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Criminology
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The development of social scientific c theory and
knowledge takes place not simply
within
the heads of individuals, but within particular institutional domains. These
domains, in turn, are shaped by their surroundings:
how academic institutions are
organized, how disciplines are divided and
subdivided, how disputes emerge, how
research is funded and how the findings are
published and used. In Criminology, an
understanding of these institutional domains is
especially important for knowledge is
situated not just, or not even primarily, in the
‘pure’ academic world, but in the
applied domain of the state’s crime control
apparatus.
(Cohen, 1981: 220)
I.
Composition
of word
The
word criminology is composite of two words criminal + logy.
Literally, it means a systematic study of the criminals
II.
Introduction
Man is a social animal. Human beings live
in communities and groups together engaged in mutual concourse. In order to
keep order and avoid conflict it is essential to have a set of rules and
regulations of collective behavior. Each community and each group
prescribes its own behavioral norms and standards which keep the wheels of
society well-oiled and as far as possible frictionless; only thus can a
community make progress. The norms and standards prescribed in a particular
society determine the activities of the individuals which can be considered
normal or permissible any deviation from these permissible acts is an abnormal behavior.
If these abnormal acts are pronouncedly deviant and pose threat to communal
order and peace, these are called crimes. Thus crimes may be defined as an act
inimical to social peace and harmony. The crimes may be defined as an act
inimical to social peace and harmony. The crimes are hurtful to social
stability. In order to achieve prevention of crimes, we need to study the various
causes and background of crimes systematically. The
discipline engaged in such a systematic investigation is known
as criminology. Before making a detailed study of Criminology it
is essential to understand its meaning and scope
III.
Meaning
The word criminology is composite of two
words criminal + logy. Literally, it means a systematic study of
the criminals, that is, persons who break or offend the social or group
law. However, since the offences committed by criminals are crimes;
and as crimes occur in society, the term criminology fully means a
study of crimes as well as criminals in relation to society. It also
tries to determine the causes of these and also thereby recommends preventive
measures. The science of criminology is a scientific and systematic study
of a social phenomenon
IV.
Scope
The interests of criminologists include the study of
nature of crime and criminals, origins of criminal law, etiology of crime,
social reactions to crime, and the functioning of law-enforcement agencies and
penal institutions.
Like other social sciences, the scope of criminology
is also quite vast and extensive. It is related to each and every social
class and structure. Though the scope of criminology is very vast and
coextensive with many sciences, the criminologists have tried to
limit its scope in order to be able to study the subject scientifically,
systematically and exhaustively. The viewpoints of certain notable criminologists are
given below
(A) According to Sutherland the science of criminology,
“includes within its scope the processes of making laws, of breaking laws, and
of reacting towards the breaking of laws.” In the opinion of
Sutherland criminology has three distinct aspects of departments.
Though distinct, these are nonetheless not independent, but inter-linked. A
thorough study of these aspects exhausts the scope of criminology; to
study all of them is the same as studying the whole science
of criminology. In accordance with Sutherland’s description of the scope
of criminology, we can divide it into departments:
(a) The sociology of law-In this we study the nature
of crime from legalistic point of view. Also we investigate into the effects of
present laws upon them and study the possible reforms in the laws in order to
prevent and control the occurrence of crime. The major concern of the sociology
of law is to critically examine the impact of various legal systems upon crime.
This study can go a long way to evolve suitable changes in the laws
to curb crime.
(b) Criminal Etiology-In this department a
systematic investigation into the various causes of crime is made. Here we
study the social and personal factors responsible for the occurrence of crime
and growth of criminals.
(c) Penology-Besides knowledge and determination of
the causes and factors which generate or encourage crime, it is
equally, if not more essential to know the ways and means of controlling and
preventing the crime. This aspect is studied systematically and in a scientific
manner to achieve control over crime. The fact and theories in this regard from
the scope of Penology, an important department of criminology.
V.
