How Do Criminologists Understand Crime And Criminal Behavior?

In order to gain a full understanding of crime and criminal behaviour it is important to place a definition on the term ‘crime’ itself. Criminologists define crime differently in comparison to sociologist, psychologists and even amongst themselves, this is an important factor to note because the term crime covers a diverse range of issues across the border due to the differences in social morality and social norms. For instance (Blackburn 1993, p5) identifies crimes as ‘acts attracting legal punishment (…) Offences against the community’. However Looking at how society i.e. politicians, academics and members of the community view crime, we are able to gain an insight as to how crime and criminal behaviour is defined. This places a great emphasis

A theory is a ‘conceptual explanation of the phenomena around us’ and when developed properly can help us formulate an understanding of crime and why it occurs. This information can be made of use when new facts are developed. For example when looking at the relation between child abuse and prostitution (a behaviour that is considered to be criminal) we can identify that a theory behind this would be one that accounts for environmental factors. However theories are not actual facts for why criminal behaviours occur regardless of the fact that they are based on research carried out using different methodologies. Therefore it is of importance to question their validity and reliability. This essay aims to explore these theories in depth and analyse how they have developed over time but importantly it will look at how criminologist have different perspectives on criminal behaviour and how this impacts our understanding of crime. Furthermore the essay will attempt to come to a conclusion as whether or not we can understand or explain