The study of crime, including its origins, expenses, and effects, is known as criminology. (Bohm and Haley 2). The method by which crimes and criminals are found, apprehended, tried, and punished is known as criminal justice. The various elements and internal workings of the system are covered by criminal justice. Criminal activity is defined as human behavior that contravenes a state's, the federal government's, or a local jurisdiction's criminal laws. (Bohm and Haley 2). The legal approach to crime assumes that powerful people who can have an impact on political decision-making can impose their favored definitions of criminal behavior on lawbreakers. (Presser and Sveinung 101-118 ). By making their laws, powerful but immoral individuals might, therefore, escape the tag “criminal” and may avoid punishment for illegalities committed. Although democratic societies like the United States have immunity from legislation abuse, history demonstrates otherwise. Crime is socially relative in the sense that law creates it. In the absence of a statute defining it, there can be no existence of crime
Criminal Justice system components
Criminal justice system is made up of three parts: law enforcement, courts, and corrections. They work together to prevent and punish deviant behavior ( Reid 27-55).
Law Enforcement
It is the most visible function of criminal justice system. The first contact a criminal can have are police officers. Police make patrol communities and residences to help curb crimes, to investigate incidences of crime, and to arrest people suspected of committing crimes. Criminals enter the court system after their arrests ( Reid 27-55).
Courts System
The court's system comprises of, judges, attorneys, and juries, together with support staff. The court determines guilt or innocence of the suspect. The suspect, who becomes a defendant, is presented with an opportunity to defend themselves in court with the production of evidence( Reid 27-55). They are then either released or are found to have committed the alleged crime. If he's found guilty, the suspects receive a sentence or punishment based on criteria set by the judge and by the law. The defendant is turned to the corrections system after the conviction.
Corrections System
The corrections system includes all forms of sentencing and punishment. It also provides incarceration and probation services. A convicted criminal becomes the subject of the corrections system until they serve their full sentence or the sentence is commute ( Reid 27-55).
The History of Crime and Punishment
The criminal justice system has its origin in the medieval England and Roman empire. It is this origin of criminal justice that makes Latin remain the basis of the court language ( Reid 27-55). Concepts including restitution and execution are carried over from ancient times, although other old punishments such as mutilation, flogging, and branding have primarily been eliminated within industrialized nations as the sensibilities and understanding of crime have drastically changed ( Reid 27-55).
Incarceration and the prison system came into extensive use in the nineteenth century, When society found it a necessity to separate a criminal from society before that development time, he was usually exiled and often threatened with death upon returning home( Reid 27-55).
Modern Policing
Another new development in criminal justice is the introduction of the modern police force. Initially, it was viewed as the duty and responsibility of male, citizens to maintain safety and security of society members is now a government function (Barlow and David 78-83).The criminal justice system continues to undergo numerous changes brought about by criminologists and law enforcement professionals as they look for better ways to serve as victims, society, witnesses, and even suspects and convicted criminals. The study of criminal justice helps brings a better understanding of how to solve a crime and protect citizens.
Crime, Deviance, and Delinquency
Many criminal activities are regarded as deviant or abnormal forms of behavior in line with sociological thought. Deviant behavior is a human activity which violates social norms (Agnew 47-88). Some actions that are not condemned by statute are still regarded as “bad behavior.” Sufficiently “bad behavior requires a societal response, echoing, “That ought to be a crime!” or “There should be a law against that!” Abnormal behavior, deviance, and criminal activities are concepts that do not always easily mesh. Some forms of deviance do not amount to violations of the criminal law, and the reverse is equally true (Agnew 47-88).
Deviant styles of dress, for example, are not restricted by criminal legislation lest they violate decency statutes by lack of clothing. Laws are subject to interpretation, and they may be modified as social norms evolve. A few years ago, for example, a Palm Beach County (Florida) judge struck down a law banning baggy pants, calling the measure not constitutional. The judge agreed with a public defender acting as an attorney for a teenager arrested for exposing his underwear by wearing pants were that sagging. In the defense, the attorney argued that the legislation was not acceptable because it restricted styles of dress and instead empowering what is described as “the fashion police.”