Nature
The foregoing discussion about the meaning and
description of criminology makes abundantly explicit and clear the nature of
this science. Fundamentally speaking, the task of criminology is a scientific,
systematic, statistical, structural and functional in depth study of crime. The
behavior covertly deviant is liable to become overtly offensive of
social norms and laws, both from sociological and psychological
standpoints. Besides having a theoretical understanding of crime, criminal and
his behavior, the object of criminology is also to devise effective
tools to minimize the incidence of crime, reform and rehabilitate the criminal.
Lastly, criminology also tries to suggest reform in penal code and its
enforcement in order to make these rational and humanitarian.
VI.
Object
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 treatment."
VII.
Criminology
deals with
Criminology involves three different types of
problems:
(1)
The problem of detecting the law
breaker, which is the work of the detective, the police officer, the medical
specialist, the chemist; in other words, the field of criminalistics. The
Pioneer Series article on Hans Gross discusses the pioneering
work of this man in the field of criminalistics.
(2) The problem of the custody and treatment of the
offender once he is detected and legally judged to be guilty, which is the work
of the penologist. Social workers, psychiatrists, sociologists, psychologists,
juvenile court judges, probation
and parole officers and others are engaged in
correction work in connection with the prevention and control of delinquency
and crime. Pioneer Series articles on Havilland, Maconochie, Doe,
Aschaffenburg, Ray, and Maudsley deal with one
or more aspects of correctional work.
(3) The problem of explaining crime and criminal
behavior, which is the problem of scientifically accounting for the presence of
crime and criminals in a society. The legal aspect of crime is of interest to
the lawyer and to the sociologist who is studying the sociology of criminal
law.
VIII.
Definitions
of Criminology
Neither the definition of "crime" nor that
of the "criminal" is standardized or universally accepted as a unit
of criminological research
Criminology is a contested, contradictory and
interdisciplinary discourse marked by constant incursion, interactions,
translations, deviations and transgressions. Competing theoretical perspectives
meet and sometimes they are able to speak to, listen to and understand each
other, at others they appear not to share any common discourse. There is, therefore,
no one definition of ‘Criminology’ . . . but a multitude of noisy,
argumentative criminological perspectives.
(McLaughlin and Muncie, 2006: xiii)
(1) According to an eminent sociologist Sutherland: “Criminology is the
body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon.” This definition
exhibits sociological bias and regards crime to be reaction to certain
set of social factors and causes.
(2) According to an eminent criminologist Elliot: “Criminology may be
defined as the scientific study of rime and its treatment.” This definition,
besides emphasizing the scientific investigation into the nature and etiology
of crime, stresses the practical or utilitarian nature of this body of
knowledge, namely, devising ways and means to prevent or reduce the incidence
of crime and rehabilitate criminals as normal members of the society.
(3) According to renowned criminologist D. R. Taft: “Criminology is the
study which includes all the subject matter necessary to understanding and
prevention of crimes together with the punishment and treatment of delinquents
and criminals.” This is a comprehensive definition and describes
theoretical as well as practical aspects of the study. It brings out clearly
the fact, which may get overlooked usually, that criminology is
concerned not with the offences committed by adults only but also deals with
juvenile offences.
(4) According to another noted sociologist Webster, the science
of Criminology may be described to be “the scientific study of crime
as a social phenomenon, or of criminals and their mental traits, habits
and discipline.” This definition has the merit of emphasizing equally the
sociological as well as psychological aspects of the crime and the criminal.
IX.
Subject
matter
Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime
as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the processes of making
laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting towards the breaking of laws . . . 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 treatment.
(Sutherland and Cressey, 1955: 3)
X.
Key
features of criminology
There are number
of features about criminology:
1) As a
discipline it is held together by a substantive concern: crime.
2)
This means that it is multidisciplinary in
character rather than being dominated by one discipline. As a consequence, in
order to make sense of what criminologists might be saying it is important to
understand the conceptual apparatus with which they might be working.
3)
Thus criminologists frequently disagree with
each other.
4) Despite such
disagreements, it could be argued that there is some consensus
around some
features of what constitutes the crime problem, although much less agreement on
how to ‘solve’ that problem.
