NIMS SCHOOL OF LAW

LL.M 1st SEM

Criminology & Criminal Justice Administration
DATE: 22/09/20 TIME: 12 to 1 PM

Is Criminology a Science
 Is Criminology a Science
• There is at present a continuing argument whether
criminology is a science or not. Edwin H. Sutherland
and Donald Cressy, both American Criminologists,
argued that criminology is not a science but it has hopes
of becoming a science.
• However, George L. Wilker said that criminology
cannot possibly become a science due to lack of
universal proposition of crime and scientific studies of
criminal behavior is impossible.
 SO HOW CRIMINOLOGY BECOME A SCIENCE?
CRIMINOLOGY IS A SCIENCE IN ITSELF WHEN APPLIED TO LAW
ENFORCEMENT AND PREVENTION OF CRIMES UNDER THE
FOLLOWING NATURE:

1. IT IS AN APPLIED SCIENCE - IN THE STUDY OF THE CAUSES OF

CRIMES, ANTHROPOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY AND
OTHER NATURAL SCIENCES MAY BE APPLIED. WHILE IN CRIME
DETECTION, CHEMISTRY, MEDICINE, PHYSICS, MATHEMATICS,
BALLISTICS, PHOTOGRAPHY, LEGAL MEDICINE, QUESTION
DOCUMENTS EXAMINATION MAY BE UTILIZED.

2. IT IS A SOCIAL SCIENCE - IN AS MUCH AS CRIME IS A SOCIAL

CREATION AND THAT IT EXISTS IN A SOCIETY BEING A SOCIAL
PHENOMENON, ITS STUDY MUST BE CONSIDERED A PART OF SOCIAL
SCIENCE.
3. It is dynamic- criminology changes as social conditions
changes. It is concomitant with the advancement of
other sciences that have been applied to it.

4. It is nationalistic - the study of crimes must be in

relation with existing criminal law within a territory or
country. Finally, the question as to whether an act is a
crime is dependent on the criminal law of a country.
The Scope of Criminology

1. Study of the causes of crimes and

development of criminals.
2. Study of the origin and development of
criminal laws.
3. Study of the different factors that
enhances as:
A. criminal sociology- study the effects of social
conditions on crime and criminals including the
machinery of justice and the evolution of
criminal law and punishment.
B .criminal psychiatry- study of human mind in
relation to criminality.
C. criminal ecology- the study of criminality in relation to spatial
distribution on a community.

D. criminal demography- study of the relationship between

criminology and population

E. criminal epidemiology- study of the relationship between

environment and criminality.

F. Criminal physical anthropology- study of criminality in relation

to physical constitution of humans.

G. Victimology- study of the role of the victim in the commission

crime.
Three Divisions of Criminology

Criminal Etiology- it is an attempt at

scientific analysis of the causes of
the crime.
Sociology of Law- which is an attempt at
scientific analysis of the conditions
which penal/criminal laws has developed
as a process of formal and social
control.
Penology- which is concerned with the
control and prevention of crime and the
treatment of offenders.
Criminology: Studies Criminal behaviour

Sociology and Deviance: Studies behaviour that departs

from social norms

NOTE: Not all crimes are deviant or unusual acts and not all
deviant acts are illegal.

Criminology and Deviance

Overlapping Area of Concern. There is a thin line that

distinguishes criminal act from deviant act. For example,
when does sexually oriented material cross the line from
merely suggestive to obscene and therefore illegal?
THANK YOU