Criminology

(1) Criminology is я social science dealing with the nature, uxlent, and causes of crime; the characteristics of criminals and their organizations; the problems of apprehending and convicting offenders; the operation of prisons and other correctional institutions; the rehabilitation of convicts both in and out of prison; and the prevention of crime.

(2) The science of criminology has two basic objectives: to determine the causes, whether personal or social, of criminal behaviour and to evolve valid principles for the social control of crime. In pursuing these objectives, criminology draws on the findings of biology, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, and related fields,

(3) Criminology originated in the late 18^th century when various
movements began to question the humanity and efficiency of using
punishment for retribution rather than deterrence and reform. There
arose as a consequence what is called the classical school of
criminology, which aimed to mitigate legal penalties and humanise

Chapter И, Crime and Punishment

penal institutions. During the 19^th century the positivist school attempted to extend scientific neutrality to tho understanding nf crime. Because they held that criminals were shaped by their environment, positivists emphasised case studies and rehabilitative measures. A later school, the 'social defence' movement, stressed the importance of balance between the rights of criminals and the

rights of society.

(4) Criminologists commonly use several research techniques. The collection and interpretation of statistics is generally the initial step in research. The case study, often used by psychologists, concentrates on an individual or a group. The typological method involves classifying offences, criminals, or criminal areas according to various criteria. Sociological research, which may involve many different techniques, is used in criminology to study groups, subcultures, and gangs as well as rates and kinds of crime within geographic areas.

(5) Criminology has many practical applications. Its findings can give lawyers, judges, and prison officials a better understanding of criminals, which may lead to more effective treatment Criminological research can be used by legislators and in the reform of laws and of penal institutions-

TASK 2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following:

L криминология рассматривает природу и причины преступ­лений

2. изучение обстоятельств правонарушения по материалам дела

3. криминология опирается на открытия других наук

4. проблемы задержания преступников

5. проблемы предотвращения преступлений
6н применение на практике

7. исправительные учреждения

8. установить причины преступности

9. выработать действующие принципы 10_ смягчить наказание

11. подвергнуть сомнению

: TASK 3. Replace the words and expressions in bold type with the words and expressions that mean the same:

1. The objectives of criminology and criminalistics are rather different,

Just English. Английский для юристов

2- The system of penal institutions is to be reformed.

3. The scientific study of criminals originated in the late 18^th century.

4 Modern criminologists hold that criminals are shaped by a multiplicity of factors.

5- Criminology studies the factors that lead to violent behav­iour,

TASK 4. Match the legal terms on the left with their definitions on the right. Use them in sentences of your own:

 

1) deterrence	a) guidance and instruction given to offenders, their beneficial treatment aimed at restitution of positive skills and attitudes
2) case study	b) measures taken to prevent hostile action
3) legislator	c) a person serving a prison sentence
4) retribution	d) a detailed analysis of a criminal person or group
5] convict	e) a member of a body which gives or makes Jaws
6) rehabilitation	f) something given or demanded in repayment, especially punishment

TASK 5, Answer the following questions:

1. What steps can society take to cope with crime?

2. What trends can be observed in the development of criminology?

3. What methods and techniques are applied in criminology?

4. In what other spheres of life can criminology find a useful application?

Chapter TT. Crime and Punishment

TASK 6, Read the text and write down the Russian equivalents for the words and expressions in bold type:

Cesare Lombroso (1836—1909)

Professor Lombroso is a criminologist whose views, though not altogether correct, caused a lot of interest and made other people look into the problem of crime in a more scientific way. He is regarded as the father of the scientific study of criminals, or

criminology.

Lombroso studied at the universities of Padua, Vienna, and Paris, and later he became a professor of psychiatry and forensic medicine, a director of a mental asylum*

In an enormous book called The Criminal, he set out the idea that there is a definite criminal type, who can be recognised by his or her appearance. Some of what he said is difficult to believe. For example, he said that left-handed persons have a criminal instinct. Among the things he considered important were the shape of the head, colour of the hair, the eyes, the curve of the chin and forehead and if the ears stick out

Lombroso's theories were widely influential in Europe for a time, but his emphasis on hereditary causes of crime was later strongly rejected in favour of environmental factors. Lombroso tried to reform the Italian penal system, and he encouraged more humane and constructive treatment of convicts through the use of work programs intended to make them more productive members of society.

