Introduction To Criminology

DR. Ayman Elzeiny ( Egypt)

A-why criminology?(the importance of criminology)

You may ask why do people get paid to study crime
and criminal behavior , and why do people engage in
this area of study ?
There are a variety of answers to these questions,
built around many kinds of concerns like the anxiety,
anger, and fear that are common responses to crime .(1)
the desire to predict and control crime; the hope of
preventing crime through individual and social reform
the wish to understand and explain crime and societal
reactions to it; and the simple desire to learn more
about crime and what it can tell us about our society .(1)
__________________________
(1) - Slwaski, Carol J. "Crime Causation: Toward a Field Synthesis."
Criminology (February 1971), pp: 375-396.
- Steffensmeier, Darreli J., and Robert M. Terry, Eds. Examining Deviance
Experimentally: Selected Readings. Port Washington, N.Y.: Alfred, 1975,
pp: 35-39.
- Trassler, Gordon. The Explanation of Criminality. London: Routledge, 1962,
pp: 75-86.
- Turk, Austin T. "The Mythology of Crime in America." Criminology 8
(February 1971),pp: 397-411.
- Void, George B. Theoretical Criminology. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1979pp: 303-306.
- Wheeler, Stanton. "Criminal Statistics: A Reformulation of the Problem." Jour-
nal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science 58 (September 1967),
pp:317-324.
- Wilkins, Leslie T. Social Deviance: Social Policy, Action and Research. Engle-
wood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965 pp: 45-49.

1
Criminologists disagree, sometimes violently, about
which of these kinds of concerns are most legitimate
and important.
So Criminology was the composite result of the
thinking and endeavors of many people, ant them
desire to the understanding of individual behavior and
deviation and the structuring of the social order .
B – Definition of Criminology :
Criminology can be simply defined as the study of the
crime .
Webster(1959), define the criminology that "the
scientific study of crime and criminals . "
However, we must also acknowledge that this
definition is as inadequate as it is succinct .
Edwin Sutherland has offered what remains a more or
less acceptable definition of criminology, one that is
quoted with approval by Wolfgang and Ferracuti :
" Criminology is 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 . The
objective of criminology is the development of a body
of general and verified principles and other types of
knowledge regarding this process of law, crime, and
treatment " .

2
To this definition, Wolfgang and Ferracuti append a
note that "the term criminology should be used at
designate a body of scientific knowledge about crime
(emphasis in original ).
Some might raise the question whether criminology
is the body of knowledge on the phenomenon of crime
or the study of it. Thorsten Sellin suggests that the term
be used to designate both "the body of scientific
knowledge and the deliberate pursuit of such
knowledge." (1)
However criminology is a science which is widely
studied for its' own sake, just like other sciences; crime
and criminals are not a bit less interesting than stars or
microbes.
But this point of view is secondary as compared with
the practical aspect, just as in the case of medical
science. Indeed, comparison with the latter repeatedly
suggests itself.
_________________

(1) Wilson Thomas P. "Conceptions of Interaction and Forms of Sociological Expla-

nation." American Sociological Review 35 (August 1970),pp: 697-710.
- George Rusche and Otto Kirchheimer, Punishment and Social Structure (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1939), p. 50.
- Rudoff, Alvin. "The Soaring Crime Rate: An Etiological View." Journal of Criminal
Law, Criminology, and Police Science (December 1971),
pp : 543- 547.
Cohen, Albert K. "Sociological Research in Juvenile Delinquency." American Journal of
Ortho-Psychiatry 27 (October 1957), pp:781-788.
- Cohen, Morris R., and Ernest Nagel. An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method.
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1934, pp:131-154.

3
Criminology ought before anything to show humanity
the way to combat, and especially, prevent, crime.
What is required more than anything is sound
knowledge, whereas up to the present we have had far
too much of dogma and dilettantism. Whoever is in
close touch with what is called socio-pathological
phenomena should make a note of this specially
criminal jurists, whose knowledge of the law
imperatively needs to be supplemented with that of the
subject-matter with which it has to deal. (1)
______________

(1) Hood, Roger, and Richard Sparks. Key Issues in Criminology. New York: World
University Library, 1970, pp:45-49.
- Jeffery, Clarence Ray. "The Historical Development in Criminology." In Hermann
Mannheim, Ed., Pioneers in Criminology. Montclair, N.J.: Patterson Smith, 1966,
pp:102-109.
- Jones, David A. Crime and Criminal Responsibility. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1978,
pp:67-69.
- Kadish, Sanford H., and Monrad G. Paulsen. Criminal Law and Its Processes. 3rd ed.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1975, pp:77-81.
- Korn, Richard R., and Lloyd W. McCorkle. Criminology and Penology. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1959, pp:131-134.
- Lafave, Wayne R., and Austin W. Scott, Jr. Criminal Law. St. Paul, Minn.: West, 1972,
pp:161-164.
Mannheim, Hermann. Comparative Criminology. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965,
pp:32-35.
Pound, Roscoe. The Spirit of the Common Law. Boston: Beacon, 1963, p:35.
- Reckless, Walter C. "American Criminology." Criminology 8 (May 1970), pp:4-20.
- Schafer, Stephen. Theories in Criminology. New York: Random House, 1969,
pp:122-126.
- Schur, Edwin M. Law and Society. New York: Random House, 1969, pp:34-38.
- Bell, Daniel. "Crime as an American Way of Life." Antioch Review 13 (June 1953),pp:
38-39.
- Black, Donald J. "Production of Crime Rates." American Sociological Review 35
(August 1970), pp:733-748.
- Slwaski, Carol J. "Crime Causation: Toward a Field Synthesis." Criminology
(February 1971), pp: 375-396. - Radzinowicz, Sir Leon, and Joan King. The Growth of
Crime: The International Experience. New York: Basic Books, 1977.
- Robison, Sophia M. "A Critical View of the Uniform Crime Reports." Michigan Law
Review 54 (April 1966), 1031-1054.

4
C :The nature of criminological study :
Criminology is concerned with the scientific study of
crime. It is essentially a multi-disciplinary study. The
study of crime is carried out by many scholars from the
point of view of their different disciplines, and
sometimes (though rarely and with difficulty) through
interdisciplinary studies.
Criminology isn't be confused with the science of
criminal detection or forensic science and forensic
pathology. There is no direct connection between the
detection of crime and the study of crimes and criminal
behavior carried out by criminologists, though there
may sometimes be an indirect connection. Forensic
scientists and pathologists serve the needs of the police
and the courts in crime detection and crime prevention.
Indirectly, however, their work may throw some
valuable light on criminal behavior in ways which will
be of interest to the criminologist, e.g. regarding the
patterns of homicide, the battered baby syndrome and
the study of alcoholism and drug abuse in relation to
crime. The criminologist is concerned more with how
and why crimes come to be committed rather than who
did it, and providing proof of guilt.
Criminology is best seen as a social science concerned
with those aspects of human behavior regarded as
criminal because they are prohibited by the criminal

5
law, together with such aspects of socially deviant
behavior as are closely related to crime and may
usefully be studied in this connection. The main focus
of the criminologist should remain on criminal
behavior as an aspect of social behavior, including the
way people come to be perceived and dealt with as
offenders. The study can best be viewed as limited by
the range of behavior currently dealt with as criminal
because it is prohibited by the current criminal law. the
list of crimes is not immutable, however, and
historically many changes have occurred in the list of
criminal prohibitions. In our time changes have been
made or are seen as desirable in order to reflect
changes in public sentiment or judgments of public
needs and values.
The criminologist may properly be concerned to
study fringe areas, 'deviant' behavior which is not
actually criminal, in order to throw light on the gaps in
the criminal law or to show that some closely related
types of behavior which are regarded as criminal
should no longer be so defined. The sociologist
describes such behavior as socially deviant behavior,
and sometimes studies aspects of socially deviant
behavior in their own right, as it were. Studies of
alcoholism, drug abuse, gambling and sexual behavior
provide examples, as do studies of certain 'white-collar'
business or economic activities.

6
Such studies may throw light on the true nature of the
behavior in question and whether the criminal law
should or should not intervene.
When we say that criminology should limit its scope
to the study of conduct which is criminal because it
contravenes the criminal law in one or more of its
prohibitions, we do not mean that in studying such
behavior the criminologist must stick slavishly to the
legal definitions and descriptions of what is a criminal
offence. Sometimes criminologists find it useful to go
outside the strict legal definitions in order to study a
particular type of behavior .
A word of warning must be uttered about the
tendency of some criminologists to stray too far from
the focus or field of interest described thus far, and to
include in their discussion a much wider range of
conduct which is in their view anti-social, immoral and
contrary to the public interest, and to make public
condemnations of such behavior as criminologists.
Certain aspects of the discussion of 'white-collar' crime
frequently partake of this character. There is a danger
here of intellectual and indeed moral confusion. Simply
because one disapproves of certain behavior does not
make it criminal if the law still permits it, however
reprehensible the behavior may be.

7
Criminologists would be well advised to confine their
observations and studies to the consideration of
behavior already legally defined as criminal. This
subject is large enough by any standard .
At the same time one should recognise the so-called
'over-reach' of the criminal law. the discussion usually
focuses on areas of private morality including sexual
behavior, such as homosexual behavior, prostitution
and drug abuse, and pornography.
The criminal law has been used in recent years to
help regulate such subjects as the pollution of the
environment, and many other matters of public interest
and social concern.
The extent and range of criminology's interests and
concerns includes all the various aspects of criminal
behavior, though of course individual criminologists
have their own special interests. Criminology includes
the study of the general crime situation in this country,
and also the study of regional differences observed
between different parts of the country, and local
differences.(1)
__________

(1) Campbell, Donald T., and Julian C. Stanley. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental
Designs for Research. Skokie, III.: Rand McNally, 1963, pp:211-231.
- Circourel, Aaron V. Method and Measurement in Sociology. New York: Free Press,
1965, pp:156-158.
- Clinard, Marshall B. "Contributions of Sociology to Understanding Deviant Behavior."
British Journal of Delinquency 13 (October 1962), pp:110-129.

