Criminology and History: Towards Interdisciplinary Convergence

Abstract

The connection between criminology and other sciences has always been viewed as a vital component of increasing scientific knowledge on crime and developing the methodology of criminological research. One of the areas of such connection is the interaction between criminology and history. Both sciences are moving towards each other. The principle of historicism, being an inalienable element of the methodology of modern criminology, stimulated criminologists to study the history of crime and its specific types, the history of preventive and law enforcement work, the history of criminological theories’ development. The diversification of the methodological basis for the historical science and the development of social history, in their turn, also turned the attention of historians to the problems of crime and its prevention. Meanwhile, the application of historical method in criminology and the inclusion of crime in the object of historical studies remain two relatively independent and unconnected processes. At the same time, the theoretical understanding of inter-disciplinary connections between criminology and history unjustifiably remains «a white spot». This is not a problem specific of Russia, in recent years it has been the object of attention for specialists all over the world. English-language research explains the absence of cooperation between criminology and history primarily though the goals and the organization of research. Historians study the past for the sake of uncovering the past itself, without stressing its connection to the present, while criminologists, on the contrary, are focused on the present and refer to the past only in the degree necessary for explaining the processes happening today. However, this autonomy, arising from the boundaries that are in many aspects artificial, is duly challenged. Research is consistently moving towards overcoming the isolation of criminology and history. The result of this shift is the development of historical criminology as a special approach to studying crimes and related problems. Special monographs, cooperative group discussions, theme-based issues of authoritative journals, the development of special educational programs are all aimed at ensuring the full-scale inclusion of the historical component in the science of criminology by stimulating historical thinking and abolition of no longer relevant historical-philosophical ideas on the interconnection between the past, the present and the future.