Criminology and the Police
| Author | R. F. Lunney |
| Published date | 01 September 1961 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6103400505 |
| Date | 01 September 1961 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CONSTABLE
R.
F.
LUNNEY
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The subject
of
the Queen's Police Gold Medal Essay Competition for
1960
was"
CRIMINOLOGY: What contribution should be made
by the Police to research and study in this
field?"
We congratulate
Constable Lunney on being awarded the first prize and are happy
to publish his essay.
~riminology
and
the
Police
Criminology
Criminology is a modern term used to describe the scientific
inquiry into the whole problem of crime and its treatment in society.
Scientists working in this field are engaged in a comprehensive study
of crime, drawing their material from history, climatology, sociology
and law, as well as psychology, anthropology and social ethics. One
aim of criminology is to discover the personal or social factors which
determine criminal misconduct. Here the criminologist is less con-
cerned with the identification and description of the individual
offender, than with the understanding of his personality, giving
special emphasis to the causes of his misbehaviour. The criminal
himself is considered from all points of view, his heritage, his physi-
cal and mental defects, and his peculiar criminal psychology.
It
is
also necessary to obtain and accurately assess full and precise inform-
ation regarding the manner and extent to which environmental
circumstances have affected him. The offender is then classified as
a member of a criminal group, based on causative factors. Such
classification brings the criminologist a step closer to identifying the
causes of crime in society. Another goal of criminology is to estab-
lish a rationale of punishment or of other treatment of the delinquent
by the study of the effectiveness and social utility of the machinery
of criminal justice, ranging from the police and courts to prisons,
the death penalty, and all the moderndevices of probationand parole.
The aim in treatment is to deter people from committing crimes, and
to rehabilitate those already found guilty. A comprehensive study
of the personality of the offender is also a necessity for research in
this branch.
The Police Contribution
The criminologist may call on the aid of the psychologist, the
psychiatrist, and others in the medical field to aid in his research.
The fields of social work and parole and probation services are also
September-October 332
To continue reading
Request your trial