However, some types of behavior, although they are not deviant or abnormal, they have a violation of the law. Speeding on interstate highways, for example, is considered the norm and not deviant in some circumstances, it is still against the law. Making matters complex some behaviors are illegal in some jurisdictions but not in others. Commercialized gambling is illegal in many parts of the U.S, although they are legitimized in some restricted area like Nevada, on some Native American reservations, on cruise ships operating outside territorial waters of the united states, on some riverboats in Mississippi, and in some locales which are state sponsored. State governments that seek to enhance revenues allow gambling through state lotteries which now operate in forty-five states although online gambling is forbidden to protect states’ lottery revenues. Prostitution in a similar way is illegal across in the United States but is legitimized in Nevada as long it occurs brothels which are licensed brothels and meet state licensing and health provisions (Agnew 47-88). Delinquency, which is used in conjunction with crime and deviance, refers to violations of the criminal law and other misbehavior committed mostly by young people. The laws of many states proclaim that “youth” ends at a person’s eighteenth birthday, although other states specify the sixteenth or seventeenth anniversary as meeting that requirement. All states, however, define certain offenses, such as running away from home, being ungovernable, and drinking alcohol, as illegal for children but not adults.
Role of criminologists
Criminologist refers to a person who studies crime, criminals, and related criminal behavior. Occasionally, the term criminologist describes anyone who works in the criminal justice field, regardless of formal training in criminology (Clark 129-146). Nowadays, the growing practice is to reserve applying the term criminologist to researchers, academics, and policy analysts with advanced degrees who study crime, study trends, and analyze societal reactions to crime. In respect to this designation, highly skilled investigators, crime laboratory technicians, fingerprint experts, crime-scene photographers, ballistics experts, and others who work to solve particular crimes are described as criminalists. A criminalist, therefore, is a specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence related to criminal activity. In contrasting, corrections professionals, police officers, parole officers probation and, judges, district attorneys, criminal defense attorneys, and others who do the day-to-day work of the criminal justice system are best referred to as criminal justice professionals.
Academic criminologists and research criminologists hold doctoral degrees in criminology or criminal justice from universities which are accredited. Some criminologists hold degrees in related fields including sociology and political science and specialize in the study and control of crime and deviance. Most Ph.D. criminologists teach criminology or criminology-related subjects in institutions of higher learning, including universities and two- and four-year colleges. All professors of criminology are involved in research or writing projects, thereby advancing criminological knowledge and expertise. Some Ph.D. criminologists are strictly researchers and work with federal agencies such as the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) or for private organizations such as RAND and SEARCH.
Having a master’s or bachelor’s degree in the field of criminology, criminologists often find secure entrance into police investigative or support work, probation and parole agencies, court support activities, and correctional (prison) venues. Criminologists also work for government agencies that develop effective social policies intended to prevent or combat crime. Moreover, private security offers other career options to individuals interested in criminology and criminal justice.
Private security agencies employ twice as many law enforcement personnel than public law enforcement agencies, and the gap is widening. Many upper- and mid-level private managers at private security firms hold criminology or criminal justice degrees. Training in criminology offers many career alternatives. Some people trained in criminology or criminal justice decide to attend law school, while others become teachers or even private investigators. Many criminologists provide civic organizations with their expertise, work for politicians and legislative bodies, or appear debating social policies on talk shows designed to “fight” crime.
Criminology theory
There are many approaches developed by criminologists in explaining and understanding crime theory, ideally, is made of precisely stated propositions suggesting relationships, between events and occurrences under study (Downes, Paul and Eugene 58-71 ). An old Roman theory maintained that insanity was caused by lunar influences and followed its cycles hence the term lunacy. Approaches provide explanatory power, aiding the understanding of the phenomenon under study. A general theory of crime attempts to explain most forms of criminal conduct through a single, overarching approach. Unfortunately, as prominent scholars observe, “Theories in criminology tend to be unclear and lacking in justifiable generality.” When are criminal behaviors put under consideration from murder to drug use to white-collar and computer crime who would imagine that one theory could explain all of them?
