Essay On The Discipline Of Criminology

1. According to the book, the discipline of criminology is constituted by subareas such as criminal statistics, sociology of law, theory construction, criminal behavior systems, penology, and victimology. The statistical subarea “involves calculating the amounts and trends of criminal activity” (Siegel 5). This means that with the help of statistics, a profile of criminal behavior can be created with the help of research methods, and measuring the results. The criminologist will “formulate techniques for collecting and analyzing” information, develop surveys, and create a database in order to test their theories (Siegel 5). This field is detrimental to formulate a profile that the law enforcement can use to deal with criminals. Another subfield mentioned earlier is sociology of law or sociolegal studies. This field is used by the criminologist to understand how the criminal acts have evolved throughout history. How and when is law originated and under what circumstances. For example, how a criminal act become punished by the law, when maybe a few decades ago was socially accepted such as the legal age of drinking,

According to Robert Agnew, the general strain theory asserts that people under strain or stress become upset, which may let tem to commit a crime. Strain “is the direct result of negative affective states” (Siegel 153). The sources of strain are failure to achieve positive goals due to a lack of resources, disjunction of achievements and expectations, lack of positively valued stimuli, and the presence of negative stimuli. The person who is unable to get what they want or encounters obstacles, experience negative emotions such as fear, disappointment, depression, and even anger. This anger produces a desire of revenge, which results in violence and aggression. Agnew suggests that there are other sources for strain that can affect a person significantly such as family breakups, unemployment, moving, dropping out of school, and unwanted