Criminology

Criminology (from Latin crīmen, 'accusation' originally derived from the Ancient Greek verb 'krino' 'κρίνω', and Ancient Greek -λογία, -logy|-logia, from 'logos' meaning: 'word,' 'reason,' or 'plan') is the scientific study of the nature, extent, management, causes, control, consequences, and prevention of criminal behavior, both on individual and social levels. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioral and social sciences, which draws primarily upon the research of sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, psychiatrists, biologists, social anthropologists, as well as scholars of law. The term criminology was coined in 1885 by Italian law professor Raffaele Garofalo as Criminologia . Later, French anthropologist Paul Topinard used the analogous French term Criminologie . From 1900 through to 2000 the study underwent three significant phases in the United States: (1) Golden Age of Research (1900-1930)-which has been described as a multiple-factor approach, (2) Golden Age of Theory (1930-1960)-which shows that there was no systematic way of connecting criminological research to theory, and (3) a 1960-2000 period-which was seen as a significant turning point for criminology. Criminologists are the people working and researching all of the ins and outs of criminology. Criminologists often look for behavioral patterns of a possible criminal in hopes of finding a particular perpetrator. They also conduct research and investigations, developing theories, and composing results, and often more than not solve crimes. In the mid-18th century, criminology arose as social philosophers gave thought to crime and concepts of law. Over time, several schools of thought have developed. There were three main schools of thought in early criminological theory spanning the period from the mid-18th century to the mid-twentieth century: Classical, Positivist, and Chicago. These schools of thought were superseded by several contemporary paradigms of criminology, such as the sub-culture, control, strain, labeling, critical criminology, cultural criminology, postmodern criminology, feminist criminology and others discussed below. The Classical school arose in the mid-18th century and has its basis in utilitarian philosophy. Cesare Beccaria, author of On Crimes and Punishments (1763–64), Jeremy Bentham (inventor of the panopticon), and other philosophers in this school argued: This school developed during a major reform in penology when society began designing prisons for the sake of extreme punishment. This period also saw many legal reforms, the French Revolution, and the development of the legal system in the United States. The Positivist school argues criminal behavior comes from internal and external factors out of the individual's control. It's key method of thought is that criminals are born as criminals not made into them; this school of thought also supports theory of nature in the debate between nature versus nurture. They also argue that criminal behavior is innate and within a person. Philosophers within this school applied the scientific method to study human behavior. Positivism comprises three segments: biological, psychological and social positivism.