5) Nevertheless
criminologists have been historically (and still are contemporaneously) concerned
to offer some form of intervention in the policymaking process.
6) These
features of criminology sometimes resonate with popular (common
sense) thinking
about crime and sometimes challenge such thinking. Such tensions are a
perpetual challenge for the discipline.
7) These debates
are taking place in a ‘late modern’ society increasingly preoccupied with
crime, risk and insecurity.
These features
of criminology render it both stimulating and frustrating
as an area of
study. They also reflect the more general strengths and weaknesses
between
theoretical and practical concerns of any applied area of
study.
XI.
Facts
about crime
Braithwaite (1989:
44–9) states that there are 13 ‘facts’ about crime that criminology needs to
explain, which more ‘common sense’ knowledge can sometimes fail to appreciate:
1.
Crime is committed disproportionately by
males.
2.
Crime is perpetrated disproportionately by
15–25 year olds.
3.
Crime is committed disproportionately by
unmarried people.
4.
Crime is committed disproportionately by people
living in large cities.
5.
Crime is committed disproportionately by
people who have experienced high residential mobility and who live in areas
characterized by high residential mobility.
6.
Young people who are strongly attached to
their school are less likely to engage in crime.
7.
Young people who have high educational and
occupational aspirations are less likely to engage in crime.
8.
Young people who do poorly at school are more
likely to engage in crime.
9.
Young people who are strongly attached to
their parents are less likely to engage in crime.
10. Young people
who have friendships with criminals are more likely to engage in crime
themselves.
11. People who
believe strongly in complying with the law are less likely to violate the law.
12. For both men
and women, being at the bottom of the class structure –whether measured by
personal socioeconomic status, socioeconomic status of the area of residence,
being unemployed or belonging to an oppressed racial minority – increases rates
of offending for all types of crime apart from those for which opportunities
are systematically less available to the poor.
13. Crime rates have been increasing since the Second
World War in most countries, developed and developing.
XII.
View
point of Elliot and Merrill
The eminent scholars Elliot and Merrill have made an
exhaustive and thorough study regarding the scope of criminology. According to
these scholars, in criminology we study four sets of facts. These are as
follows:
(a) The Nature of Crime-What are the features of
crime? What type of action is crime? In what respect does a criminal act differ
from a social or moral act? Is it just the action which may be considered
criminal or can the motive make difference to our description of a crime? For
example, the theft committed for personal gain and the theft committed for
impersonal reasons or social gain are both cases of theft. Can we make any
distinction between the two? The answers to these questions tell us the nature
of crime.
(b) Investigations into the causes of Crime-Under
this aspect of Criminology we study the reasons of criminal behavior. The
different types of crime have different causes. Are these differences apparent
or real? Can we come by a general theory of crime which will be adequate to
explain all types of crime? Are there relations, inverse or direct, between
various crimes. These questions are investigated under this head. Besides, we
also study the question of responsibility of crimes. If criminals are made and
not born, who is responsible for encouraging criminality? Is it parent
education or social system that is responsible in conjunction or one of these
alone? All these questions form the subject matter of this aspect of
criminology.
(c) Individualized Study of Criminals-How and when
does one turn into a criminal? What particular event or series of events happen
which turn man towards criminality? In order to know all these facts we have to
study in detail the personal lives of the criminals. Also we have to study the
life of a person in totality for understanding the nature of crime and
criminal. For this purpose we make use of what has come to be known as the
technique of case-history method.
(d) Study of Prevention of Crime & Reform of the
Criminal-Most obviously crimes is inimical to the interests of the society.
They not only disturb the social equilibrium but make life hell for the
criminal as well as his relatives. Even more, due to crime the normal law
abiding citizen lives in fear. Therefore it is most essential to devise ways
and means to prevent crime and reform the criminals. Should the system of
punishment the deterrent, preventive, reformative or exemplary? What type of
punishment is adequate for each type of crime? Such questions are studied under
this head.
XIII.
Methods
Of Criminology
The successful
growth and effectiveness of scientific and systematic study requires the
sophisticated and well developed methods and techniques, suited and attuned the
nature and scope of the study. The techniques of criminology fall into two
categories, which are
a. General Methods.
b.
