What does criminology study?
Criminology is often referred to as the study of “the making of laws, the breaking of laws, and the reaction to the breaking of laws”. Law, crime patterns, and the study of offenders make up much of the discipline, and knowledge is drawn from other disciplines such as history, psychology, sociology, economics, and political science. The making of laws covers the historical and dynamic nature of law in Canada, including the way that judges apply the law to cases which come before them. Examining law leads us to consider the social forces behind the creation of criminal and regulatory statutes. There are two main views, one of which describes law as the product of social consensus or agreement about what forms of human conduct need to be regulated by the government. Alternatively, some criminologists see law as the outcome of struggle between groups in conflict. The groups with the greatest amount of social and economic power are likely to have their interests protected in law.