34 Just English. Английский для юристов

TASK 7. Complete the following text with the words from the box. Translate the text:

criminal types; capital punishment; inmates; case studies;

upbringing; investigations;

suspended; multiple; unthinkable; rehabilitative

Cesare Lombroso, professor of psychiatry and anthropology at the University of Turin, sought through firsthand observation and

measurement of prison_______________________ to determine the characteristics

of__________________. Some of his___________________________ allowed him to

establish the existence of 'hereditary criminals*. Lombroso held that such criminals exhibit a higher percentage of physical and mental anomalies than do noncriminals. Among these anomalies, were various unusual skull sizes and asymmetries of the facial bones-Other scholars helped to introduce the ideas that crime has

____________ causes and that most eliminate are not born criminal but

are shaped by their______________________ and associations. Thus, the emphasis

in criminology had turned to experimental____________________________________ and to

preventive and_________________ measures. Without this contribution into

the scientific study of criminals the present-day alternatives to ________ and old-fashioned imprisonment such as probation,

_______ sentence, fines, and parole would have been _________________________________.

TASK 8. Answer the following questions:

L What is Cesare Lombroso famous for?

2. How did he try to relate criminal behaviour to a person's
appearance?

3, What was Lombroso's contribution to the development of
penal system?

TASK 9. Render the following article into English paying special attention to the words and expressions in bold type:

ПРЕСТУПНИКАМИ РОЖДАЮТСЯ ИЛИ СТАНОВЯТСЯ?

_ Г

Преступность: Врожденное и Приобретенное

Более ста лет назад итальян- чем обессмертил свое имя, Он, ский врач Чезаре Ломброзо со- например, утверждал, что пока-здал галерею 'преступных типов', тый лоб, квадратный подборо-

Chapter II, Crime and Punishment

 

док, грубые черты лица, длин­ные руки и мускулистое тело­сложение говорят о врожденных преступных наклонностях.

Понадобилось много лет, пока теория прирожденного преступ­ника потеряла свое влияние. Тем не менее, и в наши дни про­должаются споры о наследова­нии преступных качеств и о био­логических предпосылках пре­ступного поведения.

Послевоенный экономический рост породил у западных лиде­ров опасное заблуждение, что с любыми общественными про­блемами можно справиться, проводя соответствующую соци­альную политику и увеличивая бюджетные отчисления. Тогда казалось, что, давая человеку больше благ, можно смягчить и даже изменить его природу. Бремена изменились, и стало ясно, что ни либеральные ре­формы, ни коммунистический диктат н§ привели к обществу процветания.

Е 1979 г, в Центре изучения близнецов и усыновленных де­тей в США начали наблюдать несколько сотен двойняшек и тройняшек. Бее они были разлу­чены вскоре после рождения и воспитывались в разных концах Англии и Америки, Эксперимен­таторы исходили из предполо­жения, что, если близнецы одно­яйцевые, все различия, возник­шие впоследствии, следует от­нести за счет разной среды оби­тания. Однако, исследования показали, что различия между

детьми, воспитанными раздель­но, и близнецами, росшими б одной семье, практически отсут­ствуют.

Другое Исследование, проведен­ное в Дании, показало, что дети преступников, даже если их вос­питывать в домах добропорядоч­ных граждан» в большей степе­ни склонны к конфликтам с за­коном, чем их собственные от­прыски, Более того, есть все ос­нования считать! что, если один из разлученный: однояйцевых близнецов имеет судимость а а уголовное преступление, второй рано или поздно тоже свернет на скользкую дорожку,

Некоторые исследователи идут еще дальше и считают, что пер­вопричина многих видов право­нарушения, в первую очередь таких тяжких, как убийства, разбойные нападения, изнасило­вания и поднеоги — не социаль­ная, а биологическая»

Самый.серьезный удар fio 'тео­рии о среде' нанесла сравни­тельно молодая наука — социо-биология. Исследования, прово­димые на животных показали, что у агрессивных обезьян уро­вень одного из гормонов — серо-тонина — ниже, чем у пассив­ных Это, вполне возможно, от­носится и к человеку: у людей, совершивших преднамеренные насильственные преступления, тоже наблюдается недостаток этого гормон а н

Так кто же виноват; среда или генетика?

Just English. Английский для юристов

 

 

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