Criminology

Criminology is the elaborative study of crime. Criminology studies crime from a social and individual perspective. In simple terms it is a study of criminal behavior and factors responsible for it. It is an inter-disciplinary subject and incorporates subjects like psychology, history, law, sociology, anthropology, psychiatry. The term criminology was founded by Italian law professor Raffaele Garofalo. Criminology focuses on explain why certain things are considered crimes in certain societies and explain any variances between societies and cultures.  Criminology attempts to explain the behavior that violates the criminal law.  This study also deals with the social impact of any crime of the criminal itself along with victim and his or her family. Criminology is consisted of various theories and phenomena of crimes to understand it completely. In this modern scenario criminology is now considered as a full fledge and an important discipline.

   

Legal Definitions of Crime and Criminology

Donald  R.  Taft and Ralph W. England in their essay ‘Crime and Criminology’ incorporated in the book Criminology states that Legally, a crime is an act made punishable by law. A criminal is one who has committed such a legally forbidden act. Yet there are other criteria which determine whether a person may be dealt with as a criminal.

Regardless of his act, he must be of competent age. Under English common law a child under seven could not commit a crime because he was held not capable of feeling a sense of guilt - and so was not responsible. In American states the age of criminal responsibility is fixed by statute or constitutionally considerably above the common law limit. Very young children may of course be dealt with in juvenile courts. They may be punished as well as treated constructively under the faction that the court acts in loco parentis (as a parent would act) and in the best interests of the child.

Criminal acts must also be voluntary and engaged in without compulsion. Compulsion as defined by courts must be evident and immediately related to a particular criminal act. Impulsion towards a life of crime may have extended over a long period of time in the form of the influence of parents, associates, or conditions. But such indirect influences of the past, however compelling will not be recognized in court as destroying that voluntary nature of acts which is requisite to criminal behavior.

 Especially in the case of serious crimes, the criminal must be shown to have had criminal intent: he must have meant to do wrong. Usually criminal intent is tested in terms of his knowledge of right and wrong and of the nature and consequences of his behavior. If it can be shown that a man who killed another did not know that it is wrong to kill or that death may result if one points a loaded gun at another and pulls the trigger, he will be judged irresponsible, being without mens rea. Though in the case of some sample crimes, like running a stop light, the question of intent will not be raised, intent must be present to constitute most serious crimes. A wrongful motive need not be shown. A motive is the reason for crime; it is the subjective aspect of the causation of crime. Bigamy is no less a crime when the accused is actuated by religious motives, and euthanasia, the killing at the request of or for the benefit of the killed, is murder. On the other hand, a man who, intending to make hog feed, produced illicit corn whiskey, was held not guilty of crime.

Our criminal law also often recognizes degree of intent as necessary to constitute particular crimes. Thus to carry a heavy penalty, an assault may have so be shown to have been perpetrated “maliciously” or “wantonly,” or a personal injury to have resulted from negligence.

  

Finally, to constitute a crime an act must be classed legally as an injury to the state and not merely as a private injury, or tort. In ancient societies many acts now defined as crimes were considered only private injuries to be avenged by the injured party or by his family or friends. But as society became more and more complex, a large number of acts once considered torts became crimes. It is indeed increasingly difficult to discover acts without general social consequences. We still have a vast number of injuries dealt with through private suit under the civil law, in which the court acts as the arbitrator between the contestants and awards damages. Some offenses may be tried either under the civil or the criminal law. We shall later discuss white-collar crimes, which is usually tried under civil procedure but may be tried as crime. In the United States, with its puritanical heritage, there has been a tendency to define as crimes many forms of personal behavior which on the European continent are rarely treated as crimes. That tendency has created the problem of unenforceable law and has set the stage for serious rackets created when satisfactions forbidden by law, such as gambling or prostitution, are nevertheless in wide demand by at least a large minority of the people.

