What Is Criminology
Emma Greenham
What is Criminology? This is a question which many theorists have attempted to answer, a question which holds no one single accepted explanation or consensus. Throughout this essay I will provide a brief overview and explore the many answers to this open ended question, none of which is more correct than the other but all of which seek to provide an explanation into what is criminology.
‘Criminology, in its broadest sense, consists of our organized ways of thinking and talking about crime, criminals and crime control.’ (Garland and Sparks 2000:192)
In its simplest form, at its most commonly accepted definition, criminology is merely the study of crime, criminals and the criminal justice. (Carrabine, et al. 2014) If you were to look up criminology in the dictionary you would be presented with the definition: ‘Criminology is the scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon.’
In a classic, preeminent definition theorists Sutherland and Cressey (1996) present criminology to be: ‘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 toward the breaking of laws.’
Although it is a speciality, criminology is a multi-disciplinary topic with arguments deriving from psychologists, sociologists, lawyers, geographers and historians to highlight just a few. This is what criminologist David Downes implied when he characterized criminology as a ‘rendezvous subject.’ Because of this variety of different disciplines and encompassing of many theories, criminology is a complex subject which is why there is no widespread agreement as to what defines it.
A key area of criminology is defining exactly what crime is. ‘There is no word in the whole lexicon of legal and criminological terms which is so elusive of definition as is the word ‘crime.’’ (McCabe,1983 cited in Hale et al 2013: 13.) What is criminal behaviour is an ever-changing subject hard to define as laws
What is Criminology? This is a question which many theorists have attempted to answer, a question which holds no one single accepted explanation or consensus. Throughout this essay I will provide a brief overview and explore the many answers to this open ended question, none of which is more correct than the other but all of which seek to provide an explanation into what is criminology.
‘Criminology, in its broadest sense, consists of our organized ways of thinking and talking about crime, criminals and crime control.’ (Garland and Sparks 2000:192)
In its simplest form, at its most commonly accepted definition, criminology is merely the study of crime, criminals and the criminal justice. (Carrabine, et al. 2014) If you were to look up criminology in the dictionary you would be presented with the definition: ‘Criminology is the scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon.’
In a classic, preeminent definition theorists Sutherland and Cressey (1996) present criminology to be: ‘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 toward the breaking of laws.’
Although it is a speciality, criminology is a multi-disciplinary topic with arguments deriving from psychologists, sociologists, lawyers, geographers and historians to highlight just a few. This is what criminologist David Downes implied when he characterized criminology as a ‘rendezvous subject.’ Because of this variety of different disciplines and encompassing of many theories, criminology is a complex subject which is why there is no widespread agreement as to what defines it.
A key area of criminology is defining exactly what crime is. ‘There is no word in the whole lexicon of legal and criminological terms which is so elusive of definition as is the word ‘crime.’’ (McCabe,1983 cited in Hale et al 2013: 13.) What is criminal behaviour is an ever-changing subject hard to define as laws
Bibliography: Bosworth, M. and Hoyle, C. (2011). What is Criminology?. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Carrabine, E et al. (2014) Criminology: A sociological introduction. London: Routledge Durkheim, E. and Lukes, S. (2014) The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: Free Press Garland, D. and Sparks, R. (2000). Criminology, social theory and the challenge of our times. British Journal of Criminology, 189-204. Hale, C. et al. (2013) Criminology Oxford: Oxford Press McLaughlin, E. and Newburn, T. (2013). The Sage Handbook of Criminological theory. London: Sage. Newburn, T (2013) Criminology London: Routledge Sutherland, E. and Cressey, D. (1966). Principles of criminology. Philadelphia: Lippincott. Treadwell, J. (2006). Criminology. London: Sage.