Criminology - History, Sociology And Criminology, Political Criminology, Other Issues, Further Readings

study criminal crime field

The scientific study of the causation, correction, and prevention of crime.

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; biocriminology, 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.

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 humane sentences and treatments for criminal behavior.

CROSS-REFERENCES

Critical Legal Studies; Forensic Science; Marx, Karl Heinrich.

Additional Topics

Criminology - History

Criminologists of the early nineteenth century argued that legal punishments that had been created under the guidance of the classical school did not sufficiently consider the widely varying circumstances of those who found themselves in the gears of the criminal justice system. Accordingly, they proposed that those who could not distinguish right from wrong, particularly children and mentally ill…

Criminology - 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 st…

Criminology - Other Issues

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 has had more of an effect whe…

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User Comments

8 months ago

Asinya Divine Aasinya

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9 months ago

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about 1 year ago

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