8
The variation in the incidence or distribution of crime
between, say, the north of Egypt and the south, between
urban areas and rural areas, is of great interest.
What is needed desperately in criminology is some
reliable means of classifying offences and offenders for
the purpose of study. A typology of crime is needed,
classifying and subdividing criminal behavior in the
same way as the natural scientist has done in
developing a taxonomy in relation to his subject. Some
attempts have been made in this direction by
criminologists but so far to little effect . (1)
__________________________
(1) F. H. McCHmock and E. Gibson, Robbery in London (1961); F. H. McClintock,
Crimes of Violence (1963) , pp: 78-80 .
- F. H. McClintock and N. H. Avision, Crime in England and Wales (1968); J. E. Hall
Williams, 'The neglect of incest: a criminologist's view' Medicine, Science and Law
(1974) Vol. 14, No. I, pp. 64 , pp. 140-142 .
- Slwaski, Carol J. "Crime Causation: Toward a Field Synthesis." Criminology
(February 1971), pp : 375-396.
- Steffensmeier, Darreli J., and Robert M. Terry, Eds. Examining Deviance Experi-
mentally: Selected Readings. Port Washington, N.Y.: Alfred, 1975 pp. 76-79 .
- Trassler, Gordon. The Explanation of Criminality. London: Routledge, 1962, p:180
- Turk, Austin T. "The Mythology of Crime in America." Criminology 8 (February
1971), pp: 397-411.
- Void, George B. Theoretical Criminology. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press,
1979,pp:342-344 .
- Wheeler, Stanton. "Criminal Statistics: A Reformulation of the Problem." Journal of
Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science 58 (September 1967), pp: 317-324.
- Wilkins, Leslie T. Social Deviance: Social Policy, Action and Research. Engle-wood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965 pp. 170-173.
- Wilson Thomas P. "Conceptions of Interaction and Forms of Sociological Expla-
nation." American Sociological Review 35 (August 1970),pp: 697-710.
- Robison, Sophia M. "A Critical View of the Uniform Crime Reports." Michigan Law
Review 54 (April 1966), pp:1031-1054.
- Rosenberg, Morris. The Logic of Survey Analysis. New York: Basic Books, 1968,
pp:99- 103.
- Rudoff, Alvin. "The Soaring Crime Rate: An Etiological View." Journal of Criminal
Law, Criminology, and Police Science (December 1971), pp: 543—547.

9
The criminologist has traditionally been concerned
to discover the causes of crime insofar as they can be
known, or, to put it less debate ably, the explanation for
criminal behavior to discover what factors are
associated with criminal behavior, to explore the nature
of such behavior with a view to explaining it but not of
course justifying it. Nowadays the concept of cause
should generally speaking be avoided: this is because
in the social sciences it is now regarded as outmoded
and unacceptable to speak in such terms; since
everything is related to everything else we can never
know the causes. But there are still some distinguished
criminologists who insist on the search for a causal
theory. Without a causal theory, it is argued,
criminology becomes empty rhetoric.(1)
Certainly it may not be sufficient simply to
demonstrate statistical relationships between certain
factors and criminal behavior. It is also abundantly
clear that attempts in the past to develop single-cause
theories of criminal behavior have been highly
unsuccessful. Such 'monolithic' theories belong to the
stone-age period of criminology .
________________

(1) Akers, Ronald L. "Problems in the Sociology of Deviance: Social Definitions."

Social Forces (June 1968), pp: 455-465.
- Barnes, Harry E., and Negley K. Teeters. New Horizons in Criminology. 2d ed.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:-Prentice-Hall, 1951, pp: 46-55 . Becker, Howard S. Outsiders:
Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: Free Press, 1963, pp: 67-79 .

