Question

This paper is grounded in the text Criminology: A Canadian Perspective. This paper contains two parts:

First, students should answer the question: “What is criminology?” The answer to this question should be a descriptive overview of what you have gleaned from the text.

Second, students should provide a reflection on the first section of the paper. A reflection is another way of saying “What do you think about what you have studied and written?”.

Some ideas for reflection questions might be: What did you learn? Does what you have learned make you uncomfortable? Why? Is criminology what you thought it would be when you entered this course?

These are your thoughts. Accordingly, this section is about your thoughts so should contain your thoughts only. This paper is not about what Google, a book review or some random article on the internet thinks. You are strongly discouraged from even looking towards outside sources of any kind, and no outside sources should be used beyond the primary text. In fact, using outside sources will result in a penalty.

Answer 1

Criminology refers to the study of crime(s) from both individual as well as social context. The study of criminolgy involves the study the various aspects associated with the crime which may include (but not limited to) :

• Causes of the crime.
• Social norms and reaction of the society to the crime.
• Legal framework/boundations.
• Psychology of a criminal/victims.
• Statistics/frequencies related to the crimes.

Methods

The study of criminology can be conducted through various methods:

• Psychological assessments.
• Statistical measures.
• Case studies/ studying older events and their conclusions from the past.
• Geographical i.e. the location wise study of the crime(s).
• Demographics i.e. the study of human population/groups etc.

Reflections

Before an individual enter this course, their would assume that this involves the study of a only a particular scene of crime but in reality the subject matter is very broad and not just limited to a paticular case of a few numerical methods of solving the situation. The subject matter is vast and evolving and includes varying degrees of observations.

Careers:

It is imperetive that the individual selecting the course considers the future career prospects. The following careers can be possible:

• Professional career as lawyers/consultants etc.
• Work as researchers in this field.
• Work with law enforcement.
• Can also provide professional consultancy services to authorities.