Specific Methods
XIV.
Historical
Development
Criminology
is the scientific procedure to studying both social and individual criminal
actions. It is divided up into several separate disciplines including
psychology, economics, political science, natural science, biology and the
evolution and development of people. While other investigative professionals
are in charge of who committed a crime and how, criminologists are responsible
for answering why someone would be led to breaking the law or causing a crime.
The field of study has a long, rich history and has changed a lot.
Step 1
Criminology
truly began in Europe between the late 1700’s and the early 1800’s. Classical
school of criminology founders were theorists on crime and punishment development.
These people include writers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy
Bentham. Although
torture was taking place all over the continent, especially for confessions and
testimonies, classical school believed torture to be
wrong. According to the classic school of thought, crimes are
committed through free will. People know what they are doing and should be
punished. Those consequences should be strong enough to deter other people from
the crime and should be harsher than the criminal gain. They did explain that
the criminal justice system drastically needed to be modernized and improved.
At that time, criminal justice included painful torture such as stretching, crushing and stabbing of the
accused bodies. The classical school aimed to improve the system partly by
limiting or eliminating the torture. It marked the beginning of great progress
for the criminal justice system.
The Neo-classical school of thought followed the classic school and brought with it a few revisions. For one,
this way of thinking suggests that people can be led by behavior, which can be
irrational. It also suggests the world is imperfect and therefore there will
always be mistakes. Self-defense is included in the neo-classical school of thought too. Famous neo-classical
criminologists include Raymond Saleilles, author of The Individualization of Punishment and his teacher Gabriel Tarde.
Determinism is the belief that all actions
are pre-established in time and that free will is only an illusion. It,
along with the requirement of scientific evidence for criminal conviction,
falls under the positivist school of thought. Positivists believe that all people
are different, both intellectually and physically. Punishment within the
positivist school of thought would not be determined by crime, rather by
person. Also, correction, treatment and rehabilitation are theoretically
possible within all criminals and those that cannot be fixed should be killed.
Lombroso is credited with being the father of criminology and a positivist.
Step 2
In
the 1920s, Robert E. Park and Ernest Burgess presented their Chicago
school of thought through
the University of Chicago. The study related criminology to sociology and
provided research on concentric zones, or zones in transition where people tend
to be more criminally active than others. Through the addition of Henry McKay
and Clifford Shaw’s research specifically on juvenile delinquents, a new social
ecology study was developed. The Chicago school of thought determined that
crimes tend to be taught by older criminals whom people may be associated with
either personally or professionally.
Contemporary criminology includes a similar hedonistic theory that people can
deter emotions and actions according to incentive manipulation. Thus,
criminology today includes categorizing criminal’s motives whether they are instrumental or
expressive. Instrumental motivation means the person has more incentive,
outside the act itself, for committing a crime. There is a tangible benefit.
For example, contract killers have the added incentive of money. Gang members
may commit crimes for the initiation incentive. When there are obvious signs of
instrumental motivation, there are generally harsher punishments for crimes as
there is proof behind premeditation. Expressive motivation is different than
instrumental as it includes acts done out of emotion. The crime itself is the
desired result. Common feelings for expressive motivation crimes include anger
or rage, fear, jealousy and passion. They are frequently committed in
the heat of the moment as a means of overpowering the source of the criminal’s
frustration. In these instances, fifty-seven percent of the crimes occur to
acquaintances which include friends and relationships outside of marriage.
Also, fifty three percent of the homicides are blamed on arguments.
XV.
Importance
Of Criminology
Criminology Is very important in following two
aspects
a. Theoretical importance
b.
Practical
importance
XVI.
Theoretical
Significance
Explaining the theoretical significance of the
science of criminology the eminent criminologist Sutherland writes;
“This knowledge will contribute to the development of other social
studies and through other social studies it will contribute to
efficiency in general social control.”