10
The history of criminology is littered with the corpses
of dead theories about crime, and a great deal of effort
has been expended in disproving them. Such negative
truths are not, however, without value. Even negative
kinds of knowledge, i.e. knowing that such and such is
not true, provide some assistance in building up a
picture of the nature of crime and expanding our
understanding of offenders.
Probably the basic error lying behind the failure of the
monolithic theories has been the assumption that there
is such a thing as 'criminal behavior' or 'criminality',
viewing it as some kind of pathological entity. Lady
Wootton has warned against the adoption of such a
simplistic approach. It is like trying to explain the
cause of headaches by a single explanation, she says.
No medical man would dream of searching for a single
explanation. The varieties of criminal behavior are
probably just as numerous as the types of headaches.
We should not expect a single explanation.(1)
___________________
(1) Abrahamsen, David. Crime and the Human Mind. New York: Columbia University
Press,1944.
- "Family Tension, Basic Cause of Criminal Behavior," Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology 20 (September-October 1949), 330-43.
- The Road to Emotional Maturity. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,1958, pp: 46-54.
- The Psychology of Crime. New York: Columbia University Press, 1960, pp: 546-554.
Ackerman, Nathan W. The Psychodynamics of Family Life: Diagnosis and Treatment of
Family Relationships. New York: Basic Books, 1958, pp: 66-75.
- "Family Therapy," in Silvano Arieti, ed., American Handbook of Psychiatry, vol. III. New
York: Basic Books, 1966, pp: 79-85.
Adams, L.R. "An Experimental Evaluation of the Adequacy of Differential Association
Theory and a Theoretical Formulation of a Learning Theory of Criminal Behavior,"
unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, Tallahassee, 1971, pp: 89-95.

11
Modern drugs can be applied which are known to be
effective for certain conditions however caused. If one
does not work, another can be tried. Here the
connection between criminological study and
'treatment' of offenders must be faced. One is bound to
say that there is no necessary connection between
criminological knowledge and the measures applied by
society in dealing with offenders or protecting its
members from crime. Indeed this has been one of the
major criticisms of criminology expressed in recent
years. Criminology has also been under attack for
being based on a scientific model which is said to be
inappropriate for such a human study. It may be useful
to go into this a little deeper.(1)
As for the demand that criminologists should cease to
pretend that they are not inspired by value judgments
of certain kinds, one is bound to point out that there has
been no such pretence by some of the greatest figures
in the field in the past .
_________________
(1) Clinard Marshall B. "Sociologists and American Criminology." Journal of Criminal
Law, Criminology, and Police Science 41 (January 1951), pp: 549-577.
- Erikson, Kai T. Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance. New York:
Wiley, 1966, pp: 566-569.
- Hills, Stuart L. Crime, Power, and Morality: The Criminal Law Process in the United
States. Scranton, Pa.: Chandler, 1971, pp: 59-65.
"Differential Association and Learning Principles Revisited," Social Problems 20 (Spring
1973), pp:58-69.
- AlCHORN, August. Wayward Youth. New York: Viking, 1935; originally published in
Vienna, 1925, pp: 331-335.

12
 It was never in doubt where his sympathies lay, and
the idea of an antiseptic value-free criminology was not
one of them.
One difficulty which criminlogists must face, however,
is that when it comes to making recommendations for
practical action, there is very little they can say derived
from their scientific studies, and they are left to draw
conclusions which derive more from their own
particular system of values or political or social
philosophy than from any other source.
One might conclude from this discussion that
criminology should be abolished. Its raison d'etre has
been demolished from the left and from the right. It no
longer has a leg to stand on. That is not the view taken
here. There is indeed a viable future for criminology . It
lies in the careful and patient exploration of the
phenomena of crime, as experienced in all societies but
particularly in our own, with as much objectivity as can
be mustered, but with a careful selection of objectives
and a realistic assessment of the results.
Only in this way can society be informed and
instructed, guided and advised, about the massive and
elusive nature of the crime problem. Increasingly in
modern criminology one sees the connection with
certain other types of study, for example, in the field of
anthropology, human geography, urban sociology,

13
biological medicine, and so on. It may well be the case
that the insights and ideas of criminologists were too
narrowly based in the past and failed to link up with
and derive benefit from these wider studies. There is no
longer any excuse for such isolation.
Indeed at least some reciprocal benefits flowing the
other way in that general sociology may derive great
benefit from the work of sociological criminologists .
Clearly there is room for a mutual exchange in
exploring such a complex concept as crime, and such
puzzling behavior as that of offenders. We can no
longer afford the luxury of study in isolation from one
another's work. This isolation has developed as a result
of increasing specialisation, but was not always the
case in the past, when knowledge itself was more
limited but what was known was more generally
shared. (1)
________________
(1)Tappan, Paul. Crime, Justice, and Correction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.
- Wolfgang, Marvin E. "Criminology and the Criminologist." Journal of Criminal
Law, Criminology, and Police Science 54 (June 1963),pp: 155-162.
- Abrahamsen, David. Who Are the Guilty? New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1952, pp: 59.
Clinard Marshall B. "Sociologists and American Criminology." Journal of Criminal Law,
Criminology, and Police Science 41 (January 1951), pp: 549-577.
- Erikson, Kai T. Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance. New York:
Wiley, 1966, pp: 566-569.
- Hills, Stuart L. Crime, Power, and Morality: The Criminal Law Process in the United
States. Scranton, Pa.: Chandler, 1971, pp: 59-65.
"Differential Association and Learning Principles Revisited," Social Problems 20 (Spring
1973), pp:58-69.
- AlCHORN, August. Wayward Youth. New York: Viking, 1935; originally published in
Vienna, 1925, pp: 331-335.
- Rosenberg, Morris. The Logic of Survey Analysis. New York: Basic Books, 1968.

