Criminology objectives and goals: Show
Criminology is devoted to the analysis of the causes of crime, crime patterns, and trends. Criminologists use scientific methods to study the nature, extent cause and control of criminal behavior. Criminology is the scientific approach to the study of criminal behavior as a social phenomenon. It is the body of general principles regarding the process of law, crime and control. It is an interdisciplinary science. For most of the 20th century criminology�s primary orientation was sociological, today it is viewed as an integrated approach. Criminology vs. criminal justice Criminology explains the origin, extent and nature of crime in society, whereas criminal justice refers to the agencies of social control that handle criminal offenders. There is some overlapping. What Criminologists do: � Criminologists are primarily interested in studying crime and criminal behavior. � Statistics: to measure the amount and trends of criminal activity. � Sociology of Law: the role that social forces play in shaping criminal law and the role of criminal law in shaping society. � Theory construction: why people engage in criminal acts. � Criminal behavior systems: research on specific criminal types and patterns, e.g., violent crime, theft crime, public order crime and organized crime. � Penology: the correction and control of known criminal offenders, which overlaps with criminal justice. � Victimology: victim behavior is often a key determinant of crime, a victim�s actions may precipitate or provide an opportunity for crime. Individual explanations:
� Emphasis is on criminogenic social conditions. The immediate social environment is primarily responsible for criminality in our society, e.g., broken families, poor parenting, low quality educational experiences, delinquent peer relations, poverty, lack of equal economic opportunity, inadequate socialization to the values implicit in the American culture, etc. Crime control (emphasis is on the criminal not on the crime itself just as with biological and psychological views): correctional programs can give those arrested the social skills necessary to overcome those aspects of their immediate social environment that led to the criminal acts in their first place.
� Social control: Travis Hirschi�s Social Bond theories. The emphasis is on why people do not commit crimes. Everyone has the potential to become a criminal but most people are controlled by their bond to society. Crime occurs when the forces that bind people to society are weakened or broken. When the social bonds that individuals have to parents, peers, and important social institutions like the school or the workplace are strong, they fear that their criminal activity may jeopardize their relative position in society and refuse to run the risk of losing meaningful social relationships, careers, etc. � Strain theory (Merton) crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they can use to legally obtain them. While goals are the same for all the ability to obtain these goals is class dependant. Consequently, lower classes feel anger, frustration and resentment which is referred to as strain. These people can either accept their condition and live out their days as socially responsible but un-rewarded citizens, or they can choose an alternative means of achieving success, such as theft, violence or drug trafficking. Here the criminal must rehabilitate psychologically and accept those limited legitimate means available to him or her. Conflict or critical criminology: political view of crime. It is capitalism that creates criminal behavior.
What is the scientific study of the nature extent and causes of crime?criminology, scientific study of the nonlegal aspects of crime and delinquency, including its causes, correction, and prevention, from the viewpoints of such diverse disciplines as anthropology, biology, psychology and psychiatry, economics, sociology, and statistics.
What is the scientific study of the extent nature and cause of criminal victimization its consequences for the persons involved with the reactions thereto society?Victimology institutionalized by the World Society of Victimology could be defined as “the scientific study of the extent, nature and causes of criminal victimization, its consequences for the persons involved and the reactions thereto by society, in particular, the police and the criminal justice system as well as ...
What is the scientific study of the causes of crime?Criminology is the study of crime and criminal behavior, informed by principles of sociology and other non-legal fields, including psychology, economics, statistics, and anthropology. Criminologists examine a variety of related areas, including: Characteristics of people who commit crimes.
What is the scientific study of victimization?Victimology, then, is the study of the etiology (or causes) of victimization, its consequences, how the criminal justice system accommodates and assists victims, and how other elements of society, such as the media, deal with crime victims.
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