Criminology
Criminology in a narrower sense is described as the “scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon” or “a science that deals with different aspects of behaviour that violates criminal law” (Bloch and Geiss, 1970: 79).
In its broadest sense, it is referred to as the “entire body of knowledge regarding the causes and prevention of crime, punishment and correction of criminals, and operation of correctional institutions and agencies” (see, Gibbons, 1977: 3). It is also defined as a “discipline or a branch of knowledge which embraces etiology of criminal behaviour, societal responses to crime, control of crime, and the correction of criminals.”
Walter Reckless (1955: 11) has described criminology as a “science which studies violation of criminal codes or set of rules and regulations in society.” On this basis, a criminologist is defined as “one whose professional training and occupational role are concerned toward a scientific approach, study, and analysis of the phenomena of crime and criminal behaviour (Wolfgang, 1963: 155-102).
The branch of criminology dealing specifically with the punitive aspect is known as ‘penology.’ One thing on which all criminologists agree is that criminology today is vastly different from what it was twenty-five or fifty years back or when it originated about a hundred years ago.