14
 D - The content of criminology:
We suggest that criminology might be said to
encompass the following:
1.The process by which certain types of behavior :
are criminalized that is, made illegal whether by
legislative or administrative action.
2.Social control: the process by which formal and
informal measures are taken in a society to control the
activities of people so that criminal law is not violated.
3.Preventive measures of an environmental or
ecological nature taken in a society or community to
diminish the opportunities, likelihood, or temptations
for criminal behavior.
4.Criminal behavior: the settings, statistics on
incidence and frequency, modus operandi, and
consequences.
5.Criminogenesis:the factors present in individuals,
groups, or a society that make law-breaking more
likely or less so; the social-structural components of a
society that induce or reduce crime.
6. The offender : who commits crimes, why, and with
what rationalizations.

15
7.The police : their roles, duties, privileges, and
responsibilities ; their place in the social control
apparatus and in the prevention of crime and
apprehension of offenders.
8.The criminal justice system: the roles of
prosecutors, judges, juries and defense counsel; the
"rules of the game" for determining innocence or guilt
of the accused.
9. corrections: the nature of punishment imposed upon
the guilty offender, including probation, parole, fines,
incarceration, corporal and capital punishment, exile ,
and others; also reform and rehabilitation, and the
efficacy of punishment as deterrence.
10 . Victimology : the study of the victims of crime,
their relationship if any to offenders; victim-proneness,
victim restitution, and other aspects of victimization.
The Sub-Sciences of Criminology consists of:
(1) Criminal anthropology: the science of criminal
man (somatic), a section of natural science;
anthropology being sometimes called 'the last chapter
of zoology'. It attempts to answer such questions as:
what peculiar bodily-characteristics has the criminal
What relation is there between race and criminality?
etc.

16
 (2) Criminal sociology: the science of criminality as a
social phenomenon. Its principal- concern is, therefore,
to find out to what extent the causes of criminality have
their origin in society (social etiology). In a wider
sense, the study of physical (geographical,
climatological, and meteorological) environment forms
also a part of this sub-section.
(3)Criminal psychology: the science of psychological
phenomena in the field of crime. The chief subject-
matter of its study is the psychology of the criminal,
e.g. to, what type or types he belongs; further,
differentiation -according to sex, age and race; and
finally, collective or crowd-criminality. Further, what
may be termed the 'psychology of crime (motives and
checks) belongs to this section. Lastly, the psychology
of the other persons(witnesses, judge, counsel, etc.)
and the psychology of the confession.
(4)Criminal psycho-and neuropathology:the science
of the psychopathic or neurotic criminal.
(5)Penology: the science of the origin and
development of punishment, its significance and utility.
These five sections together constitute theoretical or
'pure' criminology (reine Wissenschaft). Founded on
these, we have, further:

17
 (1)Applied criminology: criminal hygiene and
criminal policy. Taking the conception of the science of
criminology in its widest sense, we should also include
in it.
(2) Criminalisticss (police science) : an applied
science whose purpose is to trace the technique of
crime and its detection. This Science is a combination
of psychology of crime and the criminal, and of
chemistry, physics, knowledge of goods and materials,
graphology, etc.(1)
E - Scientific Foundations of Criminology:
The birth of criminology as science is usually traced
to nineteenth-century Europe. By the latter half of that
century the scientific revolution was well underway.
Armchair philosophizing was grudgingly giving way to
the logic and methodology of science. Observation,
measurement, and experimentation became the basic
tools of the scientific method, and their use in the study
of human behavior heralded the development of
disciplines now taken for granted biology,
anthropology , psychology, sociology, political science,
and statistics.
_______________

(1)Bloch, Herbert A., and Gilbert Geis. Man, Crime, and Society. New York: Random
House, 1962, pp: 46-48.
- Akers, Ronald. Deviant Behavior: A Social Learning Approach. Belmont, Calif.:
Wadsworth, 1973, pp: 34-36.

