Criminology is one of the most significant criminal justice fields characterized as an interdisciplinary field founded on the principles of sociology, psychology, politics, statistics, and economics. Criminologists’ activities include collecting and analyzing data of committed crimes to study the nature of crimes and criminals and identify factors that influence criminals’ motives. Through exploring criminals’ backgrounds and crime data, criminologists find patterns and determine common traits and behavior of criminals, common causes of crimes and criminals’ motivations. The essential role of criminologists in criminal justice has a preventative character. The studies conducted by criminologists aim to reduce crimes by identifying and eliminating factors that influence the human tendency to commit a crime. Therefore, the role of criminologists in the justice field is important as it presents knowledge about criminals’ motivation and effective punishment methods that could be used to correct criminals’ deviant behavior.
Additionally, as there are many examples of criminal behavior, there are dozens of different criminological theories and paradigms. According to Coomber et al. (2019), most criminology theories are focused on street crime. In addition to street crimes being a part of urban life that presents a significant threat to public safety, street crime rates are influenced by the street environment. For example, the research conducted by Zeng et al. (2021) determined that street environmental factors such as the frequency of street use and the presence of escape paths significantly affect the number of robberies. Thus, besides analyzing the criminals’ background, criminologists also explore other factors influencing crime rates.
Furthermore, more accurate criminology research results could be achieved by carefully choosing the correct method for crime data analysis. In general, effective research methods used in criminology are case studies, clinical studies, and statistical data analysis. Case studies focus on individual crime or several similar crimes to compare the data and extract valuable information. Case studies are very effective as a method of criminology research, as they provide the most accurate information; however, case studies are expensive and require significant resources. On the other hand, the clinical method is effective when criminals express mental health disorders; the data is collected through an interview with a psychologist. Next, the information from research conducted through analysis of statistical data of crimes as a mass phenomenon could effectively be used by the government to protect the population.
There are many other common methods in criminology that are less effective or accurate. One of them is the comparative method that focuses on exploring the connections between two objects. For example, the research on the connection between the number of undocumented immigrants and immigrant crimes conducted by Adelman et al. (2021) determined that, on average, immigration has no impact on the crime rate. Therefore, even though the comparison method is commonly used in criminology, the results of its use could have little significant information and present no potential for effective protection of the population.
Furthermore, many important details and valuable information are missing due to the high number of unreported crimes. For example, in examining the citizen responses to the sound of gunfire, Huebner et al. (2020) determined that in communities prevailed by Black residents, there is a lower chance that the residents will call 911. Therefore, accurately measuring crime data is essential to providing valuable information about the current situation with criminal activity and its trends. Moreover, criminal justice system reports and subsequent reforms are based on the available crime data. The possible case in which crime rates are inaccurately measured presents a threat to the population’s safety and reduced policies quality.
References
Adelman, R. M., Yang, Y., Williams Reid, L., Bachmeier, J. D., & Maciag, M. (2021). Using estimates of undocumented immigrants to study the immigration-crime relationship.Journal of Crime and Justice, 44(4), 375-400. Web.
Coomber, R., Donnermeyer, J., McElrath, K., & Scott, J. (2019). Key concepts in crime and society [eBook, Enhanced Credo edition]. SAGE.
Huebner, B. M., Lentz, T. S., & Schafer, J. A. (2020). Heard shots – call the police? An examination of citizen responses to gunfire.Justice Quarterly, 1-24. Web.
Zeng, M., Mao, Y., & Wang, C. (2021). The relationship between street environment and street crime: A case study of Pudong New Area, Shanghai, China.Cities, 112, 1-11. Web.