Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Defining Criminology

The word "Criminology" came from the Latin term "crimen" which means crime or accusation and Greek term "logos" which means science or study. The term "Criminology" was first coined by Italian law professor Raffael Garofalo in 1885. In Italian it is called "Criminologia". In the year of 1887, a French anthropologist used this term in French. According to the New Encyclopedia Britannica,

"Criminology is the scientific study of non-legal aspects of crime. In its wider sense embracing penology, it is the study of the causation, correction and prevention of crime. In some countries its scope is broadened to include so-called criminalistics, the science and practice of criminal investigation"

This definition indicates that, there are legal and non-legal aspect of crime. Legal aspects pertain to define crime by substantive law and enforces victims right also punishes offenders through following the provisions of procedural law. Non-legal aspects of crime are concerned with studying crime from various aspects other than legal.

Edwin H. Sutherland provided a definition of Criminology which is widely accepted,

"Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the process of making laws, of breaking laws and of reacting towards the breaking laws. The object of Criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principles and other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime and treatment or prevention"

So, after discussing all these facts we can say that, Criminology is a discipline which concentrates upon forms of crime, causes and definition of crime, social reaction to criminal activity and study of victims.

The study of Criminology requires through understanding of crime, criminology and criminal law. Criminology explains criminal behaviour, tries to find the causation of crime and its control. In other words Criminology studies crime and the social reaction to crime

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