JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

CRIMINOLOGY
CRMINOLOGY AS A SUBJECT OF LAW

SUBMITTED TO:- C.A.RASHEED

SUBMITTED BY:- VAIBHAV SHARMA
BALLB (HONS)(S/F)
3RD YEAR

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher MR.C.A.RASHEED who gave

me the golden opportunity to present the project on“ Criminology as a subject of law”, which also

helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many new things I am really

thankful to him. Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in

finalizing this assignment within the limited time frame.

-Vaibhav Sharma

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

NATURE AND SCOPE OF CRIMINOLOGY .................................................................................................. 4

I. What is not included within Criminology? ................................................................................ 6
II. Theories of Crime Causation. .................................................................................................... 7
III. Collection and Analysis of Data to Determine Criminal Behaviour and to Bring Reforms
within Criminal Justice System. ................................................................................................. 8
IV. Sutherland’s Definition. ............................................................................................................. 8
V. Criminology and Its Association with Other Disciplines........................................................... 9
A. Criminology and Biology........................................................................................................ 9
B. Criminology and Sociology. ................................................................................................. 10
C. Criminology and Political Science. ....................................................................................... 11
D. Criminology and Economics. ................................................................................................ 12
E. Criminology and Geography. ................................................................................................ 13
F. Criminology and History. ..................................................................................................... 14

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NATURE AND SCOPE OF CRIMINOLOGY

As we have seen in the class, the nature and scope of criminology is a very vast and
exhaustive domain. Primarily, criminology deals with theories and schools of crime
causation. However, in contemporary times the subject-matter of criminology has become
huge and comprehensive. Being an interdisciplinary subject, it has been associated with a
large number of other disciplines. Following is the diagram that was used to explain the
nature and scope of criminology:

Definitions of Important Terms

Deviance: Deviance is a violation of social norms defining appropriate or proper behaviour

under particular set of circumstances. Deviance often includes criminal acts. Deviance is also
referred to as deviant behaviour. It is behavior that is sharply different from a customary,
traditional, or generally accepted standard.

Delinquency: Delinquent means one who fails to do that which is required by law or by duty
when such failure is minor in nature. A delinquent is often used to refer to a juvenile who
commits a minor criminal act—juvenile delinquents.

Juvenile Delinquency: It refers to criminal acts performed by juveniles. Most legal systems
prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers.
Juvenile delinquency may refer to either violent or non-violent crime committed by persons
who are (usually) under the age of eighteen and are still considered to be a minor. There is
much debate about whether or not such a child should be held criminally responsible for his
or her own actions.

Crime: Crime is an ‘act’ or ‘omission’ which is prohibited by criminal law. Each State sets
out a limited series of acts (crimes) which are prohibited and punishes the commission of
these acts by fine, imprisonment or some other form of punishment. In exceptional cases, an
omission to act can constitute a crime, such as failing to give assistance to a person in peril or
failing to report a case of child abuse.

Inter-Relation Between Criminology, Penology and Criminal Law

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

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and penology) are implemented through the agency of criminal law. Thus for the sake of
convenient study the entire subject may be classified under the following heads:

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, law-breaking
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.

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Criminology
Criminology does It deals with:
not include
studying  Theories of Crime Causation.
substantive and  Collection and Analysis of data to determine criminal behaviour.
procedural penal  According to Sutherland, Criminology includes within its scope the
laws like IPC, NDPS processes of making laws, of breaking laws and of reacting towards the
Act, Cr.P.C. etc. breaking of laws.

Penology
The study of penology as a sub-category
of criminology includes following:
 Punishment: Its nature and
theories.
 Kinds of Punishment: Their
justification and the principle of
proportionality in criminal law.
 Recidivism: Causes and Control.
 Criminal Justice System which
includes police & prison system.
Victimology
The study of Victimology as a
sub-category of criminology
includes following:
 Victimization and Its
effects.
 Why are some people
like women, children and
old people more prone
of being victimized than
others?

