Question: Devide the differences and the relationship between Criminology and Criminal law as points structure

Criminology and Criminal Law

Criminology is a discipline which analyses and gathers the data of crime and criminal behaviour. The word, ology in criminology stands for study. The basic aim of criminology is to assess the very nature of the crime, statistics of crime, criminal behaviour that motivates the person to commit a crime and prevention of crimes. Criminology is a very fascinating subject that includes the scientific principles to assess criminal behaviour and psychology behind it. It also deals with the sociological aspects of crime and also explains the reason behind the occurrence of crimes in our society.

Criminology basically is specified into three further branches. These are Sociology which deals with the social aspect of the crimes, criminal aetiology which deals with the causation of crimes and penology which deals with the mechanism of prevention of crimes. The objective of criminology is to provide a codified, organised and structural subject that will try to find the cause of crimes and will ultimately provide ways and remedies on how the crimes can be reduced or eradicated.

Criminology is basically regarded as art or social science because unlike science it does not work on coded or universally defined principles. There is not any proper theory which can be given regarding criminology.

Criminal law, on the other hand, is basically a subset of principles or legally defined guidelines or code of law which are passed by the political authority of any country and which applies equally to all the members of the society without any prejudicial differences which are enforced by the punishment and which aim to prevent the criminal tendencies that are prevalent in our community. These are general penal sanctions which deter any person to commit any sort of crime. They are just systematic coding principles. The difference between criminal law and other laws are not clear cut. Criminal law defines what can be constituted as crime and thereby prohibits such types of acts. If anyone is guilty of committing such forbidden acts then appropriate penal sanctions are given in the criminal statute. There are various sorts of punishments which are given in the criminal law. Violators of principles given in the criminal statute of any country can be compelled to give hefty fines and have to suffer appropriate punishments too. Crime is anything which is forbidden by the appropriate criminal statute of any country.

The very basic principles on which any criminal statute works is the evidence. Evidence is the source for proving any criminal offence. It is the very basic foundation to establish any criminal offence. Each state has its own criminal code and procedure in the United States of America.

Difference between Criminology and Criminal Law

Criminology is the study of crimes and other aspects related to it while criminal justice is the application of criminology. The criminal justice system is not one authority. It comprises various multi dictionary units that operate from ground level to the upper elite level. Criminal law seeks to find the causes of crime, enforce laws, investigate the crime, punishes the offenders and provides justice to those who are victims. It also seeks to rehabilitate offenders. A forensic science

expert who generally applies forensic science to trace the culprit, he is said to be an expert in both the criminal law and in criminology because he studies and observes the criminal behaviour and also investigates regarding crime-related aspects.

Criminal law and criminology both are related to each other. They both are interlinked. Both criminal law and criminology are required for lawyers and law enforcement agencies who deal with the psychology of criminals and various aspects related to crimes. Criminologists basically focus on the pattern, behaviour and sociological aspects of crimes. They tend to observe the patterns in criminal behaviour.

Criminal justice is an established legal system which investigates crimes, arrests criminals, detains them and prosecutes the guilty ones. Criminal law is directly interlinked to law enforcement agencies because their primary work is to detect the crimes and arrest the people who are suspected of committing any offence. Criminology, on the other hand, is the detailed study of the root cause of the crimes, its origin and also the psychological tendencies of a criminal and the effect of crimes on society and on various parameters.

Criminal law and criminology are the masters of their own respective domains. They have their own specific niche. Criminal law is associated with the judicial and criminal justice system, juvenile justice system, law enforcement agencies and with correctional institutions such as prisons and rehabilitation centres. The main objective of the criminal law is to arrest the criminals and to provide justice to the justice seekers. It works on a fixed principle.

Criminology is a whole other discipline which seeks to explore the crime and its tendencies from the grass-root level. It not only studies criminal tendencies but also studies the direct effects of crimes on society. It also seeks to study the efficacy of punishment and rehabilitation facilities.

The relation between Criminology and Criminal Law

As I have already depicted in the former part of my article that criminal law and criminology both play a crucial role in the detection and investigation of crimes. Both are connected and heavily depend on each other to complete each others meanings. Criminal law is the study of already established, formulated legal sets of legal principles. These formulated principles are formed upon the basis of studies and statistics which have been gathered by the criminologists over a period of time. The criminal justice system has been heavily influenced by criminology. It has played a major role in advancing many principles of criminal laws.

The objective of criminology is the development of universal formulated sets of principles and definitions regarding crimes, investigation of crimes, treatment of criminals and prevention of crimes. Criminology is also as old as the criminal justice system and it is usually the critique of the law. Criminology does not focus on the criminal justice system and other principles related to criminal law, rather it takes a critical approach on law and how it is used. It places less emphasis on principles related to criminal law and justice. The relation between criminology and criminal law is inexplicable. They generally overlap and overshadow each others functions.