Criminology 1

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CRIMINOLOGY

• Concept of crime- legal and social definition


• Basis of criminology
• Meaning, Definition criminology
• Nature& scope of criminology;
• Importance
• Relationship between criminology, criminal
policy,Criminal law, penology and victimology
• A crime is held to be an offence which goes
beyond the personal and into the public sphere,
breaking prohibitory rules or laws, to legitimate
punishments or sanctions are attached, and
which requires the intervention of a public
authority(the state or local body)).
• Tappan (1960) has defined crime as “an
intentional act or omission in violation of criminal
law committed without defense or justification”.
• According to Hall Jerome (1974) has
defined crime as “legally forbidden and
intentional action, which has harmful
impact on social interests, which has a
criminal intent, and which has legally
prescribed punishment for it”
SOCIAL DEFINITION

• DALVEER BHANDRAJ J OF SUPREME COURT SAID


every criminal act is an offence against society.
• The crime is a wrong done more to the society
than to an individual.
• Sutherland – Crime is a social phenomenon
which receives disapprobation of the society
• Crime and morality
• Halsbury – “Crime is an unlawful act
which is an offence against the public and
the perpetrator of that act is liable to
legal punishment.”
• Basis of Criminology:
• Even if the legal definition of crime is accepted in
preference to the social definition, for the study
of criminology it does not provide any guide as
to what kind of human conduct should be
declared criminal.
• Its true that in most of the crimes there is a
common element of immorality and the harmful
nature of the acts constituting crime.
• Mala in se
• Mala in prohibita
• The term Mala In Se refers to criminal acts that are wrong
because they violate the moral, public, or natural principles of a
society. These are the actions that are considered to be wrong
because of their very nature, regardless of whether there is a
statute or law, prohibiting them. Such acts include murder, torture,
kidnapping, rape, theft, and other crimes against humanity.
• This class of crime is contrasted by crimes mala prohibita, which
means wrong because they are prohibited. Malum prohibitum
crimes are criminal, not because they are inherently bad, but
because the act is prohibited by the law of the state.
• For instance, robbing a bank is a different crime than violating a traffic rule.
Though both are technically against the law, these crimes still fall into two
very distinct categories. The first category constitutes of actions that are
deemed evil because of the nature of the action and are well recognized as
crimes even if a person has not read the law. Such are crimes of mala in se
– those which violate society’s view of morality. Often these are more
serious crimes, such as felonies, which can result in a prison sentence.
• Crimes mala in se embrace acts immoral or wrong in themselves, such as
murder, rape, arson, burglary, larceny (robbery and dacoity;) while crimes
mala prohibita embrace things prohibited by statute as infringing on others’
rights, though no moral turpitude attaches to such crimes. Such acts
constitute crimes only because they are so prohibited. Examples of mala
prohibita offenses include laws that require automobile drivers to
wear seat belts,
• Man is a social animal. Human beings live in communities and groups together
engaged in mutual concourse. In order to keep order and avoid conflict it is
essential to have a set of rules and regulations of collective behaviour.
• Each community and each group prescribes its own behavioural norms and
standards which keep the wheels of society well-oiled and as far as possible
frictionless; only thus can a community make progress.
• The norms and standards prescribed in a particular society determine the
activities of the individuals which can be considered normal or permissible any
deviation from these permissible acts is an abnormal behaviour.
• If these abnormal acts are pronouncedly deviant and pose threat to
communal order and peace, these are called crimes. Thus crimes may be
defined as an act harmful to social peace and harmony. The crimes are hurtful to
social stability. In order to achieve prevention of crimes, we need to study the
various causes and background of crimes systematically. The discipline engaged
in such a systematic investigation is known as criminology.
MEANING OF CRIMINOLOGY

• Criminology maybe defined as “the scientific study of the


causation, correction, and prevention of crime”

• The word criminology is composite of two words criminal + logy.

• Literally, it means a systematic study of the criminals, that is, persons


who break or offend the social or group law.

• The term criminology is derived from the combination of two latin words
crimen and the greek word logia.

• However, since the offences committed by criminals are crimes; and as


crimes occur in society, the term criminology fully means a study of
crimes as well as criminals in relation to society.

• It also tries to determine the causes of these and also thereby


recommends preventive measures. The science of criminology is a
scientific and systematic study of a social phenomenon. Various scientific
techniques and methods are employed for the study of this phenomenon.
• In simple words criminology can be defined as the study of crime, its
perpetrators, and its cases; and related, an interest in its prevention, and
in the deterrence, treatment, and punishment of offenders.
• Approaches and theoretical traditions are diverse. Thus, criminology as the study of
crime will be interested in the distribution of crime, and in the techniques and
organization of crime.
• Criminology is the systematic study of crime in all its aspects.
• Criminology is the study of crime and criminal behavior, informed by
principles of sociology and other non-legal fields, including psychology,
economics, statistics, and anthropology (the study of human beings, especially
of their origin, development, customs and beliefs).
• Criminology as a branch of knowledge is concerned with those particular conducts of
human behaviour which are prohibited by society. It is, therefore, a socio-legal study
which seeks to discover the causes of criminality and suggests the remedies to
reduce crimes.
DEFINITION

• According to eminent sociologist Sutherland: “Criminology


is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social
phenomenon.” This definition exhibits sociological
bias and regards crime to be reaction to certain set
of social factors and causes.
• Eg: husband killing wife out of sudden provocation.

