INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED CRIMINOLOGY

Applied - (of a subject of study) put to practical use as opposed to being theoretical.

Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the processes of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting towards the breaking of laws . . . The objective of Criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principles and of other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime and treatment. (Sutherland and Cressey, 1955: 3)

Some theorists have associated Applied Criminology with a dilution of criminological theory and the process whereby Criminology has become depoliticized. That is, they have seen Applied Criminology as focusing primarily on improving the service delivery of the criminal justice system, dislocated from consideration of broader structural issues and the theories which examine these. This perspective sees Applied Criminology as purely ‘technicist’ (Cohen, 1985), focusing primarily on the effective workings of the criminal justice system, a system which targets the transgressions of the poor and the powerless, and in particular socially deprived working class adolescents (Taylor, Walton and Young, 1973).

Three central practice questions—what is to be done with offenders?; what is to be done about crime?; what is to be done on behalf of victims? These questions are distinct, even though sometimes insufficiently differentiated in political debate. All criminal justice practitioners are required to address one or more of these questions and the associated challenges for practice. Practitioners equipped with the insights and the critical and analytical skills achieved through the study of Criminology will be not only be more reflective: they will be more effective in their work, because of their understanding of the potential and the limitations of their practice. The critical knowledge and accumulated experience of thoughtful and reflective practitioners is a rich (and under used) resource that has great potential to enhance policy and practice progressively.

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