The criminology It is a scientific discipline that, in an interdisciplinary way, covers the phenomenon of crime. The main objects of study are: delinquency, crime, the offender, the victim and the means of social control. Among all the purposes that this science offers, the main ones are crime prevention, the reduction of antisocial behavior and the reparation of the victim.
Being a science that baby from different disciplines, their study includes areas of psychology, sociology, legal and forensic medicine, law, anthropology and statistics, among others. Even so, it must be clear that it remains an autonomous science with specific objects of study but with an enriched perspective through different branches of study.
Within this science we also find different branches:
- Victimology
- Criminalistics
- Criminal psychology
- Environmental criminology
Among many others. The main professional opportunities for criminologists would cover both the private and public sectors in penitentiary, judicial, private security, police, victimological, social fields… It is a science with a great future but unfortunately at present it is still quite recent. .
The criminology is an auxiliary discipline of Criminal Law and Forensic Science that seeks as purpose of discovering who and how a crime was committed. To do this, they use very diverse scientific techniques and procedures. In short, unlike criminology, it seeks the recognition, collection, identification, individualization and interpretation of physical evidence in a crime as well as the application of natural sciences in the legal world. It is often called an applied science.
As we see, the differences between the two are quite noticeable, despite being similar terms, their application and concepts are different. Many people still confuse them so it is important to differentiate them.
After seeing what criminology is and what criminology is, we can perceive that being a criminologist and a criminologist are not the same. But how exactly are criminology and criminalistics different?
Below we will see the 9 differences between criminology and criminology:
1. Its scientific classification
Criminology is a social science while criminology is a natural Science. The research used by criminology is social while by criminalistics it is based on biology, chemistry, physics…
2. The object of study
Another difference between criminology and criminology is what they study and investigate. Criminology studies crime as a individualized event and analyzes it through the application of natural sciences in legal sciences using evidence that is collected and analyzed with the support of medicine, toxicology, biology…
On the other hand, criminology studies patterns of behavior, crime prevention, consequences that different types of crime can have on society… Covers crime completely as well as the victim, the offender, reintegration, prevention…
3. The legal aspect
One of the big differences is that criminology scientifically studies non-legal aspects of crime, thus including its causes and consequences and seeking possible solutions to criminal behavior. It is preventive and helps when formulating laws to adopt the best prevention measures.
Criminalistics, on the other hand, seeks to determine the possible person responsible for the crime and have the corresponding laws applied to them. It is linked, in the criminal field, to repressive actions against the perpetrator of the crime, seeking clues and clarifying the facts.
4. The investigative process
Criminology studies much more at a theoretical level and relies on different theories to seek solutions and explanations as well as on scientific field and statistical studies.
In criminology, the investigation process is different, it is on a practical level since he examines evidence, recreates scenes, is in charge of preparing memories to present in court…
5. How and why
Another aspect in which criminology and criminology differ is in the questions they raise and aim to resolve.
Criminology would answer the questions of:
- How did the crime happen?
- Who did it and when?
While criminology would respond to:
- Why has it happened?
- What are the causes and consequences?
6. The careers to be performed
Within criminology there are careers that work in governmental areas, courts, public services, police services, penitentiaries… An area where a criminologist can also develop with complementary studies and which is increasingly working is in Criminal Mediation. The criminologist can also prepare his own Criminological Expert Reports with which to advise in the judicial field in the same way that a psychologist does, for example. Here you can see.
On the other hand, in criminology, professionals develop in departments of police, in hospitals and laboratories. Within this branch you can develop other careers such as: forensic scientist, crime scene examiner, laboratory analyst…
7. The origins
On the one hand, criminology comes from the ancient practice of fingerprinting and was best developed during the 17th century. when doctors began to enter into legal proceedings and forensic medicine took a greater place.
On the other hand, criminology is a social science that draws on other disciplines such as sociology or philosophy, since the 12th century through Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas… The idea of searching for the causes of the crime was raised. Nowadays this science has become much more consolidated.
8. The relationship with the law
Criminology focuses on criminal law although it also addresses constitutional and penitentiary law, analyzing it and uniting it with different disciplines.
Criminology is rather an auxiliary branch of criminal law and even law in general.
9. Purpose
Finally, criminology and criminalistics also differ in their main objective. In criminology the main purpose is to know the causes and reasons of criminal behavior at a general level in order to prevent it, among other things.
Criminalistics, on the other hand, seeks to find, investigate and verify evidence of a crime specifically to present them to justice and discover the author.