Criminology focuses on the behavior that violates the criminal law and seeks explanations for that behavior. The study of the origin of laws that define certain behavior as criminal behavior is the primary focus of the sociology of law, although a number of sociologists include in criminology the study of how certain behavior has come to be defined as ‘criminal behavior’. "Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding delinquency and crime as social phenomena. It includes the process of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reactions towards the breaking of laws.
Certain acts that are considered undesirable are defined by the political society as crime. In spite of this definition some people persist in the behavior and thus commit crime; the political society reacts by punishment, treatment, or prevention. This sequence of interactions is the subject matter of criminology.
Criminology consists of three principle divisions, which are as follows: 1. The sociology of law, which is an attempt to systematically analysis the conditions under which criminal laws develop and also an explanation of variations in the policies and procedures used in the administration of criminal justice.
2. Criminal etiology, which is an attempt at scientific analysis of the causes of crime; and
3. Penology, which is concerned with the control of crime.
The objective of criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principles and of other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime and reaction to crime. This knowledge will contribute to the development of other sciences, and through these other social sciences will contribute to an understanding of social behavior.
In addition, criminology is concerned with the immediate application of knowledge to programs of social order and crime control. This concern with practical programs is justified, in part, as experimentation which may be valuable because of its immediate