Association of Criminology with:

Biology Sociology Economics Pol. Sci. Geography History

I. What is not included within Criminology?

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A lot of people usually confuse studying criminology with studying substantive and
procedural criminal law like Indian Penal Code, NDPS Act, and Criminal Procedure Code
etc. However, it is an incorrect assumption. Even though criminology is associated with
crime and criminal law, however, the nature of the topics and issues that we study in
criminology is different from the nature and scope of what we study in law of crimes. In law
of crimes we study the various offences, their ingredients/elements, the case-laws related to
the same, and their punishments. While as in criminology we deal with the question as to why
people commit crime or what should be the purpose of criminal law or which kind of
punishment is justified and which is not? How is criminology associated with other
disciplines? And so on.

However, this does not mean that there is no link between criminology and crime.
There most certainly is a connection. Let me take an example of “crime mapping” to explain
the same. Crime mapping is a technique used by criminologists to find out or pinpoint those
areas (geographical locations) which have high crime rate in comparison to those which have
low crime rates. After mapping the same, the criminologists go into detailed analysis of the
reasons behind the same. After these reasons are found out, appropriate penal laws are made
to deal with the same. For example, if we map the crime in Delhi on a map, we will be able to
pinpoint which are the areas in Delhi where the crime is high. Subsequently, we can go into
detailed analysis about the economic, socio-cultural and political reasons which are behind
the same. Having done so, we can make recommendations for appropriate measures
regarding the same.

II. Theories of Crime Causation.

As far as the theories of crime causation are concerned, we will discuss them appropriately in
our subsequent lectures. However, a little reference needs to be made to them while
discussing the nature and scope of criminology. The theories of crime causation, as the name
suggests, deal with a large number of theories which try to explain following questions:

 Why do people commit crime?

 What are the reasons or factors which influence people to commit crime?
 Can there be a universal explanation to crime causation?

These theories, which basically are reasons given by different criminologists/scholars about
crime causation, try to provide different explanations about crime causation. For example,

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one of these theories i.e. biological theory (as propounded by Cesare Lombroso and many
other scholars) states that crime is associated with human anatomy or human physique.
Therefore these scholars are simply trying to provide specific reasons for crime causation and
the reason they are giving is that crime is caused because of the appearance of humans, or
because of their genes, hormones etc. Similarly scholars/criminologists associated with
economic theory of crime causation state that human beings commit crime because of their
economic or financial status.

III. Collection and Analysis of Data to Determine Criminal Behaviour and to Bring
Reforms within Criminal Justice System.

Criminology is not only about studying theories of crime causation. It is also about engaging
in empirical research for the purpose of testing theories of crime causation, determination of
criminal behaviour or for suggesting and bringing reforms within the criminal justice system.
In this regard, I can refer to an article titled “Evidence-Based-Practice to Reduce Recidivism:
Implications for State Judiciaries” by Judge Roger K. Warren.1 This research basically talks
about how evidence-based research can help us determine what is wrong with the criminal
justice system and how an alternate policy can effectively deal with the same. For example,
the article points out that in USA there is an increase rate of offender recidivism2 and the
primary reason for that is the existing state sentencing policy. Thus, by doing an empirical
research the article first of all points out to the problem (increase in offender recidivism), then
with the help of evidence points out the root cause of the problem (existing state sentencing
policy), and then points out the appropriate cost-effective alternatives to the same
(Community-Based Correction Programs and Community-Based Immediate Sanctions).
Thus, we see that the collection of data and its analysis can help us improve criminal justice
system.

IV. Sutherland’s Definition.

Edwin H. Sutherland’s definition of criminology is used as a standard definition to explain

and define criminology. He states as follows:

2
Recidivism is an act of committing the same crime again and again. For example, a person “A” will be a
recidivist if he is jailed for theft for 5 years and then commits it again when he is released.

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“Criminology is a body of knowledge regarding crime as a social

phenomenon. It includes within its scope the processes of making laws, of
breaking laws and of reacting towards breaking of laws.....The objective of
criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principles
and of other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime and
treatment.”

