Criminology is a legal science with a social profile, with application in everything concerning the prevention of delinquency and crime. It applies the methods of science for the discovery, investigation, and interpretation of the external and internal factors that result in crime at any level.
Criminology- An Introduction
In its structure, it has four important levels, one of them is Clinical Criminology, also called Applied Criminology, or as Professor Ernesto Pérez González prefers to name it: a small format, which has as its social purpose the application of criminological objectives to the process. Criminal, that is, individualizes the investigation.
From this perspective, Criminology is no longer a theoretical science, doctrine, and concept since it proactively intervenes in the investigative processes of crimes, uses an interdisciplinary system, and positively impacts the processes. Hence, Criminology is linked to the scientific-social history of humanity, so its origin, advances, and perspectives are linked, depend on, and reflect the knowledge and work of man.
The Essence of Criminology in Pakistan
The study of social and psychological factors that cause people to commit crimes and investigate which rehabilitation approaches work and which do not. They work to develop a society that is less prone or susceptible to criminal acts. Since its inception, crime investigation has undergone unavoidable changes determined by the level of cultural development that societies have acquired and the consolidation of scientific research methods.
A fundamental premise in the investigation is that: in matters so close to something socially as conflictive as crime, the criteria, whether general or specific, will not always be – much less have been – unanimous, and this sometimes demands analysis from each researcher critical and profound. For the psychologist or psychiatrist, this is not a new dilemma. Precisely in the sciences, some dissimilar schools and tendencies try to elaborate or adapt the definitions of human subjectivity, its broad categories, explanations, and disorders, to the most varied points of view.
The confrontation with a crime does not admit errors and requires a high professional level from all researchers and experts, especially from medical examiners and criminal experts, for which quality of expertise is demanded, and this is defined as a procedural activity developed, by judicial order, by persons other than the parties in the process, specially qualified by their technical, artistic or scientific knowledge, through which arguments or reasons are supplied to the judge for the formation of their conviction regarding the facts.
Study Objectives and Application Levels
In the field of study of Criminology, crime, modus, punishment, the offender, criminality, institutional social reaction, the cost of crime, the victim, and preventive programs.
Various levels of reading or application of Criminology
- Scientist (body of knowledge and theory about crime)
- Applied (contributions of criminology to science and criminal proceedings)
- Academic
- Analytical (aimed at analysing criminal policy)
How to become a Criminologist?
People interested in becoming criminologists typically pursue at least a master’s degree in the field. You can start with a bachelor’s degree in criminology, psychology, or sociology. Criminologists must also understand laws and law enforcement procedures, so they can take criminal justice courses as well.
The academic training of a criminologist is quite difficult, though. It may take another three to six years to earn a PhD for those interested in applied research or teaching at the university level.
Criminology around the fields
Criminology cannot assume these concepts of crime as absolute; its legal, scientific autonomy, the very determination of its object, can critically study why certain conduct is considered a crime or why not.
Criminal Law uses a formal and normative concept of crime, imposed by inescapable requirements of legality and legal security: crime is all conduct provided for in criminal law and only that which the law sanctions, but it also only is and can be dealt with when the conduct that characterizes it in the penal code has occurred.
For psychologists and psychiatrists, the study of the individual subject is recurrent. If you work for the penal system, requesting the individual study of subjects within a prior criminal process is common.
Due to the existence of “high impact” criminological problems and results linked to the high levels of society and even to the community of nations, there are no more problems, also criminological, that are limited to individuals or small groups, the solution of which is necessary. And important, for example, when dealing with the individualization of the sentence.
Types of Crime
- False imprisonment.
- Homicide: crimes such as manslaughter in the first and second degree, involuntary manslaughter, and vehicular manslaughter.
- Rape, rape, sexual assault, and other crimes of a sexual nature.
- Clinical criminology and scientific research
In any case, there are two essential criminological questions to be answered when analysing a criminal.
- Who is the individual who commits the crime?
- What response should be given to their behaviour?
It could be doubted whether the results of the typical application can be obtained from a set of individual studies with clinical criminological objectives. The element to consider is whether the group studied was homogeneous and to what degree, by random or population, it is representative of a sector in which a certain crime is manifested.
Criminology as a Bachelor’s or a Bachelor’s degree
A person with a degree in criminology can have a wide range of opportunities in criminal justice agencies, social work and community, and education departments as a prison officer, criminal psychologist, and more.
It is normal for students to be double-minded about a bachelor’s or bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. A Bachelor of Arts is usually less specialized than a Bachelor of Science. On the other hand, the Bachelor of Science is technical and scientific.
Criminology in Pakistan as a Career
Criminology has a reliable, professional scope. Studying Criminology can not only help solve crimes, but it can also help prevent them in the first place. By leveraging investigative, analytical, and reasoning skills, criminal justice professionals armed with a degree in Criminology will always need to stay mentally sharp in the execution of their duties.
After specializing in Criminology, one has illustrious career opportunities and that too with high salary packages. A graduate can expect to work in the public and private sectors, such as the State Police, Central Police, FBI, CBI, NGOs, human rights agencies, medical hospitals, etc. Furthermore, it is one of the elective subjects of the prestigious CSS exams.
Job Prospects
These are the highest-paying jobs you can get with a criminal justice degree.
- Financial examiners.
- University professor.
- Forensic Science Technician.
- Community Probation and Control Officer.
- Loss prevention specialist.
- Security managers.
- Customs officers.
- Police officers.
- Corrections Administrators.
- Fire investigators.
Conclusion
The scope of criminology in Pakistan is luminous. The application of criminological investigations in current forensic investigations does not constitute another procedure within the criminal process. Integrating academic and scientific doctrinal criminological knowledge into the application of complementary investigations is necessary. That provides quality to the criminal process.
