaning the world of experience, and positivists go by this theory.
Other theories say that criminals are biological throw backs to an accent era.
Lambroso believed that people were born criminals, and believed in all of the above mentioned. (though he generalised, and went about deciding that criminals had physical features such as facial structure, and tattoos, which now days can be seen as inaccurate).
Another theory is vicious criminals have an extra Y chromosome, and generally speaking a lot of criminals in prison have this trait. But there is no 100% proven scientific fact in this. This theory can not be proven an to this day, no accurate reason can be given.
Criminologists must make sure not to generalise and pick out a group to persecute.
Povitism caries with it the belief that people are born and carry with them the desire and potential to be criminals (eugenics). This is dangerous to believe. If we were to believe this, we would be persecuting children of criminals, and general "to be" criminals, who may never be criminals. In the USA it was legal to persecute and sterilise people who were mentally inferior, epileptic, or criminal so that they would not pass on their genes. They were also into removing parts of people’s brains that they believed lead to criminal tendencies. In this case, punishment and treatment are almost the same thing.
In past what eugenics had as so called scientifically proof, could be also be removed scientifically.
Comparison of classical and positivist schools
18th century reform 19th century application of
of judicial and penal science to criminality.
Crime defined by Rejects legal definitions. Focuses
legal code. On person.
Free will view of Deterministic view: biological
human nature. Genetic, psychological etc.
Deviant/ non-deviant Deviant/non-deviant are
are similar different.
Solution = deterrent Solution = scientific treatment.
Positivists theories of causation depend on material contained in official statistics (Positivists rely on statistics).
Two major sources of statistics
- Generated by courts and police agencies.
- Treated as if the official crime rate corresponds to actual incidences of crime (some crimes are never reported, like rape, small theft of things that you may think you misplaced, and murders).
- Treated as officially processed offenders are representative of criminals generally.
Variations in organisational procedures, practices, etc. may alter the volume of crime that appears in official statistics.
Social control policies,
in response to ‘public demand’, may inflate reported crime.
Written By Evan Sycamnias