Still, many past theories to causes of crime, pose a single identifiable source for all serious deviant and criminal practices. An integrated theory does not necessarily explain all criminality but is distinguished because it merges concepts drawn from different sources. Criminologist Gregg Barak states, “An integrative criminology … seeks to bring together the diverse bodies of knowledge that represent the full array of disciplines that study crime.” This is why unified theories provide broader explanatory power than narrower formulations (Downes, Paul and Eugene 58-71) .
Crime in social context
Crime occurs in some context. Criminal activity is therefore diversely created and variously interpreted meaning that different people have various interpretations regarding the who, what, when, where, and why of crime. Crime doe does not happen in isolation, but a social occurrence (Lynch 109-112). Each crime has a unique set of causes, consequences accompanying it, and participants in the criminal activity. Crime affects some people more than others, even impacting those who are not direct participants in the act itself offenders, victims, police officers, witnesses, and so forth. In general, crime provokes reactions from the individuals it victimizes. These responses flow from concerned groups of citizens to the criminal justice system and sometimes to society as a whole. This can manifest itself in the creation of new social policy, or laws (Lynch 109-112).
Reactions to crime, from every day to the precedent-setting, may color the course of punishment for future criminal events. Crime is fundamentally a social construction just like all other social events. However, agreeing that crime is a social construction doesn’t lessen the impact of victimization experienced affected people by crime. Nor does this statement trivialize the significance of crime-prevention efforts or the activities of members of the criminal justice system. Crime has a comprehensive cost to individual victims and society as a whole. Although a given instance of criminal behavior may have many causes, it may also carry with it many different meanings. There may be one meaning for offenders, another for victims, and still another for agents of the criminal justice system. Given this fact, all social interest groups interpret law-breaking behavior from their point of view which is unique. Then each arrives at different conclusions regarding resolving the so-called problems inherent in crime.
Criminology’s Interdisciplinary Nature
Criminology is considered a social science in nature. However modern-day criminologists recognize that criminology is an interdisciplinary field that borrows from various other disciplines in providing an integrated approach to crime in modern society and advancing solutions to the social problems created by crime (Walsh and Lee 13). Many contemporary criminologists operate from a sociological point of view.
A large number of today’s theoretical explanations of criminal behavior are routinely presented in the language of social science and emerge within the framework of the sociological theory (Gibbs et al. 124-144.). Some disagree with individuals who make claims that the sociological perspective should be given much importance in today’s criminological enterprise. Those who agree with the primacy of sociology emphasize the fact that the study of crime is a social phenomenon.
Conclusion
Criminology is a field dealing with crimes is closely related to criminal justice although the terms are more often interchanged in use. It is argued the field of criminology brings on board various disciplines such as sociology and political science. Because it involves the study of human criminal behavior, it is regarded as a social science in nature. A large number of today’s theoretical explanations of criminal behavior are routinely presented in the language of social science and emerge within the framework of the sociological theory.
Works Cited
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Bohm, Robert, and Keith Haley. Introduction to criminal justice. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2002.
Clark, Richard D. "Environmental disputes and human rights violations: A role for criminologists." Contemporary Justice Review12.2 (2009): 129-146.
Downes, David, Paul Rock, and Eugene McLaughlin. Understanding deviance: a guide to the sociology of crime and rule-breaking. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Gibbs, Carole, Meredith L. Gore, Edmund F. McGarrell, and Louie Rivers III."Introducing conservation criminology: Towards interdisciplinary scholarship on environmental crimes and risks." The British journal of criminology 50.1 (2009): 124-144
Lynch, Mona. "The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society." PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 25.2 (2002): 109-112.
Presser, Lois, and Sveinung Sandberg, eds. Narrative criminology: understanding stories of crime. NYU Press, 2015.
Reid, Sue Titus. Criminal justice. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.
Walsh, Anthony, and Lee Ellis. Criminology: An interdisciplinary approach. Sage, 2006.