The foregoing observation of Sutherland is extremely
significant as it brings into relief the theoretic importance and value of the
science of criminology. The chief theoretic benefits
of criminology are the following:
(1) Knowledge of Crime-Data-In every social
community and group, there are always some criminals and incidence of crime. It
is not humanly possible to bring about an ideal republic or perfect society in
which every chance of criminal behavior has been eliminated. The nature of
crime and criminals may undergo sea-change, but the very existence of crime
cannot be uprooted. This is not difficult to appreciate. In crime psychosis we
have two kinds of factors: personal and social .It is not possible to eliminate
the aggressive and acquisitive tendencies from man and, again, it is equally
impossible to eliminate all inequalities and anomalies from any society. This
is borne out by the fact that even under communist regime crimes are not
non-existent. Therefore, given the kinds of men and societies known to man, we
can safely say that each society, even a social group, harbours some criminals.
A systematic, scientific and unbiased study of criminology furnishes us
with factual, true and realistic data about crimes and criminals; this results
in increase in our knowledge. By studying criminology we also learn
about the kinds or types of crimes and criminals and also about the modus
essendi as well as modus operandi of crimes. This enables us to compile what
may be called taxonomy of crime, that is, an extensive and deep classification
of crimes.
(2) Criminology attempts both extensive and
intensive study of crime under all perspectives and by taking into account
every possible viewpoint. Thus its analysis and description of crime is
scientific, authentic and reliable. This analytical description helps in
determination of the exact causes of various categories of crime, and this
information, in turn, helps to formulate preventive and remedial laws regarding
crime. Besides helping to make laws, criminology also carries out
extensive surveys regarding the impact of various laws on the actual incidence
of crime. It is found that a particular law, instead of curbing crime,
encourages it, the law is amended in the light of fresh evidence. Thus, the
various laws regarding prohibition and narcotics are cases in point. In the
light of modern knowledge gained by extensive surveys and in-depth studies,
there are proposals to declare suicide not criminal. In Denmark and
many other civilized nations, pornography has been declared non-criminal. This
has had salutary impact upon society. In England, homosexuality among consenting
adults is now no longer criminal. Thus we find that constant review of the
relationship between crime and law help to make penal laws more and more
rational and humane. Even in a highly orthdox society like Indian, abortion has
been made non-criminal. There is also growing public opinion in favour of
relaxation of obscenity laws inIndia. Kissing and nudity on screen should be
permissible is the view of G. D. Khosla Commission. The rationale behind all
such moves is the discovery by Criminologists that greater the
repression of natural instincts, greater the thwarting of sensuous pleasure,
greater is the incidence of perversions and sadistic crimes. It is better to
let people decide what is good for them and as long as this “good” does not
contravene the rights of others, it must be allowed. From the above discussion
it is plain that the science of criminology goes a long
way in rationalizing and humanizing the penal legislation.
(3) Information about White-Collar Crime-To an
average man, the nature and number of crimes is quite definite. Asked to
enumerate crimes, he will name only murder, assault, dacoity, rape, loot and
arson, burglary and theft, sodomy and reduction as the only instances of crime.
He may have difficulty in appreciating that maltreatment of one’s cattles,
bestiality with them are criminal. But he will certainly be baffled if he is
told that misuse of power, nepotism etc; are criminal and equally, if not more,
harmful to society than other crimes. However, the not easily recognizable
crimes are not considered crime by an average person because they are committed
by well-to-do, upper-bracket persona and normally involve little violence. But
such acts, whosoever may commit them, are very much criminal. For example, if a
man earns a huge ransom by letting out the secrets of someone, he is indulging
in black mail. The private secretaries and yalets of top political and finance
magnets usually have access to many intimate secrets and there is strong
temptation to earn big money by the threatening exposure. Many innocent persons
are made victims of this vicious commercial mal practices, for example,
under-invoicing, graft etc. To gain some advantage by production of false
testimonials is an act of forgery and the crime of forgery is quite widespread.
Again, sexual abuse of private secretaries is fairly common in advanced
countries. All these are white-collar criminals and their crimes are really
criminal activity. The Watergate scandal threatening the office of President
Nixon is a classic instance of white-collar crime.
