Crime & Justice

What Is Criminology? Definition, History, and the Science of Crime Prevention

In popular television shows and movies, the study of crime often revolves around a gritty detective chasing a lead or a forensic team dusting for fingerprints. While these scenes make for great entertainment, they do not accurately represent what is criminology. In reality, this field is a data driven science that spends less time on the how of a specific crime and more time on the why. Instead of hunting individual suspects, criminologists look at the bigger picture to understand the social and psychological forces that drive people to break the law.