what is criminology
What is criminology?
As crime TV shows get popular, more and more people become interested in this term, criminology. Along with the growing popularity, there are some misconceptions about criminology. Most people only have a vague concept that criminology is a study of crime, but they don’t really know anything about this field. So what is criminology and what does criminologists do?
We can know something related to criminology from some crime TV shows such as CSI, Breaking Bad and Castle, but these are also where we get our misconceptions from. Some people think that criminologists are trained to be law enforcement officers such as polices and FBI agents. Some others think that every criminologist either investigate criminals or analyzes evidence at a crime scene. These “facts” definitely cannot explain what criminology is or what real criminologists do, and what those characters do in TV shows are actually the reflex of different kinds occupations.
In fact, criminology is an interdisciplinary science that gathers and analyzes data on various aspects of criminal, delinquent, and general antisocial behavior (Walsh, 2012). Unlike criminal justice which focuses on how to investigate, prosecute and control criminals, criminology concern more about why would people commit crimes and try to understand the subject matter in order to determine how it would benefit humankind. Criminologists are people who dedicate to pursue these goals: they conduct scientific survey to figure out questions like why do crime rates vary in time, cultures, ages, genders and ethnic groups, why some people are more like to commit crimes, why are some harmful behaviors considered crimes while some are not, and what can we do to prevent crime. In other words, criminology is a branch of sociology, it focuses on the reason why people commit crimes and define criminal acts, and criminologists are sociologists who use a scientific method to find out the answers of questions in criminology
As crime TV shows get popular, more and more people become interested in this term, criminology. Along with the growing popularity, there are some misconceptions about criminology. Most people only have a vague concept that criminology is a study of crime, but they don’t really know anything about this field. So what is criminology and what does criminologists do?
We can know something related to criminology from some crime TV shows such as CSI, Breaking Bad and Castle, but these are also where we get our misconceptions from. Some people think that criminologists are trained to be law enforcement officers such as polices and FBI agents. Some others think that every criminologist either investigate criminals or analyzes evidence at a crime scene. These “facts” definitely cannot explain what criminology is or what real criminologists do, and what those characters do in TV shows are actually the reflex of different kinds occupations.
In fact, criminology is an interdisciplinary science that gathers and analyzes data on various aspects of criminal, delinquent, and general antisocial behavior (Walsh, 2012). Unlike criminal justice which focuses on how to investigate, prosecute and control criminals, criminology concern more about why would people commit crimes and try to understand the subject matter in order to determine how it would benefit humankind. Criminologists are people who dedicate to pursue these goals: they conduct scientific survey to figure out questions like why do crime rates vary in time, cultures, ages, genders and ethnic groups, why some people are more like to commit crimes, why are some harmful behaviors considered crimes while some are not, and what can we do to prevent crime. In other words, criminology is a branch of sociology, it focuses on the reason why people commit crimes and define criminal acts, and criminologists are sociologists who use a scientific method to find out the answers of questions in criminology