Criminology is devoted to the analysis of the causes of crime, crime patterns, and trends.

Criminologists use scientific methods to study the nature, extent cause and control of criminal behavior.

Criminology is the scientific approach to the study of criminal behavior as a social phenomenon. It is the body of general principles regarding the process of law, crime and control.

It is an interdisciplinary science. For most of the 20^th century criminology’s primary orientation was sociological, today it is viewed as an integrated approach.

Criminology vs. criminal justice

Criminology explains the origin, extent and nature of crime in society, whereas criminal justice refers to the agencies of social control that handle criminal offenders. There is some overlapping.

What Criminologists do:

· Criminologists are primarily interested in studying crime and criminal behavior.

· Statistics: to measure the amount and trends of criminal activity.

· Sociology of Law: the role that social forces play in shaping criminal law and the role of criminal law in shaping society.

· Theory construction: why people engage in criminal acts.

· Criminal behavior systems: research on specific criminal types and patterns, e.g., violent crime, theft crime, public order crime and organized crime.

· Penology: the correction and control of known criminal offenders, which overlaps with criminal justice.

· Victimology: victim behavior is often a key determinant of crime, a victim’s actions may precipitate or provide an opportunity for crime.

Individual explanations:

Classical school and choice theories: individual choice about the risks involved and the potential benefits derived from the crime
Positivism: biological explanations: criminals and not the crimes are the objects of study. Criminals are born.
Psychological explanations: criminal acts are understood as psychopathologies, i.e., the individual’s unconscious leads to personality deviation, which in turn lead him or her to commit criminal acts.

Sociological explanations: the explanations lie outside the individual

· Emphasis is on criminogenic social conditions. The immediate social environment is primarily responsible for criminality in our society, e.g., broken families, poor parenting, low quality educational experiences, delinquent peer relations, poverty, lack of equal economic opportunity, inadequate socialization to the values implicit in the American culture, etc. Crime control (emphasis is on the criminal not on the crime itself just as with biological and psychological views): correctional programs can give those arrested the social skills necessary to overcome those aspects of their immediate social environment that led to the criminal acts in their first place.

Social disorganization theories: Chicago School: Social forces operating in urban areas create criminal interactions: some neighborhoods maintain such a high level of poverty that critical social institutions, such as the school and the family break down. The resulting social disorganization reduces the ability of social institutions to control behavior and the outcome is a high crime rate. The role for criminal justice is straightforward: educate these culturally diverse groups to the dominant American culture, to the American way.

· Social control: Travis Hirschi’s Social Bond theories. The emphasis is on why people do not commit crimes. Everyone has the potential to become a criminal but most people are controlled by their bond to society. Crime occurs when the forces that bind people to society are weakened or broken. When the social bonds that individuals have to parents, peers, and important social institutions like the school or the workplace are strong, they fear that their criminal activity may jeopardize their relative position in society and refuse to run the risk of losing meaningful social relationships, careers, etc.

· Strain theory (Merton) crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they can use to legally obtain them. While goals are the same for all the ability to obtain these goals is class dependant. Consequently, lower classes feel anger, frustration and resentment which is referred to as strain. These people can either accept their condition and live out their days as socially responsible but un-rewarded citizens, or they can choose an alternative means of achieving success, such as theft, violence or drug trafficking. Here the criminal must rehabilitate psychologically and accept those limited legitimate means available to him or her.

Conflict or critical criminology: political view of crime. It is capitalism that creates criminal behavior.

Ruling class uses the law & criminal justice system to advance their economic & social purposes. Criminal laws are viewed as the product of the upper classes. Crime is a political concept to protect the power & the position of the upper classes at the expense of the poor.

Capitalism is the root cause of criminal behavior. The human needs of the poor are ignored. It creates a fertile environment for crimes by corporations. The solution of crime is to create a more equitable society. They should not be armchair criminologists but activists engaged to foster social justice. Class, State and Crime centers on the proletariat’s struggle against oppression by the capitalist class. Capitalism increases the need to dominate by the capitalist class and the need to accommodate and resist by the exploited class. In an effort to secure their advantage, the capitalist class commits economic crimes, denies people basic human rights and uses the state to protect its interests and to repress the poor. For the working class, crime is best understood as a response to their harsh living conditions. Their illegalities range from unconscious reactions to exploitation, to conscious acts of survival within the capitalist system, to politically conscious acts of rebellion.