FORENSIC SCIENCE AND CRIMINOLOGY

Introduction To Criminology

BY Naida Kwarteng Osei

PhD researcher
University of Oxford
 FORMAL INTRODUCTION

Name Nationality

Country of Level of
origin education
COURSE OVERVIEW
Aim of the course Topics covered Discussion

Resources Discussions focus

The Forensic and used Topics covered Method on
Criminology include understanding
course offers criminology the underlying
foundational It draws on introduction, The course
causes of crimes,
insights into classic and criminal includes
proposing
crime and empirical behavior, crime participatory in-
appropriate
criminological literature, prevention and class
punishments or
processes. theories, and control, criminal lectures/seminar
corrective
real-life justice players s, activities,
measures, and
examples. and processes, readings, and
suggesting
punishment and discussion
preventive
mercy, corrective measures..
measures, and
the penal system.
 LESSON ONE: INTRODUCTION TO
CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINOLOGICAL
RESEARCH
Aims:

Understand what crime is

The basis of criminological research

 LESSON ONE PLAN
Historical development of criminology, highlighting key
milestones and influential figures.

Various schools of thought within criminology, exploring

different theoretical perspectives to explain the causes and
motivations behind criminal behaviour.

Contemporary explanations of crime and criminal

behaviour

Fundamentals of criminological research: research

methodologies, data collection techniques, and data
analysis.
LESSON TWO: UNDERSTANDING CRIMINAL
BEHAVIOR

Aims:

Understand why people become criminals

Identify the rationale behind individual, community and societal differences

in crime tendencies and rates.
 LESSON TWO PLAN
What are the underlying reasons for the occurrence
of crime events?

What motivates individuals to engage in criminal

activities?

Why are certain locations more prone to

experiencing crime?

Why do different communities display varying

levels of criminogenic tendencies?
THEORIES TO CONSIDER
Routine activity theory

1.importance of the Labeling Theory

convergence of motivated
offenders, suitable targets, This theory focuses on the
and the absence of capable social and psychological
guardians as critical factors effects of formal and informal
in crime occurrence. It labels placed on individuals
examines how daily routines involved with the criminal
and situational factors justice system.
influence criminal
opportunities.

Social disorganisation theory

Situational action theory
This theory explores how
neighbourhood This theory examines how
characteristics, such as social individual decision-making
cohesion, economic processes are influenced by
disadvantage, and residential situational factors and
instability, can contribute to perceived benefits and risks.
higher crime rates.
IN-CLASS EXERCISE
§
In this assignment, students will identify
common crimes in their localities or the
world around them and explain the
causation of these crimes using theories
discussed in class.
LESSON THREE; UNDERSTANDING
CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. PART 2

Aims:

Explore the motivation behind criminal behaviour

Contextual factors potentially contributing to crime and criminality from

sociological perspectives
 LESSON THREE PLAN
In this lesson, we will explore three sociological theories within the broader framework of strain
theories.

Classic Strain Theory: Institutional Anomie Theory

Disconnection between the impact of a societal focus on material

aspirations and legal means success and the breakdown of social
institutions on crime rates.

General strain Theory

The role of negative emotions and experiences, such as

frustration, anger, and injustice, as motivators for
criminal behavior. individuals do crime to cope with or
alleviate the Strain they experience.
 IN-CLASS EXERCISE

In this assignment, students will identify

common crimes in their localities or the world
around them and explain the causation of these
crimes using theories discussed in
class….potentially suggest some strategies to
prevent such criminal activity from the
theories' assumptions.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
LESSON FOUR: CRIME PREVENTION AND CONTROL

Aims:

Understand evidence-based strategies to prevent and control crime.

 LESSON FOUR PLAN
This lesson will delve into important crime prevention strategies, approaching them from various
theoretical perspectives. We will examine international strategies encompassing individual, family, school,
and community intervention programs, using them as examples to explore effective crime prevention.

1. Is it possible to effectively prevent criminal offending?

2. What are the various strategies to prevent crime?

3. How effective are these preventive mechanisms? .

IN-CLASS EXERCISE
§

Students will be tasked to identify a

prevalent criminal activity in their local
area and recommend a strategy to control
or prevent it. They will be expected to
explain their chosen strategy using one or
more of the theories discussed in the
lesson.
LESSON FIVE: CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLAYERS AND
PROCESSES

Aims:

Explore the various actors in the criminal justice system

Understand their distinct yet interconnected roles in the legal system

INTERCONNECTED NATURE OF THE JUSTICE
SYSTEM

Police service

Court Prosecution
system service
 LESSON SIX PLAN
This lesson will delve into important crime prevention strategies, approaching them from various
theoretical perspectives. We will examine international strategies encompassing individual, family, school,
and community intervention programs, using them as examples to explore effective crime prevention.

