Essay on The History of Criminolgy
The topic selected for conducting a research is The History of Criminology. This topic has been selected to study because it is an interesting topic, which encompasses a variety of issues to be analyzed and discussed. The history of criminology stands for the history of science and practice, which plays a crucial role in the study of different aspects of criminology. The topic needs to be researched to better understand the nature of criminology and the functioning of criminologists in different periods of time.
Moreover, the topic The History of Criminology needs to be researched to address a wide range of problems and challenges that exist in today’s field of criminology. In recent years, much has been done to conduct a research regarding the major causes and consequences of crime, but the origins of this type of research date back to the eighteenth- nineteenth centuries. According to Garland and Sparks (2000), “contemporary criminology inhabits a rapidly changing world”(p. 189). The character of criminology is changing because of considerable changes in social life and political, economic and cultural environments. These changes are reflected in “crime rates, crime policy and in the practices of policing, prevention and punishment” (Garland & Sparks, 2000, p. 189).
Analyzing the topic, it is necessary to refer to the major issues that should be discussed in the research. The history of criminology highlights the role of crime and punishment in modern society, identifying the nature of crime issues that are connected with the daily routines of people, their emotional and cultural lives. In general, the field of criminology requires a “sense of its own history” (Laub, 2004). It is necessary to develop and apply the key concepts of the life-course perspective to the development of criminology as an academic discipline. The research will be focused on analyzing criminology in the U.S. over the last 100 years. Special attention should be paid to the key life-course phases in the development of criminology, as well as to the major turning points in this field. The history of criminology can help to realize the ideas regarding crime issues.
The intended outcome of the research should address a variety of problems and challenges that exists in our society today and affect criminology. According to researchers, “criminology, is its broadest sense, consists of our organized ways of thinking and talking about crime, criminals and crime control” (Garland & Sparks, 2000, p. 192). The research will help to enhance understanding of contemporary criminology.
The qualitative approach will be taken in conducting the research. The qualitative research approach requires the use of research questions as the basis of research. Thus, the actions will be aimed at setting the research questions and reviewing literature to find the answers to these questions, and providing long-term observation or participation in the real situations and settings. The two major research questions that will be discussed in the research include: “How the history of criminology can help to address the major problems and challenges in the field today?” and “Why the history of criminology is effective in the practices of policing, prevention and punishment?” The qualitative research approach will help to solve problems in the field of criminology based on new conclusions. Today criminologists and criminal justice historians effectively use the key findings from the history of criminology in their work, including the facts that prove the relationship between the past, present and future of criminology (Lawrence, 2012).
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