LECTURE 1

TOPIC 1: INTRODUCTION, SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF

CRIMINOLOGY

Introduction:

The word ‗Criminology‘ originated in 1890. The general meaning of the term is ―the scientific
study of crime as a social phenomenon, of criminals and of penal institutions. Prof. Kenny
(analyzed /defined/ described) that “Criminology is a branch of criminal science which deals with
crime causation, analysis and prevention of crime.” Criminology as a branch of knowledge is
concerned with those particular conducts of human behaviour which are prohibited by society. It
is, therefore, a socio-legal study which seeks to discover the causes of criminality and suggests the
remedies to reduce crimes. Therefore, it flows that criminology and criminal policy are
interdependent and mutually support one another. Thus criminology seeks to study the
phenomenon of criminality in its entirety.

The problem of crime control essentially involves the need for a study of the forces operating
behind the incidence of crime and a variety of co-related factors influencing the personality of the
offender. This has eventually led to development of modern criminology during the preceding two
centuries. The purpose of study of this branch of knowledge is to analyze different aspects of crime
and device effective measures for treatment of criminals to bring about their re-socialization and
rehabilitation in the community. Thus criminology as a branch of knowledge has a practical utility
in so far as it aims at bringing about the welfare of the community as a whole. The principles of
criminology serve as effective guidelines for formulation of penal policy. The modern clinical
methods and the reformatory measures such as probation, parole, indeterminate sentence, open
prisons, and other correctional institutions are essentially an outcome of intensive criminological
researches during the twentieth century.

1.1. Defining Criminology

Criminology maybe defined as “the scientific study of the causation, correction, and prevention
of crime”. Criminology (from Latin crīmen, "accusation"; and Greek -λογία, -logia) is the social
science approach to the study of crime as an individual and social phenomenon. Although
contemporary definitions vary in the exact words used, there is considerable consensus that
criminology involves the application of the ―scientific method to the study of variation in criminal
law, the causes of crime, and reactions to crime (Akers 2000).

Criminological research areas include the incidence and forms of crime as well as its causes and
consequences. They also include social and governmental regulations and reactions to crime.
Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in the behavioral sciences, drawing especially on the
research of sociologists and psychologists, as well as on writings in law. An important way to
analyze data is to look at quantitative methods in criminology. In 1885, Italian law professor
Raffaele Garofalo coined the term "criminology" (in Italian, criminologia). The French
anthropologist Paul Topinard used it for the first time in French (criminologie) around the same
time.

1.2 Nature and Scope of Criminology

Criminology is an inter-disciplinary field of study, involving scholars and practitioners
representing a wide range of behavioral and social sciences as well as numerous natural sciences.
Sociologists played a major role in defining and developing the field of study and criminology
emerged as an academic discipline housed in sociology programs. However, with the
establishment of schools of criminology and the proliferation of academic departments and
programs concentrating specifically on crime and justice in the last half of the 20 century, the
criminology emerged as a distinct professional field with a broad, interdisciplinary focus and a
shared commitment to generating knowledge through systematic research.

One ultimate goal of criminology has been the development of theories expressed with sufficient
precision that they can be tested, using data collected in a manner that allows verification and
replication.

As a subdivision of the larger field of sociology, criminology draws on psychology, economics,

anthropology, psychiatry, biology, statistics, and other disciplines to explain the causes and
prevention of criminal behavior. Subdivisions of criminology include penology, the study of
prisons and prison systems; bio-criminology, the study of the biological basis of criminal behavior;
feminist criminology, the study of women and crime; and criminalistics, the study of crime
detection, which is related to the field of Forensic Science. Much research related to criminology
has focused on the biological basis of criminal behavior. In fact, bio-criminology, attempts to
explore the biological basis of criminal behavior. Research in this area has focused on
chromosomal abnormalities, hormonal and brain chemical imbalances, diet, neurological
conditions, drugs, and alcohol as variables that contribute to criminal behavior.

Criminology has historically played a reforming role in relation to Criminal Law and the criminal
justice system. As an applied discipline, it has produced findings that have influenced legislators,
judges, prosecutors, lawyers, Probation officers, and prison officials, prompting them to better
understand crime and criminals and to develop better and more human sentences and treatments
for criminal behavior. Criminologists also study a host of other issues related to crime and the law.
These include studies of the Victims of Crime, focusing upon their relations to the criminal, and
their role as potential causal agents in crime; juvenile delinquency and its correction; and the media
and their relation to crime, including the influence of Pornography.