1. Is it possible to effectively prevent criminal offending?

1. Is it possible to effectively prevent criminal offending?

2. What are the various strategies to prevent crime?

2. What are the various strategies to prevent crime?

3. How effective are these preventive mechanisms? .

3. How effective are these preventive mechanisms? .
 LESSON SIX PLAN
The roles and The strategies used The challenges
Forensic techniques
responsibilities of by the police, faced by police
employed by
key actors in the including officers in
forensic experts for
legal process, community policing, establishing a
evidence collection
specifically the surveillance, and strong case "beyond
and analysis in
police and intelligence reasonable doubt"
crime detection.
prosecutors. gathering. and seeking justice.

The decision-
The role of making process of Factors considered
prosecutors in the prosecutors and the when deciding to
criminal justice importance of pursue charges will
system. prosecutorial also be explored.
discretion.
IN-CLASS EXERCISE
Students will work in small groups,
assigned a vignette to discuss
relevant criminological questions
related to police and procedural
actions, procedures, or ethical
considerations.
Lesson six; Criminal Justice Players and Processes, Part
Two. Actors in the Court
Aims:
Explore the role of actors in the court system
§ defence lawyers
§ magistrates
§ jury and
§ judges
In-class exercise Using vignettes depicting
court proceedings, students
will engage in group
discussions and answer
criminological questions
related to these roles.
 LESSON SEVEN: PUNISHMENT PART ONE

Aims:

Understand the sociological relevance of

punishment
 LESSON SEVEN PLAN
Understanding of punishment, its
historical context, and its various
theoretical perspectives. It will explore the
intended implications of punishment and
engage students in intellectual analysis of
real-life events that warrant punishment.
Specifically, the lesson will focus on four
classic theoretical perspectives on the
relevance of punishment:
1. Retributive Theory
2. Rehabilitative Theory
3. Incapacitation Theory
4. Deterrence Theories
§
 CLASS EXERCISE

In-class group discussion

Students will be tasked to assess the application of different punishments

within their local jurisdictions and analyse their intent based on the
theoretical perspectives discussed.
LESSON EIGHT: PUNISHMENT AND MERCY
PART 2

AIM: To understand the Relevance of

Punishment

Mercy
 LESSON EIGHT PLAN
This lesson will continue the discourse on punishment while incorporating
discussions on the concept of mercy.
Two theories of punishment will be explored in this context:

1. When/why should a criminal behavior be pardoned?

2. When/why should a criminal behavior be punished?

1. Consequentialism/Teleological ethics.
2. Deontological theories.
 CLASS EXERCISE
In-class group exercise:

Students will be presented with vignettes that describe various criminal behaviors. Their
task will be to determine whether each behavior warrants mercy or punishment and
provide theoretical justifications for their answers.

Debate
'Should a district judge punish a poor woman for shoplifting groceries to feed her
family'.
 LESSON NINE: THE PENAL SYSTEM

Aims:

This session aims to understand the historic and current debates on the essence of
prison.
 LESSON NINE PLAN
Introduction to the field of prison
sociology, addressing questions
of The nature and
• what prisons are for, determinants of the
• how they work, prisoner
• what they signify, and experience.
• what goes on in them,

The connections
The concept of
between the
recidivism –repeat
purpose of prisons,
offending or
prisons practices
criminal career
and outcomes.
IN-CLASS GROUP DISCUSSION

Should prisons be
abolished?
Debate
 LESSON TEN

RECAP LECTURE REFLEXIVE EXERCISE

 LECTURE ONE
What is
criminology?

Tenets to look Scientific study

for in explaining
criminology Of crime and criminal behavior,
Motivations to do crime
Consequences of crime
response to crime
 WHAT IS THE AIM OF CRIMINOLOGY?

Understand the causes of crime Bring out prevention measures

Causation prevention
 WHAT IS A CRIME?
A crime is any identifiable behavior that
an appreciable number of governments
has specially prohibited and formally
punished
Felson, 2006
We have defined crimes as acts of force or
fraud undertaken in the pursuit of self-
interest
Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990
Crime may be defined as an act of
breaking a moral rule defined in criminal
law’ This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Wikström, 2006: 63
 WHAT IS THE LAW?

The law is “a set of prescriptions about what is the

right or wrong thing to do or not to do in
particular circumstances’. Its aim is to make
people behave in one way or another. The law may
be regarded as the prime form of ‘moral social
engineering’ in a society.
 ●
Throwing acid into people’s face
●
Breaking into a bank
●
Shoplifting
Selling counterfeit goods
EXAMPLES OF CRIME
●

●
Engage in human trafficking
●
Sexually abusing people
●
Killing someone
●
etc
●
 WHAT IS A THEORY?

A set of substantiated ideas used to

explain an occurrence
 HISTORY OF CRIMINOLOGY THEORIES
1700s to mid 1800s Enlightenment Classical criminology Rational Choice theory

Mid-1800 to 1900 Darwinian Positivism, Scientific Criminology Biological theories

1900-1960s War and post-war periods, Great The chicago School Social disorgansiation,
Depressiona, Holocaust Anomie/Strain theories
Control Theories
Differential Association theory

1960s to late 1970s Social turmoil (Civil rights, Radical theories Labelling
emancipation ) Critical criminology
1980s to 1990s Conservative era contentious : rejection of critical criminology Deterrence theories
and its backlash Routine activity theory
Left and right realism realism
Cultural criminology
2000 to today Era of integration Integrated Development and life-course
theories
Biosocial criminology
Situational action theory
 ●
Jeremy Bentham 1789—father of
ENLIGHTENMENT ERA UTILITARIANISM
Emerges from UTILITARIANISM–an
1700s to mid-1800s
●

action is right if it tends to

promote happiness and wrong if
it tends to produce sadness, or
the reverse of happiness.
●
People commit crime because of
choice
●
People should be punished to enough
to deter them
 POPULAR THEORY IN THIS ERA

Rational choice theory

v Crime is a choice

v Cost benefit analysis

v Greatest happiness for the greatest

number
§

§
 ●
Herbet Spencer English Philosopher
THE DARWINIAN ERA 1851,

Mid-1800 to 1900 ●
Charles Darwin and Cesare
Lomboroso
●
Positivism: Treating criminology as a
science
●
Getting happiness to people by
allowing competition for
progression and survival
●
Survival of the fittest
 POPULAR THEORY IN THIS ERA

Biological theory
v Crime is caused not chosen

v people are not utilitarian,

but because of their
personal traits hence to
curb crime, we should
not punish people but
rehabilitate them
v People are born criminals

v its linked to people’s genes

§
THE WAR AND POST-WAR
ERAS Focuses more on Sociological
theory
1900-1960s
Looks at social pressures that
causes crime

Means – ends; mismatch

●
 ● Era where people were protesting
because the system was not
responding to them
SOCIAL TURMOIL ERA ● Labelling: People become criminals

1960s to late 1970s from being labelled

●1. Labelling ex-offenders making
them commit more crime
● Critical: societal values create the
offender
●2. Looks at how social structures
leads people to commit crime such
as segregating the poor, giving
unequal opportunities,
stigmatising, unemployment
 ● People’s behavior causing crime not
necessary because of the society
●
THE CONSERVATIVE ● When there is nothing to deter or stop them

ERA ● Return of critical criminology

1980’S – 1990’S ●1 Left realism: how inequality in the

system leads to crime
● inequality in education, accessibility,
income etc
●2. right realism: Loks more at
punishments. How punishment could
prevent crime
●
 ● Where theorist put several theories
together to explain crime
ERA OF ●1.1 biosocial
INTERGRATION ●1.2 self-control theory
2000S - CURRENT Question to reflect on: if poverty makes
people commit crime, then why do
wealthy people commit crime?
● This is where self-control comes in.
people who exercise self-control
commits crime. People who do
not, commits crime
CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH
WHAT IS CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH?

Criminological research is a type of

research that focuses on issues related to
the causes and consequences of crime,
delinquency, and victimisation, as well as
the operation of the criminal justice
system, with an emphasis on police,
courts, and corrections.
 Why is the study of
crime important?
●

●
By studying crime and criminal data,
criminologist have the ability to
get to the root of the crime and
come up with effective ways to
eliminate it.