18
F- The theoretical and applied criminology:
Division between theory and application in the
behavioral sciences is almost invariably artificial.
While it is possible to speak of a special area of "theo-
retical criminology" or "criminological theory," this
refers to that subsection of the discipline involved in
the generation of explanations for behavior, patterns of
conduct, and events. It is not meant to contrast with
"practical" or "applied" criminology.(1)
_______________
(1) Empey, L T., and M. L. Erickson. "Hidden Delinquency and Social Status." Social
Forces 44 (June 1966),pp: 546-554.
- Erikson, Kai T. "A Comment on Disguised Observation in Sociology." Social
Problems 14 (Summer 1966), pp:366-373. ;
- Ferdinand, Theodore N. Typologies of Delinquency: A Critical Analysis. New York:
Random House, 1966, pp:344-356 .
- Gold, Martin. "Undetected Delinquent Behavior." Journal of Research in Crime and
Delinquency, (1966), pp: 27-46. . ..
- Greenberg, David F., Ronald C. Kessler, and Charles H. Logan. "A Panel Model of
Crime Rates and Arrest Rates." American Sociological Review 44 (October 1979),
pp: 843-850.
- Hartung, Frank E. "A Critique of the Sociological Approach to Crime and Correction."
Law and Contemporary Problems 23 (Autumn 1958): pp: 703-734.
- Hirschi, Travis, and Hanan C. Selvin. Delinquency Research: An Appraisal of Analytic
Methods. New York: Free Press, 1967 , pp: 57-59.
- Kitsuse, John I., and Aaron V. Cicourel. "A Note on the Uses of Official Statistics."
Social Problems 11 (Fall 1963), pp: 131-139.
- Lejins, Peter P. "Uniform Crime Reports." Michigan Law Review 64 (December
1966) , pp: 1011-1030.
- Naess, Siri. "Comparing Theories of Criminogenesis." Journal of Research in Crime
and Delinquency 1 (July 1964), pp: 171-180.
- Nejelski, Paul, Ed. Social Research in Conflict with Law and Ethics. Cambridge,
Mass.: Ballinger, 1976, pp: 54-57.
- Nettler, Gwynn. Explaining Crime. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978, p:508.
- Penick, Bettye K. Eidson, and Maurice E. B. Owens, III, Eds. Surveying Crime.
Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1976, pp: 16-18.
- Radzinowicz, Sir Leon, and Joan King. The Growth of Crime: The International
Experience. New York: Basic Books, 1977, pp: 56-58.
- Robison, Sophia M. "A Critical View of the Uniform Crime Reports." Michigan Law
Review 54 (April 1966), pp:1031-1054.
- Rosenberg, Morris. The Logic of Survey Analysis. New York , 1968, p: 46-48.

19
There is in fact, no "applied criminology," in the
sense of the use of information generated by
criminological research for crime prevention, ap-
prehension, or treatment. Criminological theory or
research might in fact be applied in these ways, but the
objective of criminology is not such use but the
development of a body of knowledge about crime.
Criminology might further be distinguished from
criminalistics . The latter has as its objective the
solving of crimes, including the apprehension of
suspects and the gathering of information for trial.
Criminology seeks to gather somewhat similar
information, but not for the purpose of solving crimes;
its purpose is to accumulate information about crime as
a phenomenon. (1)
Who, then, is the criminologist? Unlike the physician
and the lawyer, the criminologist is not licensed. There
is no legal determination that one person is entitled to
use that description of himself while another is not.
Unlike the policeman, taxi driver, and numerous others,
the criminologist is not easily defined by his
employment: he does not have a descriptive word for
himself by virtue of having a job that uses that word in
its job title or description.
______________________

(1) Rudoff, Alvin. "The Soaring Crime Rate: An Etiological View." Journal of Criminal
Law, Criminology, and Police Science (December 1971), pp : 543—547.

20
The criminologist is anyone whose pursuit is the
study of crime and the accumulation of knowledge
about it. Although the detective is involved in the
solution of crimes, the policeman in preventing crimes
and apprehending offenders, the judge in deciding
important questions about evidence concerning crimes,
the offender in planning and carrying out the criminal
behavior, and the probation officer in handling and
advising people put under supervision, none of these
people is a criminologist, none is! engaged in
criminology.
of course, have knowledge about crime, and in some
instances their intimate knowledge may be greater than
that of the criminologist and may be fortified with
experience and insights.
Criminology in sum, is a scientific study and a
scientifically gathered set of propositions, theories, and
generalizations, and the facts upon which they are
based.
G - Critical Criminology :
Critical criminology is concerned with the ways in
which people, especially lower-class people, are
oppressed, manipulated, and misunderstood. Critical
criminology may be explained as utilizing a
subordinate ideology in its analysis of crime. It gained

21
prominence in the 1960s, a period of social change and
social turmoil, during which some began to reexamine
the issues of social fairness, equality, and justice.
Scholars began to take renewed interest in a Marxist
perspective for proposing solutions to what they
viewed as economic and radical injustice. Questions
were asked in reference to why certain behaviors came
to be defined as crimes, why certain persons were more
likely to engage in criminal behavior, and the extent to
which the criminal justice system's processing and
treatment of criminals were biased. This approach was
based on the philosophies of Karl Marx, who came to
be viewed as a humanistic scholar.
Critical criminology is a critique of capitalism . It
encompasses a historical account of how crime, law,
and social control develop within a wider social,
economic, and political perspective. This is a departure
from traditional criminology and suggests that
traditional criminology fails to recognize how material
conditions and crime evolve together.
Critical criminologists argue that common crimes,
those listed in the Crime Reports, are not the ones most
costly to society, either economically or socially.
They suggest also that the crimes that cost society the
most such as corporate crimes, environmental crimes,
fraud, violation of human rights, racism, sexism,

