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INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY
CRIMINOLOGY. The word criminology is essentially the study of crime. Criminology is
derived from the Latin crimen, which means accusation, and the transliterated Greek logia,
which denotes the study of.

Criminology is a noun (countable and uncountable), its plural form is criminologies.

Criminology refer to the study of crime and criminals, especially their behavior; the scientific
study and investigation of crime and criminals.

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.

According to EDWIN H. SUTHERLAND, Criminology is the body of knowledge

regarding the social problem of crime.

According to Tradio, Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding delinquency and

crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the following:

a. Process of making laws (Sociology of Laws) – an attempt at scientific analysis of the

conditions under which penal or criminal laws develop as a process of formal social
control.
b. Breaking of laws (Etiology of Crime) – an attempt at scientific analysis of the causes of
crime
c. Reacting toward the breaking of laws (Penology) –concerned with the rehabilitation and
treatment of offenders.

Criminology. It is the science which studies crime, forms of criminal behaviour, the causes of
crime, the definition of criminality, and the societal reaction to criminal activity. Related areas of
inquiry may include juvenile delinquency, victimology, and theories of prevention, policing and
correction (Sousa, 2008).

Three Components of Criminology

1. Detection of the offender
2. Treatment of the offender
3. Explaining crime and criminal behavior

Loida A. Rilveria | CCJE-UNP INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY

 Purposes of Studying Criminology
1. The primary aim is to prevent the crime
2. To understand crimes and criminals which are basic to knowing the actions to be done to
prevent them
3. To prepare for a career in law enforcement and scientific crime detection
4. To develop an understanding of the constitutional guarantees and due process of law in
the administration of justice

Nature of Criminology
1. It is an applied science. The findings or knowledge obtained in the study of crimes and
criminal behaviors is used to resolve the crime problem and treatment of criminals’
anthropology, psychology, sociology and other natural sciences may be applied in the study
of the causes of crime while chemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics, etc. may be
utilized in crime detection.
2. A Social Science. In as much as crime is a creation of the society and that it exists in a
society, its study must be considered a part of social science. Refers to the intellectual and
academic disciplines designed to understand the social world objectively. It is study of the
various aspects of human society.
3. Dynamic. Criminology changes as social condition changes. That means the progress of
criminology is concordant with the advancement of other sciences that has been applied to
it.
4. Nationalistic. The study of crime must always conform to the existing criminal law of the
land. The study of crimes must be in relation with the existing criminal law within the
territory or country.

Criminology is also the study of the different aspects like:

1. Criminal Sociology – studies the effects of social conditions on crime and criminals
including the machinery of justice and the evolution of criminal law and punishment.
2. Criminal Psychiatry - study of human mind in relation to criminality.
3. Criminal Etiology - study of criminality in relation to spatial distribution on a community.
4. Criminal Demography - study of the relationship between criminology and population.
5. Criminal Epidemiology - study of the relationship between environment and criminality.
6. Criminal Physical Anthropology - study of criminality in relation to physical constitution
of men.

Criminological Theory

Theory is part of an explanation, an attempt to relate two or more variables in ways that can
be tested. If properly constructed and tested, a theory can be either supported or shown to be
incorrect or at least questioned.

Loida A. Rilveria | CCJE-UNP INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY

 Theory refers also to a series of interrelated propositions that attempt to describe, explain,
predict, and ultimately control some class of events. It gains explanatory power from inherent
logical consistency and is “tested” by how well it describes and predicts reality.

Attributes of a Theory

1. Theory Construction- an informed, creative endeavor which connects something

known with something unknown; usually in a measurable way.
2. Theory Building- efforts to come up with formal, systematic, logical, and
mathematical ways in which theories are constructed.
3. Theoretical Integration- efforts to come up with grand, overarching theories which
apply to all types of crime and deviance.
4. Theoretical Specification- efforts to figure out the details of a theory, how the
variables work together; usually associated with a brief that many competing theories
are better than integrated efforts.
5. Theoretical Elaboration- efforts to figure out the implications of a theory, what other
variables might be added to the theory; also associated with the belief that theory
competition is better than theoretical integration.
6. Variables- the building blocks of theories; things that vary; things you can have more
or less of; e.g., crime rates, being more or less inclined to criminally (criminality)
7. Hypothesis- an explanation that accounts for a set of facts and that can be tested by
further investigation.

Eras of Criminological Theory by John H. Laub

1. First Era: Golden Age of Research (1900 to 1930)- it was this time when data on
crime and criminal behavior were largely gathered and evaluated independent of any
particular ideational framework.
2. Second Era: Golden Age of Theory (1930 to 1960)- this is the time when
intellectual theorizing “dominated the scene”. Strangely, during this period, there was no
systematic attempt to link criminological research to theory.
3. Third Era: Age of Extensive Theory Testing- this is characterized be extensive
theory testing of the dominant theories, using largely empirical methods. In other words,
this era was a time of scientific examination of the accuracy of criminological theories that
had been previously advanced.

Explaining Scope of Theory

1. General Theory. A theory that attempts to explain all (or at least most) forms of
criminal conduct through a single, overarching approach.
2. Unicausal Theory. A theory that posits only one source for all that they attempt to
explain.
3. Integrated Theory. A theory that provides explanatory perspective that merges
(or attempts to merge) concepts drawn from different sources. This is in contrast to the
General Theory.

Loida A. Rilveria | CCJE-UNP INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY