Criminology and Penology

Criminology can be defined as an interdisciplinary field, which is dedicated to the scientific study of crime, law, and regulations. On the other hand, penology refers to the scientific and logical study of the consequences, impacts, and methods of punishing criminals (Pangod, 2018). According to Garfinkel (2017), criminology and penology represent the social sciences and socio-cultural psychiatry sections. This is because the relationship between crime and mental illness is well known but they are complex and often misunderstood. There are disproportionate rates of mental illness and mental vulnerability among criminals residing in imprisonment. Therefore, psychiatrists should have a good understanding of the basics of criminology and penology as psychiatrists can have a crucial role in the further development of the criminal and justice system (González et al., 2017).

The five main principles of criminology and penology include retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and restoration.

Retribution:

It reflects the punishment according to an acceptable moral response to a crime. This concept has existed since ancient times and today the level of government varies according to the seriousness of the crime committed. This principle is often criticized because jurisdictions often adhere to predetermined tax rates. This often results in critical situations being overlooked which can lead to unfair decisions, such as paying unemployment fines (Pangod, 2018).

Deterrence:

Deterrence is often the opposite of punishment, which is defined by punishment as a threat designed to deter individuals from committing any crime in the near or far future. It is often argued that deterrence cannot serve its ultimate purpose because offenders often do not think about future punishments before committing crimes, so deterrence is useless (Garfinkel, 2017).

Incapacitation:

Incapacitation is also intended to prevent offenders from committing crimes in the future just like deterrence, but it differs from deterrence as it is usually done by physical methods. For example, physical confinement does not allow one to commit crimes under constant surveillance. Another example is the cutting off of a thief’s hand which not only incapacitates the thief but also prevents others from doing the same (Parker, 2013).

Rehabilitation:

It is aimed to bring people back to useful lives under the assumption that people don’t commit crimes very often. It is designed to prevent the usual crime and repetition of crime by the offenders (Garfinkel, 2017).

Restoration:

The final goal of criminology and penology is to gain restorative justice. The goal of restoration is to bring criminals to justice for their crimes, while criminals have to compensate for damages caused by apologies, refunds or other actions (González et al., 2017).

References:

(1) Garfinkel, P. (2017). Reinventing punishment: A comparative history of criminology and penology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

(2) González-Sala, F., Osca-Lluch, J., Tortosa Gil, F., & Peñaranda Ortega, M. (2017). Characterization of Legal Psychology through psychology journals included in Criminology & Penology and Law categories of Web of Science.

(3) Pangod, P. P. (2018). Criminology and Penology.

(4)Parker, I., 2013. The Crisis in Modern Social Psychology (Psychology Revivals): and how to end it. Routledge.