We have discussed this definition in detail particularly the highlighted portion. In regards to
the highlighted portion we have particularly discussed the process of making laws while we
were discussing the association of criminology with political science.

V. Criminology and Its Association with Other Disciplines.

A. Criminology and Biology (or physical science).

A. Criminology and Biology

In our discussion on the association of Criminology with biology I discussed a

number of scenarios to point out how scholars who are interested in such kind of association
try to relate criminology and biology. These scenarios include cannibalism, prefrontal
dysfunction in murders, sex offenders and homosexuality. We can also use the case of
National Legal Service Authority v. Union of India & Ors3, whereby the honourable Supreme
Court recognised transgender as “third gender” and recognised that the discrimination against
the third gender should not be tolerated because their sexual orientation is related to their
anatomy. A critical look at the judgment suggests a lot of discussion of biology (even though
not in relation to crime). Another example can be cannibalism. It can be used to understand
whether human anatomy or psychology plays any role in such activity. Zachary Shemtob has
shown in his article “Consuming Loneliness: A Psychosocial Comparison of Two Criminal
Cannibals”4 that ‘familial abandonment’ and ‘profound horror of future separation’ can be

3
: http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs1.aspx?filename=41411

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some of the reasons for possessing cannibalistic tendencies.5 Since ‘Psychology’ deals with
human mind/brain, it is part of biology/medicine. And Zachary’s article is a perfect example
of psychosocial approach of studying crime.

We discussed the scenario of “Prefrontal Dysfunction in Murderers” which primarily

is a study undertaken by some scholars in 1994 to analyse the metabolic activity of the brain
of some murders and compare the same to others using the technique of Positron Emission
Tomography Scan [PET Scan]. This study has been discussed by Adrian Raine when he
contributed a chapter titled “The Biological Basis of Crime” to the book “Crime: Public
Policies for Social Control” by J.Q. Wilson and J. Petersilia.6 [See particularly Page 57-62].

In relation to association of biology and criminology we also discussed “sexual

offenders” and “homosexuality” whereby we saw that in both the case biology plays a crucial
role in the determination of crimes associated with such conduct. We also discussed that drug
related crimes occur in the society by virtue of the inability of an individual to control the
biological pleasure that they derive from using these drugs.

B. Criminology and Sociology.

In this part we discussed the intricate relationship of criminology with sociology. Sociology
is the systematic study of social behaviour and human groups. It focuses primarily on the
influence of social relationships upon people’s attitudes and behaviour and on how societies
are established and change. As a field of study sociology has a very broad scope. It deals with
families, neighbourhoods, business firms, computer networks, political parties, schools,
cultures, religions, labour unions and so on. It is concerned with love, poverty, conformity,
technology, discrimination, illness, alienation, overpopulation and community. The scholars
associated with studying the relationship between sociology and criminology primarily study
the influence of a particular social group or environment on criminal behaviour. Such
scholars ask questions about the impact of family, community, company, firm etc. on the
tendency of a human being to commit crime. An important example that we discussed in this
regard is the role of family environment on rate of delinquency. In this regard I discussed the
article titled “Family Influence and Delinquency” by David P. Farrington. 7 The article

5
http://zacharyshemtob.com/uploads/CriminalCannibals.pdf

6
http://cooley.libarts.wsu.edu/soc3611/soc%20361%20summer%202008/BiologicalBasisCrime.pdf
7
http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763760564/60564_CH10_Springer.pdf

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primarily discusses the effect of family environment on the life of a child. It argues at a
number of places that the children, who live in a family whose occupants have a criminal
record, have greater chances of becoming delinquents than other children. We also discussed
the movie “Blind Side”8 in which an African-American boy who is initially associated with a
gang is subsequently adopted by a white family and because of the change in family
environment goes on to become one of the leading American football [Rugby] player of all
times. In this regard, you can also watch the following video. I have named it “Children See”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d4gmdl3zNQ

