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Legal Terms - criminology
The study of crime. An interdisciplinary field, criminology integrates methods from psychology, sociology, and moral philosophy with elements of legal theory and the substantive legal disciplines. The nature and definition of crime, its incidence and forms, its causes, and crime prevention are among its topics. In the past, the positivist school and the classical school have been the dominant schools of thought. The emphasis of the *classical school of criminology is on the role that rational choice and free will play in criminal behavior, as well as the use of punishment as a deterrent. On the other hand, the *positivist school of criminology looks for biological, psychological, and sociological elements that are primarily beyond of an offender's control to explain crime. The majority of contemporary criminology approaches may be traced back to one or more of these schools, though in recent years, so-called "integrative" and "realist" theories that aim to incorporate aspects of both have emerged.
The study of crime. An interdisciplinary field, criminology integrates methods from psychology, sociology, and moral philosophy with elements of legal theory and the substantive legal disciplines. The nature and definition of crime, its incidence and forms, its causes, and crime prevention are among its topics. In the past, the positivist school and the classical school have been the dominant schools of thought. The emphasis of the *classical school of criminology is on the role that rational choice and free will play in criminal behavior, as well as the use of punishment as a deterrent. On the other hand, the *positivist school of criminology looks for biological, psychological, and sociological elements that are primarily beyond of an offender's control to explain crime. The majority of contemporary criminology approaches may be traced back to one or more of these schools, though in recent years, so-called "integrative" and "realist" theories that aim to incorporate aspects of both have emerged.
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