Criminology is an inter-disciplinary field that draws on a number of different academic traditions – including law, psychology, economics, anthropology, psychiatry, sociology, biology and statistics – to explain the causes and prevalence of criminal behaviour, and to propose appropriate preventative, punitive and rehabilitative measures in dealing with crime, the communities in which crime take place, and its convicted offenders. Criminology, in other words, is the scientific study of the causation, correction, and prevention of crime.

While some scholars regard criminology purely as a social science discipline (a sub-division of sociology) distinct from law and legal practice, criminology can, and has historically played an important role in reforming criminal law and the criminal justice system. Criminology is particularly valuable as an applied discipline which may inform the various decision-makers and stakeholders in the criminal justice system to better understand the causes and prevalence of criminal behaviour and to implement appropriate preventative, punitive and rehabilitative measures in dealing with its effects. Nonetheless, given the School of Law’s parallel courses in criminal procedure and criminal justice, this elective will focus on causation and prevention, rather than on government responses to crime through the criminal justice system.