Introduction
Modern legal sciences, for instance, criminal law, have made it possible to formulate the types of crimes, reduce them to criminal codes, determine the forms and methods of crimes, and shape a valuable theoretical background. However, due to the specificity of each of these disciplines, they cannot address the issue of crime in general. Therefore, their gradual development has led to the emergence of a special science that studies crime as a phenomenon existing in society. This is criminology that cannot be separated from many social theories due to its inextricable connection with certain concepts and phenomena about the principles of human behavior, interpersonal communication, and other aspects of human existence. This work aims to present criminology from a social science perspective, present the key theories that overlap across various disciplines, and prove the contiguity of individual approaches to addressing the current challenges and preventing crime.
Belonging to Social Sciences
Criminology cannot be attributed only to legal sciences since it is based on no special legal branch. According to Pridemore et al. (2018), this discipline is a socio-legal theoretical and applied discipline that studies crime as a social phenomenon, the essence and forms of its manifestation, as well as its laws. The reasons and determinants that explain the essence of crime and the motives that induce individuals to defy the law cannot be analyzed without reference to other areas of knowledge, for instance, psychology or sociology. The personalities of those who commit crimes are assessed in a variety of contexts, including demographic characteristics. The development of a system of crime prevention measures, in turn, is impossible without a preliminary assessment and comparison of current social norms and foundations because any restrictions are a consequence of specific preventive rules. Moreover, as Nagin and Sampson (2019) argue, this science is characterized by causal relationships, which is a feature of social research. Therefore, criminology can be presented as a social discipline that uses the existing legal framework for the implementation of the tasks set to detect and prevent crime manifestations.
Many regulations, recommendations, and conclusions of criminology are of a legal nature since they are based on the norms of criminal, executive, procedural, and administrative legislative rules. Thus, in the system of social sciences, criminology can be located at the intersection of sociology and jurisprudence. According to Nagin and Sampson (2019), criminological research is often based on searching for relationships and justifications for specific assumptions or the proof of hypotheses, which are also frequent study methods in social disciplines. Criminology refers to jurisprudence since the phenomena it analyzes are characterized by the legal concepts of a crime or a subject of a crime, depending on the task set. The causes and conditions of crime, in turn, are largely associated with defects in legal consciousness or legal psychology, and some humanitarian disciplines aim to study the specifics of human behavior and motives. In addition, as McClanahan and South (2019) note, the study of crime as a general phenomenon, the causes of crime, the personality of the offender, and crime prevention measures fall within the scope of sociology. Therefore, criminology cannot be called an exclusively legal science due to its sociological background.
Criminological Theories Overlapping with Social Sciences
In addition to general background, theoretically, criminology and social sciences have common interpretations from the standpoint of individual concepts. Some authors cite different models used in criminology, which, in turn, have a pronounced social connotation (Cohen, 2017). These theories can be applied not only to aspects of crime and criminal or administrative responsibility but also in a more general context. The analysis of such concepts can confirm the social nature of criminology.
One of the related concepts is the theory of social justice that is applicable both to the provisions of criminal law and to universal human social values. This model is based on the concept of natural human rights – the rights to life, freedom, and property. According to Cohen (2017), by following this theory, on the one hand, a person should be given what one deserves, including the offender, and a punishment commensurate with the act should be imposed. On the other hand, an innocent citizen needs protection from criminal encroachments and security, which can be realized through the assessment of the violation of rights (Cohen, 2017). This principle serves as an effective tool to determine the degree of guilt and, at the same time, shapes the basis of interpersonal relationships in society.
Another theory that proves that criminology may be considered one of the social sciences is the concept of free will. As Paternoster (2017) states, this concept assumes that the crime committed by a person, as well as a person’s behavior in general, is the result of one’s choice. The main causal factor in crime is based on the principle of an individual’s free will. A crime is a deliberate and purposeful act, and each offender assesses the likelihood of one’s arrest, conviction, and punishment, including the estimated severity of this punishment. As a result of the influence of these negative circumstances, an antisocial attitude of the personality is formed. Countermeasures against crime are the identification and elimination of negative circumstances that shape specific deviant behavioral patterns.
The social disorganization theory is a concept that finds its application in criminology and, at the same time, explains specific behavioral motives in a social context. According to Liu (2020), this model proceeds from the impossibility or unwillingness of certain individuals or groups to function monolithically in a variety of life situations caused by urbanization, migration, and other unfavorable factors. The lack of cohesion leads to a state of anomie and social disorganization. As Barnes et al. (2019) note, human behavior, as a variable that is studied in different sciences, can be viewed through the prism of statistics. As a result, different cases of deviant behavior are taken in numerical data, which is typical in many social sciences, and concrete ratios can be drawn up, thereby creating a general picture of social behavior. Cohen (2017) argues that “the working class and racial minorities are doubly vulnerable not just to crimes of the powerful but also to predatory street crimes” (p. 246). Thus, one can draw a parallel between criminal behavior and social status, which confirms the connection of criminology with other sciences and its strong sociological background.
While taking into account the diversity of theories, one can note that criminology can have individual research nuances and analytical tools, but in general, the social implications of most of the models are obvious. The evaluation of any concept implies that the main object of discussion is the individual as a social subject exhibiting specific behavioral traits and demonstrating personal motives under different impacts. Therefore, criminology can be viewed from the perspective of social sciences due to this close relationship.
Preventive Social Measures in Criminology
The listed directions of the development of criminology do not exhaust all its branches. At the same time, they show that studying the causes of crime and the development of measures to prevent it is a significant, complex, and multi-level process. The emergence of modern criminological concepts and approaches is greatly influenced by criminal sociology which provides multi-level empirical information and creates a fertile ground for the formation of new directions and schools (McClanahan & South, 2019). Moreover, such new accents contribute to maintaining effective legal regulation and creating preventive activities within the framework of existing knowledge about the social nature of humans. Fighting deviant behavior, addressing the problem of poverty, controlling individual social communities, and some other measures are valuable solutions to address the existing difficulties. Thus, by using approaches from sociology and the psychology of the individual, criminologists can develop theoretical and practical methods for their discipline, which confirms the aforementioned relationship.
Conclusion
Considering criminology from the perspective of social science, one can find many common approaches and concepts that prove the contiguity of different spheres. Modern criminological theories are largely based on social and psychological concepts about the behavior and personality of the offender, as well as one’s motives and incentives. The conducted research confirms the proposed relationship and provides arguments in favor of the use of specific preventive social measures to overcome modern challenges and address the gaps to reduce crime. The findings prove that from a theoretical standpoint, many sciences intersect. Further research may be devoted to studying the practical relationship between criminology and social disciplines.
References
Barnes, J. C., TenEyck, M. F., Pratt, T. C., & Cullen, F. T. (2019). How powerful is the evidence in criminology? On whether we should fear a coming crisis of confidence. Justice Quarterly, 37(3), 383-409.
Cohen, S. (2017). Against criminology. Routledge.
Liu, L. (2020). Family, parochial, and public levels of social control and recidivism: An extension of the systemic model of social disorganization. Crime & Delinquency, 66(6-7), 864-886.
McClanahan, B., & South, N. (2019). ‘All knowledge begins with the senses’: Towards sensory criminology. The British Journal of Criminology, 60(1), 3-23.
Nagin, D. S., & Sampson, R. J. (2019). The real gold standard: Measuring counterfactual worlds that matter most to social science and policy. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 123-145.
Paternoster, R. (2017). Happenings acts, and actions: Articulating the meaning and implications of human agency for criminology.Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 3(4), 350-372.
Pridemore, W. A., Makel, M. C., & Plucker, J. A. (2018). Replication in criminology and the social sciences. Annual Review of Criminology, 1, 19-38.