Development of Criminology

Crime is there in human society since the inception of our social system. It is as old as the human society. However, the development of criminology as a area of research and study is relatively new. In ancient societies a crime was considered as a sin and it was interpreted with religious point of view. It is believed that a systematic study of the subject was not started since 17th century. After this period scholars for the first attempted to observe and separate crime from sin and tried to give possible non-theological explanation of crime. This is in real considered as the beginning and the first stage of development of criminology as a much needed discipline of society. This era of development of criminology is known as the era of classical criminology. 

The development of modern criminology was started during the 19th century. In this period criminology got a new identity and it was considered as a remarkable area of study with psychology, sociology, and economics. Scholarly initiative was much revolutionary in this period as many criminological societies were formed and criminology journals were published. Empirical approach of studying criminology was applied by scholars in studying criminological principles and number of new theories of criminology was evolved during this period.

Development of independent criminology started during the second half of the 20th century.  During this period criminology evolved out to be an independent and complete discipline. In Western Europe, the United States, and Canada, criminologists expanded their professional associations and published an increasing number of journals. A number of universities developed graduate programs in criminology. Criminological theories have become more multidisciplinary because independent criminologists seek to understand crime itself rather than study crime as one aspect of an overall sociological or psychological theory.

Features of Criminology

The importance of Criminology in modern society is critically significant. The subject matter and sphere of the subject is continuously expanding. Criminology, comparatively as a new discipline requires a lot to serve the society a crime free environment. The basic features of criminology can be listed as below.  

• As a discipline, criminology deals with a substantive concern: crime.
• Criminology as a discipline believes in empirical method.
• Criminology is multidisciplinary in character. Therefore, it is important to understand the conceptual apparatus other discipline associated with criminology to understand correctly a criminological interpretation.
• It is also observed that because of the multidisciplinary character of the subject criminologists frequently disagree with each other. 
• 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.
• Criminologists have been historically and continuously concerned to offer some form of intervention in the policy making process.
• Criminology sometimes comes in to conflict with popular perception about crime and sometimes challenge such thinking. Such conflicts are a challenge for the discipline.
• These conflicts and debates are more frequently seen in a ‘late modern’ society increasingly preoccupied with crime, risk and insecurity.

Schools of Thought in Criminology

There are two major schools of thoughts in criminology. These schools are known as Classical School and Positive School of thought.  Below is brief explanation of both the school of thoughts.

Classical School

The classical school of criminology was developed in the eighteenth century. It was emerged in response to the cruel forms of punishment that dominated at the time.  This school believed that people have free will to choose how to act. There were two main contributors to this theory of criminology and they were Jeremy Bentham and Cesare de Beccaria. It is considered that writers such as Montesquieu and Voltaire encouraged perhaps the emergence of this new ‘classical' thinking, by becoming involved in campaigns for more enlightened approaches to be taken towards crime and the punishment given by the justice systems at the time. They are considered as the founding fathers of the classical school of criminology the classicistic approach argues with the factors suggested by positivist. According to this discipline every person has the ability to make a decision under any circumstances this is not to be believed that a person has loses his decision making ability. Every committed crime is a result of just a wrong decision which can be taken in hurry and with the feeling of rage and anger to take revenge. According to classical school, the swifter and certain the punishment, the more effective it is in deterring criminal behavior. At the heart of Bentham's writing was the idea that human behavior is directed at maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain, (the pleasure-pain principle).

Positive School

Positive school of thought mainly believed that The Positivist school presumes that criminal behavior is caused by internal and external factors outside of the individual's control. In criminology this refers to the first scientific school consisting of the Italian criminologists Cesare Lombroso (1836-1909), Raffaelo Garofalo (1852-1934) and Enrico Ferri (1856-1928). This view of Positivist Theory was challenging the validity of the Classical Theory and it was considered as an innovative way to looking at the causation of crime. The positivist school of criminology makes certain assumptions on human nature with regards to freewill, rationality and behavior. Positivism values scientific reasoning and intelligence as a means of understanding and preventing crime, and as a means of ensuring that society runs smoothly. It is the positive school who brought scientific approach to criminology, including findings from biology and medicine during the latter part of the 19th century. Lombroso argued that science deals with facts. As a result science is able to make predictions and a suitable hypothesis which can quantify and explain objectively human behavior whether it is psychological or biological. Positivism aims to search for, explain and predict future patterns of crime and behavior using biological or individual disciplines in an attempt to identify key causes of crime. They support the assumptions of positivism and argue that criminality is determined - the effect in a cause-effect sequence - and that the mandate of criminology should be to search for these causes. It was believed that with the exception of those deemed to be 'born criminals', the discovery of the causes of crime would allow for effective treatment. This school therefore adopts a medical model (crime as sickness) and advocates rehabilitation of offenders, indeterminate sentences, and the dominance of professionals in correctional decision-making.

