FREE ESSAY ON CRIMINOLOGY

CRIMINOLOGY

Criminology
criminology, the study of crime, society's response to it, and its prevention, including
examination of the environmental, hereditary, or psychological causes of crime, modes of
criminal investigation and conviction, and the efficacy of punishment or correction as
compared with forms of treatment or rehabilitation. Although it is generally considered a
subdivision of criminology also draws on the findings of psychology, economics, and other
disciplines that investigate humans and their environment. 
In examining the evolution and definition of crime, criminology often aims to remove from
this category acts that no longer conflict with society's norms and acts that violate the
norms without imperiling society, although decriminalization of certain acts may be
accompanied by attempts to enforce codes of morality (as, for example, in the response to
pornography). Criminologists are nearly unanimous in advocating that acts involving the
consumption of narcotics or alcohol, as well as nonstandard but consensual sexual acts
(known among criminologists as crimes without victims) be removed from the category of
crime. In dealing with crime in general, the emphasis has gradually shifted from
punishment to rehabilitation. Criminologists have worked to increase the use of
psychiatric treatment, education in prison, and betterment of social conditions.
The Nature and Causes of Crime
Many criminologists regard crime as one among several forms of deviance, about which
there are conflicting theories. Some consider crime a type of anomic behavior; others
characterize it as a more conscious response to social conditions, to stress, to the
breakdown in law enforcement or social order, and to the labeling of certain behavior as
deviant. Since cultures vary in organization and values, what is considered criminal may
also vary, although most societies have restrictive laws or customs.
Hereditary physical and psychological traits are today generally ruled out as independent
causes of crime, but psychological states are believed to determine an individual's
reaction to potent environmental influences. Some criminologists assert that certain
offenders are born into environments (such as extreme poverty or discriminated-against
minority groups) that tend to generate criminal behavior. Others argue that since only
some persons succumb to these influences, additional stimuli must be at work. One widely
accepted theory is Edwin Sutherland's concept of differential association, which argues
that criminal behavior is learned in small groups. Psychiatry generally considers crime
to result from emotional disorders, often stemming from childhood experience. The
criminal symbolically enacts a repressed wish, or desire, and crimes such as arson or
theft that result from pyromania or kleptomania are specific expressions of personality
disorders; therefore, crime prevention and the cure of offenders are matters of treatment
rather than coercion.
Prevalence of Crime
Crime rates, although often blurred by the political or social agenda of those recording
and reporting them, tend to fluctuate with social trends, rising in times of depression,
after wars, and in other periods of disorganization. Particular types of crime may be
prevalent in response to specific conditions. In the United States became significant
during Within cities, poverty areas have the highest rates of reported crime, especially
among young people 
One major category that was relatively ignored until recent decades is that of
white-collar crime, i.e., property crimes committed by people of relatively high social
status in the course of their professional or business careers. The President's
Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in 1967 concluded that about
three times as much property is stolen by white-collar criminals as by other criminals
outside organized crime.
Bibliography
See S. Glueck and E. Glueck, Criminal Careers in Retrospect (1943, repr. 1966); H.
Mannheim, ed., Pioneers in Criminology (2d ed. 1960, repr. 1972) and Comparative
Criminology (2 vol., 1965); R. Hood, Key Issues in Criminology (1970); E. Sutherland and
D. Cressey, Criminology (8th ed. 1970); S. Schafer and W. Knudten, Reader in Criminology
(1973); E. Sutherland, White Collar Crime (1983); L. Ohlin, Human Development and
Criminal Behavior (1991).
Bibliography
Bibliography
See S. Glueck and E. Glueck, Criminal Careers in Retrospect (1943, repr. 1966); H.
Mannheim, ed., Pioneers in Criminology (2d ed. 1960, repr. 1972) and Comparative
Criminology (2 vol., 1965); R. Hood, Key Issues in Criminology (1970); E. Sutherland and
D. Cressey, Criminology (8th ed. 1970); S. Schafer and W. Knudten, Reader in Criminology
(1973); E. Sutherland, White Collar Crime (1983); L. Ohlin, Human Development and
Criminal Behavior (1991).