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Diverse: Crime Delinquency Disciplines Anthropology Psychology Psychiatry Economics Sociology

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
23 views2 pages

Diverse: Crime Delinquency Disciplines Anthropology Psychology Psychiatry Economics Sociology

Uploaded by

Alankrita Shri
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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criminology, scientific study of the nonlegal aspects of 

crime and delinquency,
including its causes, correction, and prevention, from the viewpoints of
such diverse disciplines as anthropology,
biology, psychology and psychiatry, economics, sociology, and statistics.
Crime has traditionally been studied as a form of deviant behaviour. Crime is a behaviour
that violates official law and is punishable through formal sanctions. The dictionary meaning
of the word ‘crime’ refers to a “violation of law” or “an act punishable by law”.
The English word ‘crime’ is derived from the Latin term “crimen” which means ‘charge’ or
‘offence’. Thus, literally the word crime means “an attack on norms or the law”. It also
means “violation of norms and laws”.

According to Samuel Koenig, “Crime may be defined as any act forbidden by law which
society expects its authorized officials to enforce.”
According to F.R. Scarpitti and M.L. Andersen, “Crime can be defined in terms of the body
of law that codifies a society’s rules about proper and improper behaviour.”
According to Hall Jerome has defined crime as “legally forbidden and intentional action
which has a harmful impact on social interests, which has a criminal intent, and which has
legally-prescribed punishment for it.”
According to Elliot and Merrill, “Crime may be defined as anti-social behaviour which the
group rejects and to which it attaches penalties.” Therefore crime is believed that anti-social
elements are responsible for increase in crime rate.
According to Mowrer (1959) has defined as “an anti-social act”.

Nature and scope

Criminology is an inter-disciplinary field of study, involving scholars and practitioners


representing a wide range of behavioral and social sciences as well as numerous natural
sciences. Sociologists played a major role in defining and developing the field of study and
criminology emerged as an academic discipline housed in sociology programs. However,
with the establishment of schools of criminology and the proliferation of academic
departments and programs concentrating specifically on crime and justice in the last half of
the 20 century, the criminology emerged as a distinct professional field with a broad,
interdisciplinary focus and a shared commitment to generating knowledge through
systematic research. One ultimate goal of criminology has been the development of theories
expressed with sufficient precision that they can be tested, using data collected in a manner
that allows verification and replication. As a subdivision of the larger field of sociology,
criminology draws on psychology, economics, anthropology, psychiatry, biology, statistics,
and other disciplines to explain the causes and prevention of criminal behavior. Subdivisions
of criminology include penology, the study of prisons and prison systems; bio-criminology,
the study of the biological basis of criminal behavior; feminist criminology, the study of
women and crime; and criminalistics, the study of crime detection, which is related to the
field of Forensic Science. Much research related to criminology has focused on the biological
basis of criminal behavior. In fact, bio-criminology, attempts to explore the biological basis
of criminal behavior. Research in this area has focused on chromosomal abnormalities,
hormonal and brain chemical imbalances, diet, neurological conditions, drugs, and alcohol
as variables that contribute to criminal behavior.
Criminology has historically played a reforming role in relation to Criminal Law and the
criminal justice system. As an applied discipline, it has produced findings that have
influenced legislators, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, Probation officers, and prison officials,
prompting them to better understand crime and criminals and to develop better and more
human sentences and treatments for criminal behavior. Criminologists also study a host of
other issues related to crime and the law. These include studies of the Victims of Crime,
focusing upon their relations to the criminal, and their role as potential causal agents in
crime; juvenile delinquency and its correction; and the media and their relation to crime,
including the influence of Pornography.
Significance of criminology

Reduction in crime: Criminology helps society understand, control, and


reduce crime. Studying crime helps discover and analyse its causes,
which can be used towards crime reduction policies and initiatives.

It helps understand the mindset of criminals: Criminology helps


understand the mindset of criminals, why they commit crimes, and the
factors that affect them. This helps in the proper allocation of resources to
control crime.

Reform of criminals: As well as controlling and reducing crime,


criminology can also suggest appropriate measures for the rehabilitation
of criminals.

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