Module 1 -Penology: Introduction

1) Definition, nature and scope of Penology

2) Crime Control Mechanism-a) Police b) Court c) Public Prosecutor d) Jail

Penology deals with care, custody, treatment, prevention and control of crimes as also the
various modes of sentencing and rehabilitation of criminals. The primary concern of
victimology is to seek justice for victims of crime who are faced with multiple problems.

Meaning-

The word Penology has derived from penal, latin-poena means punishment and Greek suffix-
logia-i.e. ‘study of’ is a sub component of criminology that deals with the philosophy and
practice of various societies in their attempts to repress criminal activities and satisfy public
opinion via an appropriate treatment regime for persons.

Penology concerns itself with the various aspects of punishment and penal policies. The
various mechanisms of punishing the offenders are also studied under penology. Applied
criminology, on the other hand, includes the study of criminal hygiene and criminal policy
which is founded on solid derivative conclusions. Besides these two, there is yet another
branch of criminology called criminalistics which connotes the police techniques of crime
investigation and detection. It provides very useful material for study and understanding of
criminal justice administration from the point of view of field officers whose main pre-
occupation is to deal with the law and procedure relating to investigation and prosecution of
criminal cases.

Criminology is one of the branches of criminal science which is concerned with social study
of crimes and criminal behaviour. It aims at discovering the causes of criminality and
effective measures to combat crimes. It also deals with the custody, treatment, prevention and
control of crimes which, for the purposes of this study, is termed as penology. The criminal
policies postulated by these twin sister branches i.e criminology and penology are
implemented through the agency of criminal law.

It is evident that criminology, penology and criminal law are inter-related and one cannot
really function without the other. The formulation of criminal policy essentially depends on
crime causation and factors correlated therewith while its implementation is achieved through
the instrumentality of criminal law. It has been rightly observed by Prof. Sellin that the object
of criminology is to study the sequence of law-making, law-breaking and reaction of law
breaking from the point of view of efficacy of law as a method of control.

According to Donald Taft, criminology is the scientific analysis and observation of crime and
criminals whereas penology is concerned with the punishment and treatment of offenders. In
his view, the development of criminology has been much later than that of penology because
in early periods the emphasis was on treatment of offenders rather than scientific
investigation into the causation of crime.
Modern penologists lay greater emphasis on rationalisation of punishment. The penal policy
should be more reformation oriented rather than coercive penal sanctions. Supreme Court in
Santa Singh V State of Punjab observed that “modern penology regards crime and criminal as
equally material when sentence has to be awarded. It turns the focus not only on the gravity
or nature of the crime, but also on the criminal and seeks to personalise the punishment so
that the reformist component is also much operative as the deterrent element. A proper
sentence of amalgam of many factors such as nature of the offence, circumstances, previous
record of the offender, his age, education, employment and family background, possibility of
social adjustment and reformation etc.

The basic principle underlying the modern penology is that the sentences awarded ought to be
proportionate to the gravity of offence. In operating the sentencing system, the law should
adopt corrective machinery or deterrence based on factual matrix of the case. The nature of
the crime, the manner in which it was planned and committed, the motive of commission of
crime, the conduct of the accused, the nature of the weapons used and all other attending
circumstances are relevant facts which should be taken into consideration before sentencing
the accused. The Court must not keep in view the rights of the victim to the crime but also the
society at large while considering the imposition of appropriate sentence. Awarding
inadequate sentence out of uncalled for sympathy for the accused would do more harm to the
justice system and undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of the penal system.

Definition/ Crime Control Mechanism-

1) Court-

A Court is any person or institution often as a government institution, with the authority to
adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil,
criminal and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law.

2) Public Prosecutor-

Sec 2 (u) of the Cr.PC defines Public Prosecutor as, ‘A person who is appointed under sec.24
of Cr.PC and it also includes any person who is acting under the directions of Public
Prosecutor .

A Public Prosecutor is considered as the agent of the State to represent the interest of
common people in the criminal justice system.

Sec.24- For every HC, the Central Government as the State Government shall, after
consultation with the HC, appoint a PP and may also appoint one or more Additional PP for
conducting in such Court, any prosecution, appeal or other proceeding on behalf of the
Central Government or State Government as the case may be.

3) Definition of Jail administration-

The original term used for prison is jail or goal. Prison is defined as place properly arranged
and equipped for reception of persons who be legal processes are committed to it for safe
custody while awaiting trial or for punishment.

4) Open Prison-

An open prison is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete their sentences with
minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells.
Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment while serving their sentence.

In the UK, open prisons are often part of a rehabilitation plan for prisoners moved from
closed prisons.

5) Police-

The department of government concerned primarily with maintenance of public order, safety
and health and enforcement of laws and possessing executive judicial and legislative powers.
It is the department of government charged with prevention, detection and prosecution of
public nuisances and crimes.