SOCL 4461 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Inbreeding, Spatial Mismatch, Justifiable Homicide
Document Summary
Criminology is the academic discipline that uses the scientific method to study the nature, extent, cause, and control, of criminal behavior. Criminologists remain objective, unbiased, and impartial about the behaviors they study. Crime is a social phenomenon: most believe that social factors are at the root cause of crime. Their environment and their social interactions and personal relationships influence even the most disturbed people. The process of making laws: how and why laws are created and why some are strengthened and others eliminated is of great interest to criminologists. It is impossible to effectively control crime unless we understand its cause. Development of a body of general and verified principles: criminology is a social science and criminologists use the scientific method. They are required to employ valid and reliable experimental designs and sophisticated data analysis techniques. Criminology explains the etiology (origin), extent, and nature of crime in society: concerned with identifying the suspected cause of crime.