C. Criminology and Political Science.

Sutherland’s definition that criminology includes “the processes of making law” clearly
pinpoints the relationship that criminology has with political science. However, what needs to
be kept in mind is that for the purpose of studying the relationship between criminology and
political science, the term ‘law’ would include ‘public policy’ as well. For example, the
policy of the J&K government to jail as many people as possible during the “stone pelting”
incidents. This also includes the J&K Rehabilitation Policy, 2004 (as amended in 2010) and
also J&K government policy for providing compensation to terror victims. The relationship
of criminology to political science primarily deals with the laws and policies that are put in
place by government authorities to deal with a particular criminal activity or criminal
behaviour. Primarily, an attempt to use law/public policy as a tool to regulate/prevent crime
or to bring a reform in criminal law involves following questions:

1. What is the nature and severity of the problem/crime? And what is

the evidence?
2. Where did the problem come from? And what is the evidence?
3. What programs/laws/policies are deployed to address the problem,
and how well are they deployed?
4. What works and could work better? Further what is the evidence?
5. What is the cost effectiveness of the alternatives? And what is the
evidence?

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A lot of empirical studies/ research (Evidence-Based Research) which are undertaken by

criminologists ask these questions while dealing with a certain criminal activity or behaviour.
However, it is not necessary that all such studies will include these questions. In this regard,
the above-mentioned article “Evidence-Based-Practice to Reduce Recidivism: Implications
for State Judiciaries” by Judge Roger K. Warren is very important. Most of the above
questions can be found in his study. For example, the question related to the nature and
severity of problem. The article points out that the problem (on the basis of evidence) is the
rise in the rate of recidivism. And subsequently points out that the source of problem (on the
basis of evidence) is the existing sentencing policy and so on.

D. Criminology and Economics.

Studying criminology with economics primarily involves studying economic causes of crime.
However, this is not all that is involved while studying the relationship of criminology and
economics. It also involves the effect of finance on State’s crime and justice policies. While
studying economic causes of crime we try to find the impact of economics/finance on crime
causation. For example crimes like white-collar crimes, corruption, money laundering,
stealing, theft, dacoit, robbery, blackmailing and in some cases even murder are committed
because of greed, poverty and poor financial conditions. As far as the effect of finance on
State’s crime and justice policies is concerned, we primarily study the extent to which finance
plays a role in the creation and implementation of a sound crime and justice policy. In this
regard we can refer to JK Rehabilitation Policy of 2004.9 If we look at the title “Incentives for
Surrendered Weapons” under the policy, we see that the State has tried to use ‘finance’ as a
tool to reduce terrorism. The policy provides a handsome amount of money to such terrorists
who surrender their weapons. Moreover, the title “Rehabilitation Incentives for Surrenderees”
under the policy also uses finance and economics to motive terrorist to surrender. For
example the policy provides an immediate grant of Rs. 1.5 Lakh to a terrorist who surrenders
and further provides a Rs. 2000 per month stipend for subsequent three years. In this regard
you can also see Government (Home Department) Order No. 168 of 201410; Government

9
http://mha.nic.in/hindi/sites/upload_files/mhahindi/files/pdf/JK-RehabilitationPolicy.pdf

10
http://jkhome.nic.in/Relief%2023.3.20140001.pdf

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(HD) Order No. 68 of 201411; Government (HD) Order 81 of 201412; and Government (HD)
Order 55 of 201213.

E. Criminology and Geography.

Association of criminology with geography is popularly known as spatial

criminological research. Such research mostly studies the impact of a particular geographical
location on the causes of crime and other crime related matters. We discussed how the
geography of a particular place influences the law making in that particular geographical
location. For example, we discussed the regulation of human behaviour (through proper
criminal law) when it comes to coastal states like Goa, Kerala etc. and also the environment
(forest) and wildlife protection in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Another aspect of spatial criminology is the study of criminal behaviour on the basis
of location i.e. the belief that some geographical localities are criminally more active than
other localities. And residing within or near such localities would either make you an
offender or a victim. In this regard, Bernasco and Nieuwbreeta in their article titled “How do
residential burglars select target areas? A new approach to the analysis of criminal location
choice.”14, have tried to explain criminal location choice by dividing such choice into three
categories:

 Offender-based.
 Target-based.
 Mobility approaches.

