Criminology
Definition
The scientific study of crime, its causes and distribution across populations, the operation of criminal justice institutions, and strategies for prevention and control. It is multidisciplinary, drawing on sociology, psychology, law, and public health.
- Field type
- Social science, multidisciplinary
- Core disciplines drawn on
- Sociology, psychology, law, public health
- Scope
- Causes, distribution, and control of crime
- Related discipline
- Forensic science (physical evidence, not causation)
Common questions
How does criminology differ from forensic science?+
Criminology studies why crime happens and how it is distributed across a population, using surveys, statistics, and social theory. Forensic science examines physical evidence from a specific incident to establish what happened. A criminologist might explain rising burglary rates in a city; a forensic scientist identifies whose fingerprint was on the window.
Is criminology a branch of law?+
No. Criminology is a social science that studies crime as a social phenomenon and evaluates criminal justice institutions, while law defines what conduct is punishable and sets procedure. Criminologists often work alongside legal scholars but their methods come from sociology and psychology, not legal doctrine.
What kinds of careers use a criminology background?+
Policy analysis, corrections and probation, crime prevention planning, victim services, and academic research all draw on criminology. It also underpins policing strategy and sentencing research, though it is distinct from the lab-based work of a forensic scientist or crime scene examiner.
Related terms
- Penology
- The branch of criminology concerned with the theory and practice of punishment and imprisonment. It examines the aims of punishment (retribution, deterrence,...
- Dark Figure of Crime
- The gap between the actual volume of crime and the amount recorded in official statistics. Crimes go unrecorded when victims do not...
- Victimology
- The sub-field of criminology that studies crime victims: their characteristics, the victim-offender relationship, the impacts of victimisation, and the adequacy of legal...
- Actus Reus
- The guilty act: the physical conduct, the consequence, and the surrounding circumstances that the law forbids. Without a voluntary act there is...
- Biosocial Criminology
- An approach that treats biological and social factors as mutually constitutive rather than alternative explanations for crime. It holds that genetic or...
- Civil Wrong (Tort)
- A breach of a private duty where the remedy is damages or injunction rather than imprisonment. A negligent driver may face both...
- Crime (Legal)
- An act or omission punishable by penal law; under BNS 2023 Section 2(15), an 'offence' is any act made punishable by the...
- Crime Prevention
- Strategies and interventions aimed at reducing the incidence or severity of crime before it occurs. Includes situational prevention (modifying environments to reduce...
- Criminal Justice Studies
- The applied study of the agencies that respond to crime, chiefly the police, the courts, and correctional institutions, and how they operate...
- Deviance
- Behaviour that violates social norms, whether or not it is also illegal. Criminology studies deviance as well as crime because the boundary...
- Interdisciplinarity
- The practice of drawing concepts and methods from several established disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, and biology, to explain a single phenomenon.
- Mens Rea
- The guilty mind: intention, knowledge, recklessness, or negligence as required by the section charged. BNS Section 3 sets out general explanations of...
Explained in these topics
- Crime, Criminology and the Classification of OffencesThe interdisciplinary study of crime, criminals, and criminal-justice responses, drawing on sociology, psychology, biology, and law.
- Criminology and Criminal Justice: Two Disciplines ComparedThe scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon, drawing on sociology, psychology, biology, economics, and political science to explain why crime occurs.
- Criminology, Law, and Forensic Science
- What Is CriminologyThe scientific study of crime, its causes, its extent, and the social responses to it. A multi-disciplinary field drawing on sociology, psychology, law, and pu...