Theories of Causation of Crime

The study of causation of crime occupies a major area in criminological study. Various attempts have been made so far to find out the actual reason behind a crime. In this attempt of knowing various theories have been formulated by scholars. Some of the important theories of crime causation are mentioned below.

Social structure theories

Social structure theory states that people commit crimes when the law, controlled by the rich and powerful, defines their behavior as illegal Social structural theories attempt to explain why people commit crimes as related to the social structure of society. Social structural theorists do not agree over the causes of crime. Social structure theories assert that the disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of crime. 

Biological theory

Biological theory states that people commit crimes because of genetic, biochemical, or neurological deficiencies. There was such a time that a person whom society deemed as ugly, was considered a potential criminal and was locked-up for the betterment of society.

Symbolic interactionism

Symbolic interactionism draws on the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and George Herbert Mead, as well as subcultural theory and conflict theory.[25] This school of thought focused on the relationship between the powerful state, media and conservative ruling elite on the one hand, and the less powerful groups on the other. The powerful groups had the ability to become the 'significant other' in the less powerful groups' processes of generating meaning. The former could to some extent impose their meanings on the latter, and therefore they were able to 'label' minor delinquent youngsters as criminal. These youngsters would often take on board the label, indulge in crime more readily and become actors in the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' of the powerful groups.

Labeling theory

According to this theory most people commit crimes at some time in their lives but not everyone becomes defined as a deviant or a criminal. This theory believes that each label carries with it prejudices and images and this may lead to others interpreting the behavior of the labeled person in a particular way. 

Marxist Criminology

According to the Marxist perspective on crime, "defiance is normal - the sense that men are now consciously involved…in assuring their human diversity." Thus Marxists criminologists argued in support of society in which the facts of human diversity, be it social or personal, would not be criminalized. They, further, attributed the processes of crime-creation not to genetic or psychological facts, but rather to the material basis of a given society. In recent evaluations of Marxist criminology it has been noted that these perspectives were not really 'Marxist', but based on the principle of socialist diversity as outlined in 'The New criminology'. 

Importance of Criminology

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. We also learn about the causes and reasons of criminal behavior. The importance of criminology can be summarized with the help of following points. The elimination of crime is one of the specific aims 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. 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. 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. Every society is 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.

Career in Criminology

Criminology is developing discipline and considered to be one of the most preferred careers by people today. The subject deals with all factors associated to crime and therefore it is significantly connected to some of the modern professions like lawyers, journalists, and police along with all other defense forces which make use of this study to understand the circumstances and situation behind a crime. It is must to have some qualifications in criminology to work in any field that is related to it. A criminology student can opt for any of the following options.

•       Corrections
•       Counseling
•       Criminal Investigation
•       Research and Policy Studies
•       Judicial / Courts
•       Private Investigation
•       Psychologist - Psychopathology Specialist
•       Retail Investigation
•       Special Agencies
•       Insurance Fraud Investigation & Prevention
•       Intervention Programming
•       Teaching in school/college/ University
•       Women's Studies
•       Youth Programming & Counseling
•       Diversion Programming
•       Financial Fraud Investigation & Prevention
•       Forensics
•       Law Enforcement
•       Medical Investigation
•       Rehabilitation
•       Additional Careers in Sociology

A student of criminology develops the following skillsets at the end of the course.

•       Identify problems and develop solutions
•       Research and scientific methodology
•       Interviewing
•       Knowledge of legal structures
•       Broad understanding of criminal justice system
•       Awareness of societal concerns and population dynamic.