Another aspect of spatial criminology is “crime mapping” (something that is

associated with history as well). This technique is used by criminologists to collect crime
statistics for a particular geographical location, analyse it and observe the patterns of criminal
behaviour across different geographical location. I can refer to two exercises15 regarding this.
One can be related to crime statistics of 12 J&K districts for the year 2012 where we see that
Jammu had the highest number of incidence of crime and Kargil had the lowest. The second

11
http://jkhome.nic.in/Relief0001.pdf

12
http://jkhome.nic.in/Kashmir%20Victim.pdf

13
http://jkhome.nic.in/pdfs/home_2902201212325600.pdf
14
http://home.tiscali.nl/~wbernasc/WB/Manuscripts/English/BernascoNieuwbeerta2005.pdf

15

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exercise can be related to Kishtawar district whereby we see the sudden increase in the crime
rate in 2008 after having a zero record for three consecutive years. This exercise informs us
that criminologists can take up research using this data to understand the variation in crime
rates, to understand the question as to why is the crime rate high in one geographical location
and why is it low in the other. Another aspect of criminology and geography is the
Geographical Information System [GIS]. This software is used to make mobile applications
in relation to crime areas and inform the citizens about places where the crime rate is high.

F. Criminology and History.

The last topic that we discussed regarding the nature and scope of criminology was the
relationship between criminology and history. The most important aspect of this relationship
is the role of history as far as crime mapping and collection of crime data is concerned. We
can collect such data only when something/s have occurred earlier (in history) and
subsequently we can take an appropriate decision on the basis of such data. For example, we
discussed the example of Dr. Snow who fought cholera on the basis of a map in which he
studied the history of death incidents and tube-wells to locate and deal with the source of
problem. We can do an exercise regarding the ‘Recidivism Pattern: Comparison between
Mizoram & Rajasthan.” Criminologists use such kind of techniques to analyse crime
activities and criminal behaviour. I am referring to the exercise below:

Recidivism Pattern: Comparison between State of Mizoram and Rajasthan

Year Mizoram Rajasthan

[Number of Recidivism Incidents] [Number of Recidivism Incidents]

2001 460 489

2002 25 186

2003 1275 176

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2004 981 192

2005 840 206

2006 673 181

2007 396 237

2008 546 240

2009 321 312

2010 169 149

2011 155 360

2012 218 261

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1400

1200

1000

800
Mizoram
600 Rajasthan

400

200

0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Now, we can make a lot of observations in relation to the above graph. But,
before doing so what you have to keep in mind is that this graph was only possible when the
historical incidence of recidivism were recorded by a certain government agency. So, all the
below mentioned observations are based on something that has happened in history.

Observations16

Observation 1: The rate of recidivism in Mizoram and Rajasthan for the year 2001 was
almost same. However, in 2003 there was a sudden increase in the rate of recidivism as far as
Mizoram is concerned. What criminologist can do is that they can study the reason behind the
increase in rate.

Observation 2: The rate of recidivism in Rajasthan seems to remain constant. There is not
much increase or decrease in such rate. However, same cannot be said to be true about
Mizoram whereby there was a sudden increase in the rate in 2003 and then sudden decrease
in the rate in 2004.

Observation 3: In the year 2010, the rate of recidivism in both the states was almost same.

16

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

 BOOKS

 P.S.A PILLAI

 K.D GAUR

 N.V. PRANJAPEE

 WEBSITES

 www.indiankanoon.org

 www.scconline.com

 www.indiankanoon.com

 www.manupatra.com

 STATUTE

 Indian Penal Code, 1860

 Criminal Procedure Code,1973

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