The Birth of Modern Academic Criminology in Bangladesh: Directions for Future Research and the Growth of the Science of Criminology

Abstract

Academic criminology in Bangladesh was formally established with the opening of Master of Social Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Dhaka University in 2010. This chapter explores the contexts and the catalysts for this birth of modern academic criminology in Bangladesh and examines its future growth and evolution. The impetus for the growth of academic criminology in Bangladesh came in the contexts of both global and local imperatives. Globally, the science of criminology became firmly established within the academic settings of the West by the end of the twentieth century. At the same time, there also began a global movement for reforms in criminal justice as an integral part of an international development aimed to foster human security, democracy, the rule of law, judicial accountability, and equal access to justice. Locally, Bangladesh was facing many challenges of expanding global crimes in the South Asian region, and the country embarked on a huge plan to modernize its criminal justice system with the aid of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the European Union (EU), the Asian Development Bank, and many other international assistance organizations. The time of the first decade of the twenty-first century was, therefore, ripe for the growth of academic criminology in Bangladesh. For future growth and productivity, Bangladesh criminology should focus on such areas as theory development, modernization of crime measurement, development of victimization and self-reporting crime surveys, integration of modern science and technology into policing and crime analysis, development of new laws for combating global crimes of different kinds, and innovative methods and strategies for crime prevention.