1.3. Significance of Criminology

The true effect of criminology upon practices in the criminal justice system is still subject to
question. Although a number of commentators have noted that studies in criminology have led to
significant changes among criminal laws in the various states, other critics have suggested that
studies in criminology have not directly led to a reduction of crime. Criminology is perhaps not at
the forefront of the development of the criminal justice system, but it most certainly works in the
background in the determination of criminal justice policies.

➢ Sociology and Criminology During the twentieth century, the sociological approach to
criminology became the most influential approach. Sociology is the study of social behavior,
systems, and structures. In relation to criminology, it may be divided into social-structural and
social-process approaches.

• Social-Structural Criminology Social-structural approaches to criminology examine the way

in which social situations and structures influence or relate to criminal behavior. An early example
of this approach, the ecological school of criminology, was developed in the 1920s and 1930s at
the University of Chicago. It seeks to explain crime's relationship to social and environmental
change. For example, it attempts to describe why certain areas of a city will have a tendency to
attract crime and also have less-vigorous police enforcement. Researchers have found that urban
areas in transition from residential to business uses are most often targeted by criminals. Such
communities often have disorganized social networks that foster a weaker sense of social
standards.

Another social-structural approach is the conflict school of criminology. It traces its roots to
Marxist theories that saw crime as ultimately a product of conflict between different classes under
the system of capitalism. Criminology conflict theory suggests that the laws of society emerge out
of conflict rather than out of consensus. It holds that laws are made by the group that is in power,
to control those who are not in power. Conflict theorists propose, as do other theorists, that those
who commit crimes are not fundamentally different from the rest of the population. They call the
idea that society may be clearly divided into criminals and non-criminals a dualistic fallacy, or a
misguided notion. These theorists maintain, instead, that the determination of whether someone is
a criminal or not often depends on the way society reacts to those who deviate from accepted
norms. Many conflict theorists and others argue that minorities and poor people are more quickly
labeled as criminals than are members of the majority and wealthy individuals. Critical
criminology, also called radical criminology, shares with conflict criminology a debt to Marxism.
It came into prominence in the early 1970s and attempted to explain contemporary social
upheavals. Critical criminology relies on economic explanations of behavior and argues that
economic and social inequalities cause criminal behavior. It focuses less on the study of individual
criminals, and advances the belief that existing crime cannot be eliminated within the capitalist
system. It also asserts, like the conflict school, that law has an inherent bias in favor of the upper
or ruling class, and that the state and its legal system exist to advance the interests of the ruling
class. Critical criminologists argue that corporate, political, and environmental crime are
underreported and inadequately addressed in the current criminal justice system. Feminist
criminology emphasizes the subordinate position of women in society.

According to feminist criminologists, women remain in a position of inferiority that has not been
fully rectified by changes in the law during the late twentieth century. Feminist criminology also
explores the ways in which women's criminal behavior is related to their objectification as
commodities in the sex industry.

Others using the social-structural approach have studied Gangs, juvenile delinquency, and the
relationship between family structure and criminal behavior.
• Social-Process Criminology Social-process criminology theories attempt to explain how people
become criminals. These theories developed through recognition of the fact that not all people who
are exposed to the same social structural conditions become criminals. They focus on criminal
behavior as learned behavior. Edwin H. Sutherland (1883–1950), a U.S. sociologist and
criminologist who first presented his ideas in the 1920s and 1930s, advanced the theory of
differential association to explain criminal behavior. He emphasized that criminal behavior is
learned in interaction with others, usually in small groups, and that criminals learn to favor criminal
behavior over noncriminal behavior through association with both forms of behavior in different
degrees. As Sutherland wrote, "When persons become criminal, they do so because of contacts
with criminal patterns and also because of isolation from anti-criminal patterns." Although his
theory has been greatly influential, Sutherland himself admitted that it did not satisfactorily explain
all criminal behavior. Later theorists have modified his approach in an attempt to correct its
shortcomings.
Rizwan Abbas