Goals of Criminology
The classical criminologists of the 18th century were primarily concerned with ending brutality and inequality against criminals by enforcing limitations on government power. They believed that criminal behavior was the product of the offender’s rational choice, and that crime could be prevented through the speedy and certain application of penalties that attached painful and unattractive consequences to such behavior. Beginning in the era of modern criminology, the emphasis of the discipline shifted. Criminologists sought to develop theories to explain why crime occurred. They no longer relied as strongly on explanations of crime based on the offender’s rational choice. Instead, they attributed criminal behavior to the motivation to commit crime and the social context that allows people to pursue criminal inclinations.
Contemporary scholars believe that criminal motivation is the product of one or more of a complex set of factors. These factors are so numerous and so varied that no system of classification can describe the current theories of crime causation with complete accuracy. However, broadly speaking these theories may be considered in one of the following three categories: (1) theories attributing criminal behavior to biological or congenital (inherited) defects of the offender, (2) theories relating crime to psychological factors or mental disorders, and (3) theories relating crime to environmental or social factors. Many criminologists have suggested theories of multiple causation involving factors from more than one of these categories.
Source: “Criminology,”Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000
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