Criminology and its relationship with other social sciences

 

Define criminology and discuss its relationship with other social sciences

The formative Latin elements crimin (accusation or guilt) and -ology (study of) suggest that criminology is the study of crime (study of). Criminology is a multidisciplinary academic field that includes contributions from psychology, biology, anthropology, law, and, most notably, sociology. Even though criminology's defining claims are founded in all of these professions, contemporary criminology is becoming increasingly linked with other sciences and professional domains like as geography, social work, and public health.

Given the complex subject matter and diversified nature of crime, this diversity of influences, known as multidisciplinary, is quite natural. Scholarly attention to crime from many viewpoints opens up a wide range of study problems, allowing for a better understanding of the criminal mentality, the nature of crime, and societal control procedures. For example, legal studies might span from philosophical considerations of social justice concerns to technical variables influencing case outcomes. Psychology, on the other hand, looks at crime from the perspective of individual maladjustment and deviant conduct. Sociological criminology is distinct in that it focuses on the many causes and character of crime, as well as society's response to it. Criminologists investigate practically every element of illegality and society's reactions to it, from the creation of crime causation theories to the roles and applications of social control (e.g., police, courts, and imprisonment), crime prevention, and victimization. Of course, criminologists have built extensive knowledge bases on specific offences, which are typically classified as (a) crimes against property (e.g., burglary, theft, robbery, and shoplifting); (b) crimes against a person (e.g., homicide, assault, and rape); (c) morality/social order crimes (e.g., gambling, prostitution, substance offences, and vandalism); and (d) technology crime. Each of the other categories intersects with and frequently encourages criminality in this category. The scientifically generated basic knowledge of criminologists has enormous potential for informing social policy and criminal justice practice in the twenty-first century by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of prevention, intervention, enforcement, and rehabilitative strategies and practices.

In the news media and in everyday popular culture expression, the words criminology and criminologist are used relatively loosely and interchangeably. Criminologists are social scientists, however they are often and incorrectly associated with other crime-related scientific and investigative positions (for example, forensics scientist/medical examiner, psychological criminal profiler, and ballistics experts). The many duties that the persons in these jobs fulfil cause a lot of uncertainty and definitional misunderstanding about what criminology is. Despite the fact that each position is critical in the battle against crime, some are not scientific at all, and certainly not social science in practise or intent. Despite its current popularity, criminology evolved via a series of transformations in primary focus, from philosophy to crime prevention and legal reform and ultimately science.

It is believed that the term "criminology" was first used by the Frenchman Paul Topinard (1830- 1911) in 1889 in an anthropological study of the dependence of crime on body type. William Sheldon (1940). and the controversial body type theory. Sheldon's politically erroneous biological thesis that delinquency can be predicted by body type and physique (endoderm, mesoderm, ectoderm) is still controversial in popular culture publications such as the New York Times (Nagourney, 2008) and in the social sciences. Criminology may have arisen around a physiological focus, but most early criminal philosophers were concerned with the functioning of the judicial system in the 18th and 19th centuries and the much-needed legal reforms. Over time, criminology has dominated the field of theoretical criminology (ie, the relationship of crime to various individual, family, social and environmental factors, correlation of crime). The rise of theoretical criminology between the 1940s and the present has proven scientifically rewarding and limited. Although rewards are a broad theory based on experience, they are often criticized for their lack of usefulness in the real world. However, theoretical criminology is the cornerstone of academic criminology of the past and present, and the core of a younger discipline that is evolving towards a more pragmatic view of applied criminology. Applied criminology assumes that crime prevention and reduction strategies and initiatives are based on evidence-based theoretical knowledge, which, as expected, can improve best practices within and around the criminal justice system.

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While criminology is commonly thought to be the study of the origins and character of crime, and is sometimes contrasted with criminal justice, which is concerned with the solution to the issue of crime, Sutherland's famous definition explicitly underlined the importance of both. As a result, criminology is now divided into two categories: theoretical or social criminology, which focuses on crime causation or the etiology of crime, and applied criminology, which focuses on crime prevention, enforcement, or treatment.

Criminology as Social Science

Numerous causal theories that make up theoretical criminology have been created and evaluated, and diverse quantitative and qualitative research methodologies are frequently used in the examination of criminal occurrences. Criminology, as a practise of social investigation, thus provides and is defined by theory–methods symmetry. Inferential statements concerning connections (seen correlations) can be disproved if theory is classified as scientific. The purpose of research is to collect data in accordance with the operationalization process so that the theory may be structured for systematic observation of cause and effect. The findings and conclusions on the existence, nature, and consequences of relationships are then compared to the theory's conceptual logic. When observations contradict a theory's essential premises, the hypothesis is said to be false.

Criminologists are particularly interested in finding solutions to a variety of causality-related research questions: Will escalating the severity of the penalty reduce the quantity of crime in society? Do monetary penalties imposed on parents of truant children promote parental responsibility and, as a result, reduce truancy? Is there a link between a substance addiction treatment programme in a correctional setting and the rate of recidivism and drug relapse among inmates? These and related queries represent a desire to pinpoint causal linkages, which might have ramifications for criminal justice practise. In scientific reasoning, the evidence of four key parts is required: (1) logical basis, (2) temporal order, (3) correlation, and (4) lack of spuriousness.

Scientific theory, like any other sort of precise explanation, necessitates deductive reasoning. There must be a logical foundation for assuming that observed events have a causal link. When seeking to explain criminal conduct, criminologists are unconcerned about criminals' hair or eye colour, for example, because there is no logical link between these physical characteristics and criminal behaviour. Temporal order—that is, the time sequence of cause-and-effect elements—is a second need for scientific theory formation. In other words, like in the case of religious participation and morality crime, causative variables must come before consequences. Religious-based initiatives are predicated on the notion that religious-based programmes would improve social circumstances, including lowering crime rates. If offenders participate in religious programmes (the independent variable) and subscribe to religious doctrine condemning behavior like gambling, commercial sex, and recreational substance use and abuse, then a decrease in their commission of these vice crimes (the dependent variable) would appear to be a causal relationship, because religious programming both preceded and logically prompted the decreased involvement in the specified behaviors.

As previously stated, correlation is the third and final requirement of a scientific hypothesis. Correlation, once again, denotes the existence of a link between observable occurrences as well as the nature of the relationship in terms of strength and direction. The condition of spuriousness is the final important component for scientific hypothesis formation. Most subcultures, for example, are defined by poverty, which confounds the causal link between subculture and crime because crime may be caused by poverty, and subcultures grow naturally within disadvantaged populations. Alternatively, it's possible that cultural norms support poverty and crime-related behaviour. As a result, the link between subculture, poverty, and crime is fictitious since cause and effect cannot be shown. As a result, theorists must construct relationship statements that are free of ambiguity. Criminologists can raise the possibility or probability that connection assertions are correct by following to these four axioms.

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