What is Criminology?

Criminology is a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of crime, offenders and offending, that draws from sociology, psychology, anthropology, criminal justice studies, and other social sciences etc. It differs from Forensic Psychology (which it is sometimes confused with), in that it looks at crime as a whole, rather than how an individual – from a psychological perspective – interacts with the legal/criminal justice system, as an offender or as a witness etc. Criminological theories look to explain why crime occurs, and why offenders commit the offenses they do e.g., is it because of social factors such as growing up in poverty, or because opportunities present themselves etc., or a combination of both. Criminology covers a vast range of offenses, from acts of violence, through to white collar crimes, such as fraud and embezzlement; though many “white collar” crimes such as fraud are being reclassified, as many of those who now commit such offenses do not fit the traditional definition of “white collar” i.e., they are street criminals, as opposed to managers and the like working in offices.

Criminology also covers many sub-disciplines, such as Victimology (the study of why certain people are victimized, and often re-victimized by offenders/criminals), Environmental Criminology (what spatial and temporal factor create offending opportunities), and violent crimes, such as robbery and assault etc. It is by looking at victimology and environmental factors that we can equip ourselves with the knowledge to predict crime – including violent crime – before it occurs.

Criminological Theories tend to fall into two main categories: those that look at criminality, and those that look at offending opportunities. Theories regarding criminality look largely at the sociological, psychological and biological reasons as to why certain people, rather than others, commit offenses e.g., do those with certain personality disorders, such as Psychopathy have a greater tendency to offend than others? Or are people who grow up in poverty, or environments where they are exposed to law-breaking, more likely to engage in criminal activity than those who don’t? Opportunity theorists, argue that it is less about a person’s personality, and more about the creation of opportunities for offending, that creates crime etc. Such theorists, make the argument that crime rates rose in western, capitalist economies, despite a major reduction in poverty, citing that due to changing lifestyles (people spending more time in public places, socializing etc.) and the proliferation of small, valuable, and portable, electronic consumer goods etc., that occurred in this period created more opportunities for crime. Like most theories, one alone, is probably not able to explain all crime and offending, which is why it is important to look at several and see if when these are combined we are able to better understand crime and violent offending.