22
dangerous working conditions that lead to serious
bodily injury or death, and the manufacture and sale of
hazardous products generally escape being labeled
criminal.
Critical criminologists believe that crime and
criminology cannot be understood apart from
understanding the processes by which people come to
be defined as criminal, which in turn cannot be
understood apart from considerations of power and
privilege, which are tied in with the society's economic
system.
Critical criminologists emphasize the causal
connection between political and economic status and
inequality and crime. The approach argues that class
stratification and inequality are due in large part to
political and economic factors as they relate to
antagonism between owners of the means of
production and wage workers in the capitalistic system.
They explain crime by stating that the criminal justice
system serves as an instrument of those who own and
control the means of production. These people have the
power: they control the laws and therefore define as
illegal those behaviors they find bothersome and
exclude those behaviors they do not find to be a
problem. The powerful control the enforcement of

23
laws; thus, they dominate the less powerful, or
subordinate, in society.
critical criminology has several basic themes.
First, it is skeptical about any theory of crime
causation that is individualistic and that includes
sociological as well as biological, psychological, or
psychiatric theories. The problem is not to identify the
characteristics of those who become criminals, with the
thought of explaining the "cause" of their behavior but,
rather, to identify why some are labeled criminal and
others are not so labeled.
Second, it is no longer assumed that governmental
agencies concerned with crime have had problems
because of inadequate funds, lack of trained personnel,
or for any other reason which would still attribute to
the members of those agencies acceptable motives.
Critical criminology questions those motives. The
position is that those in power use their power to
suppress the poor and racial minorities; that is, one
social class uses its power to control another social
class.
Third, critical criminologists question the belief that
the laws represent the "consensus" of the American
people. Fourth, official crime data, formerly seen as
characterized by problems involving an "un fortunate

24
source of error," are seen as efforts by those in power
to present crime in the light that is most beneficial to
those in power.
Recently, some of the theorists have moved back to the
Marxist position, seeing society as a two-class system
with one class, the ruling class, controlling and
suppressing the other.
H - Radical Criminology :
Liberal criminologists locate crimogenic forces in
the organization and routine social processes of society,
yet they do not call for any change in its basic
economic structure. Radicals do Radical criminologists
reject the liberal doctrine, which they believe has
served to strengthen the power of the State over the
poor, Third World communities, and youth . To
radicals, crime and criminality are manifestations of the
exploitative character of monopoly capitalism, and
current efforts to control crime are poorly disguised
attempts to reduce freedoms and to divert attention
from the real culprits those who control capital.
L - Conservative Criminology:
Conservative criminology is identified with the view
that criminal law is a codification of moral precepts
and that people who break the law are morally
defective. Crimes are seen as threats to law-abiding

25
members of society and to the social order on which
their safety and security depend.
The "right" questions to ask about crime include:
How are morally defective persons produced? and
How can society protect itself against them? The
causes of crime are located in the characteristics of
individuals. The solution to the crime problem is
couched in terms of a return to basic values wherein
good wins over evil. Until well into the twentieth
century, most criminological thinking was conservative
M - Liberal Criminology:
Liberal ideology began to emerge as a force in
criminology during the late 1930s and early 1940s, and
it has remained dominant ever since. The most
influential versions of liberal criminology explain
criminal behavior either in terms of the way society is
organized (social structure), or in terms of the way
people acquire social attributes (social process).
Social structure theories include strain theory,
cultural transmission theory, and conflict theory. Strain
theory argues that when people find they cannot
achieve valued goals through socially approved means,
they experience stress and frustration, which in turn
may lead to crime. Cultural transmission theory draws
attention to the impact on individuals of the values,

26
norms, and lifestyles to which they are routinely
exposed. Delinquency and crime are learned through
exposure to a crimogenic culture, a culture that
encourages crime. According to conflict theory, society
is characterized by conflict, and criminality is a product
of differences in power exercised when people compete
for scarce resources or clash over conflicting interests.
Social process theories include associational theory,
control theory and labeling theory. Associational
theories focus on the social-psychological aspects of
group life, and assert that people become criminal
through close association with others (family members,
friends, co-workers) who are criminal. Control theory
asserts that crime and delinquency result "when an
individual's bond to society is weak or broken" . More
room is allowed for individual deviance when social
controls are undermined. Labeling theory suggests that
some people become criminals because they are
influenced by the way other people react to them.
People who are repeatedly punished for "bad" behavior
may eventually accept the idea that they are bad, and
their subsequent behavior is consistent with that
identity.(1)
__________________________________
(1) Slwaski, Carol J. "Crime Causation: Toward a Field Synthesis." Criminology
(February 1971), pp: 375-396.
- Steffensmeier, Darreli J., and Robert M. Terry, Eds. Examining Deviance Experi-
mentally: Selected Readings. Port Washington, N.Y.: Alfred, 1975, pp: 35-39.
- Trassler, Gordon. The Explanation of Criminality. London: Routledge, 1962 pp: 75-79.

