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Future Directions in Criminology

Future Directions in Criminology. “you can never plan the future by the past” – Edmund Burke (1729-1797). Introduction. Criminology’s attempt to bridge theory and practice Post-positivism and post-modernism, and the discipline in a state of flux ? Can we merge criminal justice and criminology

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Future Directions in Criminology

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  1. Future Directions in Criminology “you can never plan the future by the past” – Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

  2. Introduction • Criminology’s attempt to bridge theory and practice • Post-positivism and post-modernism, and the discipline in a state of flux • ? Can we merge criminal justice and criminology • Continuing challenge of being relative and evolutive

  3. Frame of Reference • Ultimate objective “controlology” • Utilitarian principles • FOUR approaches: • conservative • Liberal • Radical • Integrated and interdisciplinary

  4. Conservative approach: • Social control over individual freedoms, policing, just deserts, focus on conventional crime… • ? Not ‘humanistic’ • Greater emphasis in political and power-based issues • Can law and order control crime?

  5. Liberal approach: • Crime the product of social and economic circumstances, lack of opportunities, emphasize treatment and rehabilitation… • Although popular in recent years only marginally successful • Radical approach: • Reliance on unofficial sources, role of media and competing interest groups, power of capitalism, shift from offender to system… • Short on solutions but helps to draw attention to broader issues

  6. Interdisciplinary: • Crime a product of human behaviour… individual and his/her environment, ‘soft-determinism’, • Attempt to reconcile differences between C, L, and R approaches • Bridge current fragmentation • BUT ‘growing pains’ • Can we move from legalistic tohumanistic-based discipline?

  7. Criminology and Prediction • The price of prediction… risky • Complexity of human behaviour • ? Need for fundamental paradigm And theoretical shifts • Can an integrated and interdisciplinary offer a clearer direction?

  8. Comparative Criminology • Practicalities being overcome • Advances in technology and methodology • Fattah and our ‘provincial attitudes’ slow to fade • Transnational crimes and price of globalization • Move beyond descriptive to a theoretical framework

  9. “Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice” and Interpol examples of international co-operation • Justification: • Experience of others; • Broaden our understanding; and • International co-operation to common concerns • Will comparative criminology play a primary role in the future?

  10. The Knowledge Explosion • An expansive discipline… “criminological enterprise” • Number of disciplines with vested interest growing • Growing number of theories • Number of textbooks (CDN) and journals • Relative soundness of the discipline

  11. The disciplines ‘growth’ has NOT been matched by a decrease in crime rates! • Is there a need for a paradigm shift? • Causes of crime and criminality linked to multicausality…integrated and interdisciplinary The Future of Crime • Automobiles vs. credit cards… and the role of technology and opportunity for ‘new’ crimes • E.g.: debit cards and ‘crime wave’

  12. Possible future trends…. • Computer based crimes • International sex trade, organ trade, smuggling of illegal foreigners • Transnationally based organized crime • Transnational corporate crime • International terrorism, money laundering,… • Will our current theories suffice to explain the new trends/

  13. Social Control: Prevention or Punishment • Crime costs up; victim expenses up; and incarceration up… need for cost-effective strategies • Figure 14-1 “what works” • Communities: community-based mentoring • Family-based prevention: early infant & pre-school programs • School-based programs: innovative programs

  14. Policing: presence at “hot spots’ • CJS: rehabilitation • Importance of multiple risk factors • Developmental pathways • Opportunity reduction and social development • Primary vs. secondary vs. tertiary prevention • Bridging theory and practice… e.g., shaming, restorative justice, etc.

  15. Criminology and Criminal Law • Definition of crime dependent on its legal definition • How did criminal law evolve and how will it evolve? • Criminal law minimal impact on curbing crime • Does the law inflate crime statistics? • We need to rethink the role of law in crime prevention

  16. Expanding the Scope of Criminology • Role of science and technology vs. the role of criminal law • Expanding opportunities • Crime: The Elusive Enigma • Crime waves “mental filters through which social issues are filtered” • Must learn to discern myths from reality

  17. Restorative Justice • An answer to punishment? • Shift from moral to social responsibility… respect ALL parties • An old concept in new attire!? Will it work this time? • SUMMARY • “…the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and the unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind”, and search for spiritual growth. • Constructive social policy with a global social context

  18. … the gauntlet before you

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