Institute for Excellence in Higher Education

“Introduction to
Criminology”

Presented by:
Somya Jain, 319391
B.A (Hons.) Psychology
4th Semester, 2nd Year.
 Introduction

What is criminology?

The word ‘criminology’ originated in 1890s.

And the general meaning of the term is
“The scientific study of crime as a social
phenomenon, of criminals and of penal
institutions.”
 Criminology

Criminology as a branch of knowledge is

concerned with those particular conducts of
human behaviour which are prohibited by
the society.

It’s therefore, a socio-legal study which seeks

to discover the causes of criminality and
suggests the remedies to reduce crime.
 Definition
Edwin Sutherland has offered what remains a more or
less acceptable definition of criminology as,

“The body of knowledge regarding crime as a social

phenomenon. It includes within it’s scope: the process
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 a general
and verified principles, and other types of knowledge
regarding this process of law, crime, and treatment.”
 Important Areas

From the definition given by Edwin Sutherland

and Donald Cressey, the most important
areas of criminology include:
1. The development of criminal law and its use
to define crime.
2. The cause of law violation, and
3. The methods used to control criminal
behaviour.
 Nature

 Criminologists use objective research

methods to pose hypothesis, gather data,
create theories, and test their validity.

 Criminology draws on the range on human

and social science disciplines. Criminologists
have been trained in diverse fields like
sociology, political science, psychology,
economics criminal justice etc.
 Criminology is both a theoretical and an
empirical discipline.

 It engages in formal and critical evaluation of

crime prevention, security, crime control
policies, as well as of other responses to
crime and deviance.
Empirically, criminology is concerned with:

 Process of criminalization and victimization.

 The causes and organization of crime and deviance.
 Processes of preventing and managing crime and
victimization.
 Official and unofficial responses to crime, deviance,
and social harm.
 Representations of crime, offenders, victims and, of
agents and agencies of control.
 School of Thoughts
A school of criminology, connotes the system of
thought which consists of an integrated theory of
causation of crime and of policies of control
implied in the theory of causation.

In an attempt to find a rational explanation of crime,

a large number of theories have been propounded
with various factors to explain crime.
Some important schools are: Classical, neo-classical,
positivist or Italian, and sociological or modern.
 Classical School

The classical school of thought usually is

reference to the 18th century work of Jeremy
Bentham and Cesare Beccaria.

Was premised on the idea that people have

free will in making decisions, and that
punishment can be a deterrent for crime, so
long as the punishment is proportional, fits
the crime and is carried out properly.
 Neo-Classical School

In criminology, the neo-classical school continues

the traditions of the classical school.

However, asserted that certain categories of

offenders such as minors, idiots, insane or
incompetent, had to be treated leniently in
matters of punishment irrespective of similarity
of their criminal act because they’re incapable of
differentiating between right and wrong.
 Positivist/Italian School

Attempted to find scientific objectivity for

measurement and qualification of criminal
behaviour, theories of physical characteristics
became popular. And this theme was further
amplified by the Italian school and through
the writings of Lombroso, who identified
physical characteristics associated with
degeneracy.
 Sociological or modern school
The proponents of modern criminology attempt
to explain criminality in terms of social conflict.

Advocates of this school firmly believe that

distinction between criminals and non-
criminals is the direct outcome of a mistaken
notion of labelling certain individual offenders.
And, prefer to identify the criminals with
particular social type who've been victims of
inequalities.
THANK YOU!