27
N - Sociological Criminology:
Sociological criminology is the study of crime as a
social phenomenon. Some authors like to put the word
scientific at the beginning, but this term suggests more
questions than it answers. In any case, the canons of
science are rarely followed with equal zeal by all who
claim to be scientists, including criminologists.
However, most criminologists think of themselves as
scientists because they:
(1) collect information about crime in a systematic
way;
(2) formulate statements about crime that can be sup-
ported or refuted by empirical evidence, or facts;
(3) make generalizations about crime on the basis of
the facts; and
(4) develop theories designed to explain or account for
the world of crime. (1)
_____________________________________

(1)Hartung, Frank E. "A Critique of the Sociological Approach to Crime and

Correction." Law and Contemporary Problems 23 (Autumn 1958): pp: 703-734.
- Hirschi, Travis, and Hanan C. Selvin. Delinquency Research: An Appraisal of Analytic
Methods. New York: Free Press, 1967 , pp: 57-59.
- Kitsuse, John I., and Aaron V. Cicourel. "A Note on the Uses of Official Statistics."
Social Problems 11 (Fall 1963), pp: 131-139.
- Lejins, Peter P. "Uniform Crime Reports." Michigan Law Review 64 (December 1966),
pp: 1011-1030.
- Naess, Siri. "Comparing Theories of Criminogenesis." Journal of Research in Crime
and Delinquency 1 (July 1964), pp: 171-180.
- Turk, Austin T. "The Mythology of Crime in America." Criminology 8 (February
1971), pp:397-411.
- Nejelski, Paul, Ed. Social Research in Conflict with Law, Mass.: Ballinger, 1976,p: 54.

28
Illustrations of the work of sociological criminology
are useful in clarifying what it is and what it is not.
Consider the crime of robbery. A sociologist would
probably not ask whether a criminal had committed
more robberies than other , nor would the sociologist
try to explain criminal robbery behavior .
On the other hand, a sociologist might study the
amount and kinds of robbery committed by people like,
or the relationship between the robbery, behavior of
people and the sorts of friends they have .
Alternatively a sociologist might ask how the
characteristics of situations people find themselves in
affect their chances of being robbery victims, or why
the rate of robbery committed by young people exceeds
that committed by older people or varies from time to
time and from place to place. A sociologist might also
study the social origins of criminal definitions, as well
as how their enforcement affects group life, including
crime itself. In all these cases, the researcher would be
practicing sociological criminology.
Some account of nonsociological perspectives in
criminology is necessary to cover adequately the field's
history and the diversity of current theories of crime.
The perspectives of psychology, geography, biology,
economics, philosophy, and history are presented, if
only briefly, at various places throughout the text.

29
These disciplines have added a wealth of knowledge to
the field, but their contributions are secondary to the
sociological thrust guiding this text.
O - The uses of criminology:
In a way it seems odd that the relevance of
criminology has ever been an issue - not just whether it
is influential on policy and practice, but whether it
should be.
Criminology, seems to us, is by definition an applied
discipline; its bounds are set by the criminal law, and
perhaps by other sets of social rules and norms; and in
studying law- and rule-breaking, and what is or should
be done with the people involved, it is concerned with
issues which are defined, by a rough consensus, as
social problems, not just sociological problems. It is
unhelpful and unrealistic, then, to pretend that the
subject-matter of criminology has no implications
beyond the boundaries of academic theorizing .(1)
______________
(1) Kamisar, Yale. "How to Use, Abuse—and Fight Back with—Crime Statistics."
Oklahoma Law Review 25 (May 1972), 239-258.
- Kitsuse, John I., and Aaron V. Cicourel. "A Note on the Uses of Official Statistics."
Social Problems 11 (Fall 1963), 131-139.
- Lejins, Peter P. "Uniform Crime Reports." Michigan Law Review 64 (December 1966):
1011-1030.
- Naess, Siri. "Comparing Theories of Criminogenesis." Journal of Research in Crime
and Delinquency 1 (July 1964), 171-180.
- Nejelski, Paul, Ed. Social Research in Conflict with Law and Ethics. Cambridge,
Mass.: Ballinger, 1976.
- Nettler, Gwynn. Explaining Crime. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978.
- Penick, Bettye K. Eidson, and Maurice E. B. Owens, III, Eds. Surveying Crime.
Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1976.

30
31