• (2) According to the eminent criminologist Elliot:


“Criminology may be defined as the scientific study of crime
and its treatment.”
• According to another noted sociologist Webster,
• the science of Criminology may be described to be
“the scientific study of crime as a social
phenomenon, or of criminals and their mental
traits, habits and discipline.” This definition has the
merit of emphasizing equally the sociological as
well as psychological aspects of the crime and the
criminal.
NATURE AND SCOPE OF CRIMINOLOGY

• The task of criminology is a scientific, systematic,


statistical, structural and functional in depth study of
crime. Besides having a theoretical understanding of
crime, criminal and his behaviour, the object of
criminology is also to devise effective tools to
minimize the incidence of crime, reform and
rehabilitate the criminal. Lastly, criminology also
tries to suggest reform the penal code and its
enforcement in order to make these rational and
humanitarian.
• The problem of crime control essentially involves the need for a study of the
forces operating behind the incidence of crime and a variety of co-related
factors influencing the personality of the offender. This has eventually led to
development of modern criminology during the preceding two centuries.
• The purpose of study of this branch of knowledge is to analyze different aspects of
crime and device effective measures for treatment of criminals to bring about their
re-socialization and rehabilitation in the community. Thus criminology as a branch of
knowledge has a practical utility in so far as it aims at bringing about the welfare of
the community as a whole.
• Subdivisions of criminology include penology, the study of prisons and prison
systems; bio-criminology, the study of the biological basis of criminal behavior;
feminist criminology, the study of women and crime; and criminalistics, the study
of crime detection, which is related to the field of Forensic Science.
• Criminology consists of two main branches - criminal biology, which
investigates causes of criminality found in the mental and physical
constitution of the deviant, 'and criminal sociology which deals with
enquiries into the effect of environment as a cause of criminality.
• The object of criminology is to study the sequence of law
making, law-breaking and reaction to law breaking from the
point of view of the efficiency of law as a method of control.
• The most significant aspect of criminology is its concern for crime and
criminals. It presupposes the study of criminal with basic assumption
that no one is born criminal. It treats reformation as the ultimate
object of punishment while individualization (treatment accorded to
each individual according to his personality) the method of it.
DISCUSSION – FORENSICS AND
CRIMINOLOGY
IMPORTANCE OF CRIMINOLOGY

• The following are the main causes of the study of Criminology


• (a) The criminology clears the way of study of the social system.
(b) It suggests the ways of elimination of criminal instincts in the
society
(c) Criminology tells the ways of bringing stability in human values.
(d) It tries to reform the criminal
(e) This system of study becomes helpful to the investigation officer in
reaching from the point of crime to the criminal.
(j) Crime is a necessary evil and an ailment. Criminology suggests the
ways and means of checking this evil.
(k) Criminology tells the effective methods by which the crimes can be
controlled so that peace and order may be established in the society.
(i) The Spirit of social security is created by the study of criminology.
CRIMINOLOGY, PENOLOGY,
CRIMINAL LAW AND VICTIMOLOGY
• Inter-relation between criminology, penology and criminal law and
victimology
• It must be reiterated that criminology is one of the branches of
criminal science which is concerned with social study of crimes
and criminal behavior.
• It aims at discovering the causes of criminality and effective
measures to combat crimes.
• It also deals with 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.
CRIMINAL POLICY

• Societal decision making and societal activity


that aims to prevent crime, maintain a
predictable and fair criminal justice system,
bring offenders to justice, help and support
crime victims etc.
• It deals with (1) appropriate measures of social
organization whereby harmful activities may be
prevented
• And also (2) the treatment to be accorded to
the perpetrators
• CRIMINAL SCIENCE

CRIMINOLO CRIMINA
PENOLOGY VICTIMOLOG
GY L LAW
Y

CRIMINAL Victimology is the study


BIOLOGY of crime victims. People
who study victimology, or
victimization, examine the
CRIMINAL psychological effects of
SOCIOLOGY crimes on the victims, the
interactions between
victims and the criminal
justice system and the
relationships between
victims and offenders
• It is generally said that criminal law is an index of civilization
because it is sensitive to the changes in social structure and
reflects mental fiber of a given society. This is why Prof.
Friedman calls it a barometer of moral thinking.
• According to Wechsler, ―crime is a formal social condemnation
of forbidden conduct buttressed by sanction calculated to
prevent it.
• Criminologists are thus confronted with three major problems,
namely: 1. What conducts should be forbidden and an inquiry
into the effect of environment on these conducts ; 2. What
condemnation is appropriate in such cases ; and 3. What kinds
of sanctions are best to prevent these conducts?
• It is thus 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, lawbreaking and reaction to law-
breaking from the point of view of the efficacy of law as the 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.
CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM
• Criminology generally focuses on scientific
studies of crime and criminality, whereas
criminal justice focuses on scientific studies of
decision-making processes, operations, and
such justice-related concerns as the efficiency
of police, courts, and corrective systems; the
just treatment of offenders; the needs of
victims; and the effects of changes in
sentencing philosophy.
DEVELOPMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY

• The history of primitive societies and early medieval period reveals that
human thinking in those days was predominated by religious mysticism
and all human relations were regulated through myths, superstitious and
religious tenets prevailing in a particular society.

• This in other words, meant that little attention was devoted to the motive,
environment and psychology of the offender in the causation of crime.

• Moreover, in absence of any definite principle for the guidance of those


who were concerned with the criminal justice administration, punishments
were often haphazard, arbitrary and irrational.

• This situation prevailed until the end of seventeenth century.

• Thereafter, with the change in human thinking and evolution of modern


society, certain social reformers took up the cause of criminals and
devoted their attention to analysis of crime causation.

• This finally led to the emergence of criminology as a branch of knowledge


through development of different schools of criminology
• The Enlightenment philosophers - Beccaria, Bentham and Kant in
particular - are often described as the founding fathers of 'classical'
criminology.
• Their conceptions of the rational subject and the 'social contract' led to
new systems of law and criminal justice under which punishment should
be proportionate to the crime committed, thus claiming that the law can
have an intrinsic moral authority.
• This philosophical approach to the problem of crime was questioned by the
so-called 'positivist' criminologists - such as Lombroso - who followed.
• The theoretical dimension of criminology has a long history and ideas
about the causes of crime can be found in philosophical thought over two
thousand years ago. For example, in Politics, Plato‘s student, Aristotle
(384-322 B.C.), stated that ―poverty engenders rebellion and crime
(Quinney 1970).
TRADITIONAL AND SOCIO
ECONOMIC CRIMES
• Crimes can be divided into 2:
• Conventional(traditional illegal behaviour) and non
conventional( white collar, blue collar, political, corporate
crime)

• White collar – Trademark, patent and copyright


infringements, Misrepresentation in advertising,
Restraint of trade, unfair labour practices
• “White Collar Crime means a crime committed by a.
person of respectability and high social status in the
course of his occupation”. - Sutherland
• Public welfare offences – “A group of offences
and public nuisances punishable irrespective of
the actor’s state of mind.” – Francis Sayre
• Eg: violation of motor vehicle laws, violation of
anti-narcotic acts.
• Victimless crimes – no victim as such. Eg:
prostitution
SOCIO ECONOMIC CRIMES

Socio economic crimes as its name suggest are social crimes and affects
the health and morals of the public and economic crimes consist of those
offences that affect the economy of the country as a whole. These are
punishable under the special laws of crimes.

In 47th report of the Law Commission, the commission noted the following
salient features

1. ‘Motive’ of the criminal is avarice or rapaciousness (not lust or hate).

2. ‘Background’ of the crime is non-emotional.

3. ‘Victim’ is usually the State or ‘consuming public’.

4. Mode of operation is fraud, not force.

5. Act is deliberate and wilful.

6. Social interest is protected for preservation and augmentation of general


economy.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL
AND SOCIO ECONOMIC CRIMES

• 1) The Traditional crimes are divided into specific categories of offences,


such as, offences against the State, offences against the Human body,
offences against property etc. , These offences are of permanent character,
and the constituent elements of these offences remain unchanged. Whereas
in the case of socio-economic offences constituent elements undergo
changes time to time and socio-economic offences are short lived.

• 2)The Traditional crimes are a kind of positive aggressions and result in


direct and immediate injury but the socio-economic crimes are in the shape
of positive aggressions or invasions. Socio-economic crimes may or may not
result in direct or immediate injury, nevertheless they create a danger which
or the probability of which the law must seek to minimize.

• 3)In Traditional concept of crimes no crime can be committed without guilty


mind (Mens Rea) whereas in the case of socio-economic offences the
requirement of Mens Rea maybe excluded either expressly or by necessary
implications.
• 4)The Traditional crimes being of a permanent nature they are
punishable
under the general law of crimes which takes care of things happening
frequently; the socioeconomic offences being the outcome of changing
conditions in society require repeated legislative attention. These
offences are punishable under the provisions of various kinds of special
enactments which together constitute the special law of crimes.
• 5)The dominant feature of the traditional law of crimes is its function
to preserve public order. But the dominant feature of the special law
of crimes is to guard against all those practices which are offensive or
injurious to the health and well-being of the people, besides helping
state in maintaining order. The socio-economic offences deals with
conduct which is offensive to the welfare of the people.

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