The Nature and Scope of Criminology
| Author | M. Grunhut |
| Published date | 01 January 1959 |
| Date | 01 January 1959 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X5903200103 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DR.
M.
GRUNHUT,M.A.
Reader in Criminology, University of Oxford
The
Nature
and
Seope
of
Criminology
CRIMINOLOGY is a scientific study of the amount, forms and causes
of crime and of the penal and corrective treatment of offenders.
It
is an empirical study, since its results are not based on theoretical
assumptions, but on observations and experience. Its aims are prac-
tical, as it is expected to lead to improved methods of preventing
crime and of leading offenders to a law-abiding life in the com-
munity. At present, while we are faced with a rising tide of crime
and an increasing prison population, there is a growing interest in
criminological research.
The
Home Secretary frequently refers to
the help he expects from the results of current criminological
investigations, the Home Office has recently set up its own
Criminological Research Unit, and an Institute of Criminology will
be opened in the near future at the University of Cambridge. More
and more Universities offer lectures on Criminology and facilities
for criminological research.
The two principal sources of Criminology today are Criminal
Statistics and social case studies.
For
obvious reasons no Criminal
Statistics represent the full amount of crimes committed, but they
can be, in the words of an experienced statistician, a useful index
of the trend of crime in general, and of certain types of offences in
particular, within a number of years. English Criminal Statistics
have made considerable progress in recent years both in the colla-
tion and the presentation of data, and they have earned a high
reputation abroad. They show a general picture of the crime situa-
tion today. Crime in England, as in many other countries, has been
more prevalent after than before the war and has risen further in
the immediate post-war years. While the curve of crime went down
in 1952-55, a new upward trend began in 1956-57.
The
great bulk
of crime, as every practitioner in the field of the administration of
criminal justice knows, consists of acts of dishonesty. Statistics show
that throughout the years the rise of offences against property
occurred through certain peaks and troughs. At the same time, the
much smaller number of acts of personal violence and of sexual
offences increased more steeply and more steadily. While the in-
crease in criminal activities in the immediate post-war years
occurred very much among juveniles between 8 and 16, a charac-
January-March 1959 7
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