WHY IS THE
STUDY OF CRIME
IMPORTANT
 a) 1. Identify a criminological problem
b)

WHAT GOES INTO a) 2. State the objective of the research

DOING ●
3. Write down your research
questions
CRIMINOLOGICAL
RESEARCH? ●
4. Methods to be used to gather and
analyse data
●

●
5. What are your findings?
●

●
6. Conclusion and policy
recommendations
●
 RESEARCH ON THE
UNDERSTANDING
SHOPLIFTING BEHAVIOR
1. IDENTIFYING A This is basically a criminological issue that
you identify as a problem
CRIMINOLOGICAL
PROBLEM For instance: people shoplift at the local
shop mostly during the time where there are
no shop attendants in a particular aisle. Most
of these people have been found to be poor.
A few of them identified are men, most of the
shoplifters are women and children
2. OBJECTIVE OF THE This basically encapsulates what the
research targets or hopes to achieve or find
RESEARCH
For instance: the aim of the research is to
understand why people in the locality shop
lifts
 Broad questions that any research answers.
Usually, these are couched from the research
aim/objective
●

3. RESEARCH For instance:

●

QUESTIONS ●
1. why do the local people shoplift?
●

●
2. Can poverty be the reason why
most of the local people shoplift?
●

●
3. How can we curb the problem of
shoplifting?
 This captures how the research questions
will be answered
Traditionally two methods
●

●
1. Qualitative method

4. METHOD involves collecting and analysing

non-numerical data (e.g., text,
video, or audio) to understand a
phenomenon.
Focused on explaining an
occurrence
Usually answers the what, Why
and how of research questoins
 ●
2. Quantitative method
Involves collecting numerical data
to understand a phenomenon.
phenomenon.

4.1 METHOD CONT Concerned about quantity and

frequency
Usually answers the how many,
how much and how likely of
research questions
●
 CLASS EXERCISE
Research question Type of research
1. What are the experiences of young people detained in police cells?

2. How many females Africans were victims of human trafficking in 2022?

3.Do Black criminals face racism in the UK prison system?

4. How many Ghanaians are likely to be affected by the anti-LGBTQ bill?

5. Why is knife crime common in London

6. What role does the family play in forming a criminal behavior?

7. How does a disadvantaged society influence young people into criminal career?

8. How does incarceration affect the family?

9. How effective does streetlighting and CCTV cameras prevent robbery and theft?
10. How many people are affected by gun crimes in the US?

11. How often does an assault occur inside a dark walkway tunnel?
 1. Interviews
●

METHODS UNDER
●

2. Focus groups
●

QUALITATIVE ●

3. Observations
●

RESEARCH
For instance: In this study, I will use
interviews to gather data to answer the
research questions

●
 Instruction: Ask your colleague
●
1. Have you seen someone shoplifting
before?

CLASS EXERCISE ●

●
2. Why do you think local people
shoplift?
Interview Time ●

●
4. What do you think could be done to
curb this act of shoplifting?
 FINDINGS
FOR QUALITATIVE Basically an analysis of what the data says.
RESEARCH ●

For instance: what response did your

colleague give you?
 1. Surveys
●

METHODS UNDER
QUANTITATIVE For instance: for instance, I will use survey
RESEARCH method to gather data for this research

Do this short exercise

https://forms.gle/W6s3RGtBhi4vKn1Z7

●
 1. Guide to write findings
2.
3. 1. How many people have seen
someone shoplifting?
FINDINGS FOR 4.

5. 2. How many people have witnessed it

QUANTITATIVE 6.
more than once

7. 3. How many people believe

shoplifting is as a result of
hunger?
8.

9. 4. How many people believe

shoplifting could be curbed by
providing employment
opportunities?
10.
 Provide a brief overview of what the entire
CONCLUSION research is about, what the findings were
and the policy recommendations per the
data
 § For instance, this research aimed to gain
insight into the motivations behind
shoplifting from local shops. To gather
data for the study, an interview was
conducted with a student to explore their
perceptions of the reasons behind
shoplifting. The findings revealed that
the primary driver for most people
engaging in shoplifting was hunger
CONT. rather than a desire to make money. In
order to effectively combat this crime, it
is crucial for the government to prioritize
supporting local communities by
addressing their basic needs. This can be
achieved through initiatives such as
providing employment opportunities,
enabling individuals to earn income and
meet their own needs.
§