XVII.
Practical
Significance
Apart from having theoretical value and importance,
criminology also has much practical use and importance. In the words of
Sutherland, “Criminology is concerned with the immediate application of
knowledge to the program of social control of crime.” Following are
some of the specific practical uses of criminology.
(1) Elimination of Crimes-The elimination of crime
is one of the specific aim of criminology. It helps society in controlling
and eliminating the crime both directly and indirectly. It is most obvious that
if one knows the cause of a malady, its cure becomes easy. It is a truism in
medical practice that correct diagnosis is more than half the cure. The same
holds good in regard to the phenomenon of crime. By the knowledge of the causes
of the crime, we can undertake specific measures to remove them.
(2) Helpful in understanding the Psychology of the
Criminal-Criminology is practical study. With the help of its knowledge we can
easily assess the attitudes and opinions of the criminals. The study of
criminology helps us to pin-point the factors responsible for the various
crimes, that is, we learn as to how a particular crime is generated. There by
we are able to correlate specific crime with specific set of circumstances.
Apart form learning about the psychology of crime, the knowledge of criminology
helps us to classify the criminals, that is, we are enabled to correlate
personal factors like age, family and social background, education and physical
environs, physical and mental traits with different types of crime. Thus for
example, it may be revealed traits with different types of crime. Thus for
example, it may be revealed that sexual crimes are committed, contrary to
general impression, by persons with low sex-drive rather than by highly-sexed
persons. A prostitute-monger may be consorting with different women so as to
cover up the self consciousness and guilt over inadequate performance or he may
be doing so in order to receive the thrill of personal quirks and varied
techniques of arousal exercise by the professional sex-vendors. These facts
make it abundantly clear that the study of criminology goes a long way in
helping us to appreciate the psychology of crime and criminal.
(3) Reforms of Criminals-Besides controls,
prevention and elimination of crime, it is the important task and
responsibility of the science of criminology to device and suggest measures for
the reforms and rehabilitation of the criminal. For example, to wean a
prostitute from the sale of her bodily wares, we must know how and why she has
taken to this profession. In the societies which do not stigmatize such persons
and are prepared to accept them, the task is relatively easy. Again, it is easy
if the prostitute has taken to this profession from economic hardships and
other compulsions but it disgusted with what she is doing. But if, on the
contrary, either the society is orthodox or the prostitutes like and enjoy what
they are doing, the task of reform is extremely difficult, if not impossible.
(4) Reforms of Evil Forces-Every society are under
the influence of certain evil forces and their removal is the concern of every
well-meaning member of the society. The science of criminology helps us a great
deal in appreciating and understanding these evil forces and, thus, enables us
to device ways and means for the effective check of those forces
XVIII.
Importance
of criminology for study of terrorism
Criminologists have been making important contributions to
the research literature on terrorism and responses to terrorism for many years
and two past presidents of the American Society of Criminology, Nicholas
Kittrie and Austin Turk, explicitly built terrorism into their research on
political crime in the 1970s and 1980s. However, much of this early work was
done without federal support. It took two key events, the Murrah Federal
Building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995 and the September 11, 2001 attacks in
New York City, Washington DC and Pennsylvania before major federal funding
became available for criminologists to embark on large scale empirical work on
this phenomenon. After these events, funding through the National Memorial
Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, terrorism research solicitations by
the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Administration and
eventually, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opened
the door for an expanded portfolio of criminology related research on
terrorism. In this essay we summarize the work of two entities that have in
recent years taken a lead in this endeavor: the Human Factors Division (HFD) of
the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, and
the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
(START), a DHS funded national Center of Excellence focused on social and
behavioral science research on terrorism and its consequences
X
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Wolfgang, Marvin (1990). "Crime and Punishment in
Renaissance Florence". Journal of
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Criminology 1973
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Mayo,
Katherine (1920). Justice to All: The
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Kelling, George L., Mary A. Wycoff (December 2002). Evolving Strategy of Policing:
4)
Criminology and Penology Written by Dr.Rajendra K.
Sharma
