Scientific Study Of Crime Research Articles

Criminological Aspect of Area Studies as a Trend in the Scientific Study of Crime

The author suggests reviving one of the traditional approaches to researching life in different regions — area studies — within the framework of criminology. Area studies are defined as a comprehensive study of the country, its territory, people and tribes that inhabit it, as well as specific features of its state system, social and political processes, institutions and other phenomena that could present interest for research. The correlation between area studies and regional studies is shown, and the prerequisites for the development of area studies as a source of practical information and a method of fundamental cognition of nature and society are described. The author studies key stages of the development of area studies as an independent discipline and as a field of research and analyzes its specific branches: military and criminological area studies, Oriental studies, etc. The criminological component of area studies played a significant role at the earliest stages of this discipline’s development. The author also describes the essence of criminological area studies, shows the significance of this field of research, delineates criminological area studies and such research fields as the geography of crime and the regional differences of criminal-criminogenic phenomenon. The difference between criminological area studies and comparativism as a method of criminological research is shown. It is proven that area studies are a prerequisite for the development of a new criminological paradigm. At the same time, criminological area studies are viewed as a productive method of understanding new regularities in the criminal sphere that opens up new knowledge frontiers for researchers. The author describes the advantages of studying different aspects of a country’s life as indicators of crimes in comparison with statistical analysis. Examples of identifying fundamental regularities of the criminal-criminogenic phenomenon based on area studies are presented. Considerable attention is paid to the comparative analysis of corruption in the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. The author compares the objectivity of statistical data on the level of corruption and the area studies’ indicators of the degree to which a society is affected by corruption processes. Using the data of criminological area studies, the author argues for the civilization approach to researching deviant behavior and the criminal sphere as well as for identifying civilizational types of crime.

The Criminalistics Institute of the Belgrade Law Faculty, 1927-1945

The Institute's two goals were the scientific study of crime, on the one hand, and the forensic education of judicial and police personnel, on the other. Due to the influence of its founder, Professor Toma Živanović, the Institute was provided for, in terms of funding and premises, better than most University institutions. Nonetheless, its scholarly contribution to criminal science was negligible. As regards theoretical approaches, the Institute relied on the anachronistic Lombrosian ideas about the atavistic born criminal, as well as on the contemporary German school of criminal biology. Živanović's own 'realistic-psychological' theory, which postulated a 'criminal psychological state' (or: 'the criminal soul') as 'the immediate [causal] factor of crime', was never operationalized or empirically tested. The experiments conducted with the Institute's up-to-date and expensive equipment were mostly in the field of electrophysiology, corresponding to the interests of Živanović's closest collaborator, the Russian-born psychiatrist N.V. Krainsky. The Institute's contribution to the forensic education of police and court personnel may have been more substantial, although no sufficient data on its scope are available. Nothing was preserved of the Institute's laboratory equipment or of its archive.

Capturing Crime: The Qualitative Analysis of Individual Cases for Advancing Criminological Knowledge.

The qualitative analysis of individual cases has a prominent place in the development of criminological theory, yet progression in the scientific study of crime has largely been viewed as a distinctly quantitative endeavor. In the process, much of the theoretical depth and precision supplied by earlier methods of criminological knowledge production have been sacrificed. The current work argues for a return to our criminological roots by supplementing quantitative analyses with the qualitative inspection of individual cases. We provide a specific example of a literature (i.e., criminal specialization/versatility) that has become increasingly quantitative and could benefit from the use of the proposed approach. We conclude by offering additional areas of research that might be advanced by our framework presented here.

THE RESPONSIVENESS OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS TO A THERAPEUTIC GROUP WORK PROGRAMME AT WESTVILLE MEDIUM B PRISON

The scientific study of crime, has engaged the interest of many disciplines, just as professional work with offenders has drawn on the contributions of various professions, including social work. Sexual offences are among the crimes that invoke the most fear and concern. In addition to the human costs in terms of emotional and physical anguish and suffering, staggering financial costs are incurred as a result of child welfare and juvenile and criminal justice system involvement, therapeutic intervention and preventive efforts (Prentky & Burgess, 1990).

What Biosocial Criminology Offers Criminology

Criminology has historically maligned biological perspectives despite the scientific rigor of the biological sciences. In recent years, however, a growing number of criminologists are incorporating biological, neurological, genetic, and neuropsychological constructs along with environmental measures into their research. This review explores the relevance of biosocial criminology to the parent discipline of criminology by focusing on its scientific discovery, advanced methodologies, increased theoretical specificity, acknowledgement and illumination of individual differences, and promise of effective policy based on knowledge of human development. In sum, biosocial criminology is a potential fruitful paradigm shift in the scientific study of crime.

EXPANDING CRIMINOLOGY'S DOMAIN: THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY 2006 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS*

Democracy is directly linked to the two main components of criminology: crime and justice. Moreover, the scientific study of crime and justice has been limited in large part to researchers working in democratic regimes. In this article, I address the question of how criminologists through research and education can better nurture democratic, nonauthoritarian societies. I argue that our field would be strengthened by expanding the domain of criminology in five directions: 1) by providing more emphasis on historical data and analysis, 2) by broadening the scope of emotions we test for among offenders, 3) by doing more cross‐national comparative analysis, 4) by bringing situational variables into our research, and 5) by making criminology more interdisciplinary. Although the most recent wave of democratization produced a record number of democratic regimes, we are observing ominous challenges to fundamental democratic rights from around the world. As criminologists, we have a vested interest in supporting the democratic, nonauthoritarian societies in which our craft has thrived.

Confidentiality in Criminological Research and Other Ethical Issues

volved in research in criminology and criminal justice. I will touch on related issues bearing on the teaching of those subjects as well, for many who face moral dilemmas in acquiring knowledge also face such dilemmas in attempting to impart knowledge. Criminology is the systematic, scientific study of crime, criminals, and society's reaction to both. The belief system of the canons of science inheres in my reference to research. The acquisition of knowledge, for its own sake or for some other utilitarian end, is achieved by means of relatively detached and dispassionate perspectives. I suppose that in Austin Turk's1 terms, this approach is predominantly empirical, although not necessarily devoid of or insensitive to the legal or polemical definitions of reality. Applied in its common sense to the actions of the professional researcher in criminology, the term ethics refers to the set of principles governing conduct. I am applying that term to the professional researcher in criminology. Some of the issues I shall raise are also issues in other disciplines of research and teaching; some are peculiarly specific to criminology; all, I am asserting, are ethical issues. But some observers may challenge their ethicality and claim instead that these

The Need of a Scientific Study of Crime, Criminal Law, and Procedure: The American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology

The Need of a Scientific Study of Crime, Criminal Law, and Procedure: The American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology