CRIMINOLOGY
Chapters 15 & 16
Chapter 15
Introduction
- Van der Hoven stated that forensic criminology allows the criminologist to provide information to the courts
o Motives
o Cause
o Possible future prevention of criminal behaviour
- Forensic criminology = criminologist being an expert in the court
- However, the significance of the forensic criminologist in the criminal justice system has not been explored
o Reason
▪ Courts are unfamiliar with criminology as a science
o However
▪ Services of criminologist as expert witnesses in serious cases such as crimes of violence
should be used by the judicial system
o Criminologists still do not feature
Definitions
Criminology
- Studies
o Crime
o Criminals
o Victims
o Punishment
o Prevention and control of crime
- Role of criminologist
o Study crime
o To interpret and explain crime
Applied criminology
- When theory is put into action
Forensic criminology
- Type of applied criminology involving the scientific study of crime and criminals for the purpose of addressing
investigative and legal questions
- Thus when applied criminology is put to use in our criminal justice system can be defined as forensic
criminology
Correctional assessment phase
- Stage where criminologists presents similar aspects to those in the pre-sentence report including any relevant
aspects (personal, family and social background) associated with the offender’s behaviour pecurosrs, triggers,
causes and motives of crimes, offender characteristics and influences) that may determine the offender’s
personal needs, risks and responsiveness
Corrections phase
- Stage where the criminologist is effectively used in a multi-disciplinary team within the correctional
environment
- A multi-disciplinary team (criminologists and other experts) should always be sensitive and characteristics in
offenders such as must be taken in account
o Ethnic differences
o Religious denomination
o Political stance
1
,Expert witness
- Witness who gives evidence designed to assist the court based on witness’s specialised training, study or
experience
Victim impact statement
- Report prepared by a criminologist to present an individualised, objective view of the victim to the court with
regard to the impact of the crime
Origin of Criminology
Bartol & Bartol
- Multi-disciplinary origin within sciences of
o Medicine
o Psychiatry
o Criminal anthropology
- Many disciplines are involved in the collection of knowledge about criminal action including
o Psychology
o Sociology
o Psychiatry
o Anthropology
o Criminal anthropology
o Biology
o Neurology
o Political science
o Economics
Physiognomy
Wolfgang
- Physical
- Identifies the origin from
appearance
o the early work of Della Porta and Lavater regarding physiognomy
o Gall and Spurzheim
o Others in field of phrenology Phrenology
- While studies did not focus directly on criminal behaviour - Study of shape and
o Did occasionally make reference to the criminal size of cranium
Focus all formed the early development of criminology
- The research of Pinel, Esquirol, Rush, Prichard, Ray and Maudsley
o On moral insanity
- The research of Despine and Morel
o On morel degeneracy
- The research as to Lombroso’s contribution on the born criminal and criminal types
Contemporary American criminology originates from work of
- Guerry
- Quetelet
- De Champneuf
o Of the cartographic school of the 19th century
- Tarde’s law of imitation
- Durkheim’s sociological determinism
- Environmental approaches of
o Ferri
o Garofalo
o Colajanni
“from medicine, clinical psychiatry and anthropology, as well as from ‘political arithmetic’ and positivistic attempts at
societal reconstruction developed the sympodial branches of criminology that today appear to be emerging as an
independent discipline”
2
, Turvey and Petherick
- Refer to Cesare Lombroso
o The father of criminology
o Did foundational research regarding criminal physical and psychological typologies
o His theories stemmed from the perspective of criminal anthropology and psychiatry
o Based work of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection
- Gross work provides an unequivocal foundation for general crime investigation and the scientific examination
of physical science
- Criminology owes its existence to diverse convergence of professionals that attempted to join and then
ultimately fractured
o It deals with the social and functional origins of
▪ Law
▪ Etiology
▪ Patterns of criminal behaviour
▪ Social responses to crimes and deviance
▪ The control of criminal behaviour
- Criminology is academic and applied by
o Legislators
o Law enforcement
o Officers
o Prosecutors
o Judicial officials
o Judiciary
o Correctional professionals
- Criminology takes on forensic nature when criminological knowledge is applied in criminal and civil courts in
decision making regarding cases
- Criminology originated from the need to examine particular cases
o “Requiring those involved to bring all the science could bear in its understanding”
▪ By
• gathering knowledge
• determining scientific facts
• answering questions
Lombroso
- Also developed a classification system for criminal behaviour and subspecialties of criminalistics and criminal
profiling
Tibbetts
- Lombroso
o The first attempt towards scientific theory in criminological thought Criminalistics
- The analysis of
Origin of forensic criminology physical evidence
- Sherlock Holmes from a crime scene
o Referred to as Pioneer in Forensic Science and crime scene
o His scientific approach was portrayed in popular stories investigations
o 1886/7
▪ Scientific criminal investigation
o Doyle depicted Holmes using investigative methods years before they were adopted by official police
forces in Britain and America – O’Brien
o This and other stories where scientific investigative methods are referred to confuse scholars
between what forensic criminalistics entails and what forensic encapsulates
- The first academic reference to forensic criminology appeared in the US in book Forensic
o Crime’s Nemesis by Luke May in 1936 - Focus of
▪ Referred to scientific detection of crime and criminals behaviour of
• Coming from the combined perspectives of criminals
o physical evidence analysis and
o criminal modus operandi analysis – Turvey and Petherick processes of
CJS
3
Chapters 15 & 16
Chapter 15
Introduction
- Van der Hoven stated that forensic criminology allows the criminologist to provide information to the courts
o Motives
o Cause
o Possible future prevention of criminal behaviour
- Forensic criminology = criminologist being an expert in the court
- However, the significance of the forensic criminologist in the criminal justice system has not been explored
o Reason
▪ Courts are unfamiliar with criminology as a science
o However
▪ Services of criminologist as expert witnesses in serious cases such as crimes of violence
should be used by the judicial system
o Criminologists still do not feature
Definitions
Criminology
- Studies
o Crime
o Criminals
o Victims
o Punishment
o Prevention and control of crime
- Role of criminologist
o Study crime
o To interpret and explain crime
Applied criminology
- When theory is put into action
Forensic criminology
- Type of applied criminology involving the scientific study of crime and criminals for the purpose of addressing
investigative and legal questions
- Thus when applied criminology is put to use in our criminal justice system can be defined as forensic
criminology
Correctional assessment phase
- Stage where criminologists presents similar aspects to those in the pre-sentence report including any relevant
aspects (personal, family and social background) associated with the offender’s behaviour pecurosrs, triggers,
causes and motives of crimes, offender characteristics and influences) that may determine the offender’s
personal needs, risks and responsiveness
Corrections phase
- Stage where the criminologist is effectively used in a multi-disciplinary team within the correctional
environment
- A multi-disciplinary team (criminologists and other experts) should always be sensitive and characteristics in
offenders such as must be taken in account
o Ethnic differences
o Religious denomination
o Political stance
1
,Expert witness
- Witness who gives evidence designed to assist the court based on witness’s specialised training, study or
experience
Victim impact statement
- Report prepared by a criminologist to present an individualised, objective view of the victim to the court with
regard to the impact of the crime
Origin of Criminology
Bartol & Bartol
- Multi-disciplinary origin within sciences of
o Medicine
o Psychiatry
o Criminal anthropology
- Many disciplines are involved in the collection of knowledge about criminal action including
o Psychology
o Sociology
o Psychiatry
o Anthropology
o Criminal anthropology
o Biology
o Neurology
o Political science
o Economics
Physiognomy
Wolfgang
- Physical
- Identifies the origin from
appearance
o the early work of Della Porta and Lavater regarding physiognomy
o Gall and Spurzheim
o Others in field of phrenology Phrenology
- While studies did not focus directly on criminal behaviour - Study of shape and
o Did occasionally make reference to the criminal size of cranium
Focus all formed the early development of criminology
- The research of Pinel, Esquirol, Rush, Prichard, Ray and Maudsley
o On moral insanity
- The research of Despine and Morel
o On morel degeneracy
- The research as to Lombroso’s contribution on the born criminal and criminal types
Contemporary American criminology originates from work of
- Guerry
- Quetelet
- De Champneuf
o Of the cartographic school of the 19th century
- Tarde’s law of imitation
- Durkheim’s sociological determinism
- Environmental approaches of
o Ferri
o Garofalo
o Colajanni
“from medicine, clinical psychiatry and anthropology, as well as from ‘political arithmetic’ and positivistic attempts at
societal reconstruction developed the sympodial branches of criminology that today appear to be emerging as an
independent discipline”
2
, Turvey and Petherick
- Refer to Cesare Lombroso
o The father of criminology
o Did foundational research regarding criminal physical and psychological typologies
o His theories stemmed from the perspective of criminal anthropology and psychiatry
o Based work of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection
- Gross work provides an unequivocal foundation for general crime investigation and the scientific examination
of physical science
- Criminology owes its existence to diverse convergence of professionals that attempted to join and then
ultimately fractured
o It deals with the social and functional origins of
▪ Law
▪ Etiology
▪ Patterns of criminal behaviour
▪ Social responses to crimes and deviance
▪ The control of criminal behaviour
- Criminology is academic and applied by
o Legislators
o Law enforcement
o Officers
o Prosecutors
o Judicial officials
o Judiciary
o Correctional professionals
- Criminology takes on forensic nature when criminological knowledge is applied in criminal and civil courts in
decision making regarding cases
- Criminology originated from the need to examine particular cases
o “Requiring those involved to bring all the science could bear in its understanding”
▪ By
• gathering knowledge
• determining scientific facts
• answering questions
Lombroso
- Also developed a classification system for criminal behaviour and subspecialties of criminalistics and criminal
profiling
Tibbetts
- Lombroso
o The first attempt towards scientific theory in criminological thought Criminalistics
- The analysis of
Origin of forensic criminology physical evidence
- Sherlock Holmes from a crime scene
o Referred to as Pioneer in Forensic Science and crime scene
o His scientific approach was portrayed in popular stories investigations
o 1886/7
▪ Scientific criminal investigation
o Doyle depicted Holmes using investigative methods years before they were adopted by official police
forces in Britain and America – O’Brien
o This and other stories where scientific investigative methods are referred to confuse scholars
between what forensic criminalistics entails and what forensic encapsulates
- The first academic reference to forensic criminology appeared in the US in book Forensic
o Crime’s Nemesis by Luke May in 1936 - Focus of
▪ Referred to scientific detection of crime and criminals behaviour of
• Coming from the combined perspectives of criminals
o physical evidence analysis and
o criminal modus operandi analysis – Turvey and Petherick processes of
CJS
3
