Understanding criminals

With the increasing population, crime rates in India have increased manifold... Add to this the threat of terrorism, and you find there’s a great need for criminologists in the country. A field that is related to the study of crime and criminals, criminology takes into account the processes that go into the making and breaking of laws and society’s reaction to it.

“Students of criminology study the factors of criminality. The job of a criminologist is to conduct research, teach criminology and also explore and work out ways in which crime can be controlled,” says Meenakshi Sinha, associate professor, Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science (NICFS).

In India, says Sinha,  criminology is a developing field. As of now criminologists help in sensitising criminal justice functionaries (police, the judiciary, investigation agencies) through training, courses and seminars. “After completing a course in criminology, one can apply for jobs as teachers of criminology, legal studies, law and sociology. There is a requirement for people qualified in criminology in public and private sector companies or social welfare departments dealing with environmental crimes and human rights issues. One can work with NGOs dealing with crime, research organisations and private security agencies,” adds Sinha.

There are a large number of specialisations in this field.  An expert in corporate crime, for example, can get a plum corporate job. Someone specialising in environmental crime can work with NGOs and organisations looking into environmental crimes. Banks can also hire criminologists to examine cases of fraud.

A few major areas of interest in this field are  causes of crime, prevention of crime, crime statistics, criminal behaviour, penology, evaluation of criminal justice agencies, sociology of law, etc. and criminal careers and desistance.

Author: Syed Amir Ali Hashmi

Date: 4th Feb., 2010

---

For further details about related courses and colleges please click below:

Related courses and colleges