A Comparative Study of the Field Criminal Justice and Criminology

A Comparative Study of the Fields Criminal Justice and Criminology Javier Landa-Miranda Ivy Tech Community College CRIM 101 What is Criminal Justice and what is Criminology? They are the same? Those are the questions that people ask their selves when they talk about those fields. There might be many controversies about the differences and similarities about Criminal Justice and Criminology. People must think that these two fields are totally different or just the same thing. The reality is that Criminal Justice and Criminology are two fields that have many differences but at the same time many similarities.To identify the differences and similarities first, we have to identify what is Criminal Justice and Criminology. What is Criminal Justice? Well, for sure is not specific job training or a class that someone can take and considered him or herself ready to serve as a police officer, detective, etc. On the other hand, Criminal Justice is the study of how justice is dispensed in our s ystem of government and around the world. Also Criminal Justice is the system of practice of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring crime, and sanctioning those who violate the law.The study of Criminal Justice will help anyone to identify the different jobs where people can get involved with a degree in Criminal Justice. Another important factor to note is that police agencies, courts, and corrections are part of the system of Criminal Justice. Each of those three components plays different functions in the Criminal Justice System (Judge Harold). Actually, society has a conflict with Criminal Justice System about Individual Rights and Public Order. This conflict refers to the question: what are more important Individual rights or Public order?This has been a serious issue for the Criminal Justice System because they try to balance both to maintain order in society. Is important to know that Criminal Justice has a process, know as Due process or Bill of Rights. This process protect criminals rights and is required by the U. S. constitution and force Criminal Justice case processing be conducted with fairness and equity. This means that a criminal can’t be arrested or send it to jail without fallowing the correct process that will protect criminal’s rights. Criminal Justice lso has several conflicts inside his own field with his agencies (The Defendants). The consensus model and conflict model are the more common. Consensus model refers to government agencies that work together against crime to maintain order. In the other hand, conflict model means that agencies win more when they compete each other instead of working together to maintain order; this last model has been a serious issue to Criminal Justice System because this can make complicated to maintain public order and keep safety in the streets.People as police, detectives or special agents that work in the criminal justice field have a lot of purposes in democratic soc iety, but the most important for them are: enforce the law of the society, apprehend criminals, prevent crime, preserve domestic peace and tranquility, and provide the community with needed enforcement-related services (Major Cities). Criminology is the study the origin, extent, and criminal behavior including factors and causes of crime. College students that follow Criminology as a career, learn about different types of crime and how public responds to crime.This field focuses more in the psychology and ideology of a criminal (Criminology 2010). Criminology always is trying to solve the question, why crime occurred and why people commit them? This is why Criminology prepares a student to understand criminal’s behavior. Criminologists are mainly concerned with identifying the suspected cause of crime. Even though some criminologists devote their research to justice and social control and are concerned with how the agencies of justice operate. Criminology, 2000). Unlike Crimi nal Justice, Criminology has different methods of research as: surveys, experiments, observing and intensive interviewing, research using existing data, and comparative and historical research. This process has to be done to prove theories and hypothesis related to a crime investigation. Even though, is common for Criminology courses to evaluate the agencies of justice and for Criminal Justice programs to feature courses on Criminology.The higher level of education the more possibilities to get a higher position at any agency related with his career. Sometimes people find hard and cannot differentiate between Criminal Justice and Criminology. This happen because between these two fields there are not many differences, on the other hand there is more similarities then people think. The only differences between these two fields are: Criminal Justice is more related with crime control and how is punished. That is why Criminal Justice focuses more in policing, corrections and criminal c ourts.The main purpose of Criminal Justice is to prevent crime and apply the law to whoever broke the law (Criminal Justice 2013). On the other hand, criminology focuses more in the behavioral and social science that explores the origins of criminal behavior and the social response to crime. Another difference of Criminology is the application of the scientific method to understand and explain interactions of why people commit crime, law-making, law-breaking, and the reactions of society to these processes (Criminology and Criminal Justice).On the other hand the similarities of these two fields are easier to understand and explain. Sometimes Criminology is called Criminal Justice and other people thinks that these two fields are so inter-related that they should be considering as a discipline. As well as Criminal Justice, Criminology is related to courts, and police departments, the only difference is that Criminology focuses in why people commit crime, when Criminal Justice in how and what punishment the criminal should received (Criminology and Criminal Justice).Both fields Criminal Justice and Criminology agree that the cause of violence is related to: socialization, exposure to violence, cultural values subculture of violence, personal traits and human instinct (Criminology 2010). A student in Criminology as well as a student in Criminal Justice can become member of a police department, a special agency, or courts. Even with a Criminology degree that same person can perform the work of another person with a Criminal Justice degree.Criminal Justice and Criminology are two different fields; however might be hard to some people to distinguish these two fields due to the similar aspects. Even though, the study of these fields had brought many controversies and different point of view about the relation between these fields. People, who are interested in these two fields as a future career, might find hard to identify the differences and similarities. It is imp ortant to have a clear idea what is the role of each field before choose one.This essay might not clarify everyone’s questions but gives an idea of how Criminal Justice and Criminology works and how each field performs its work. Even thought, there might be appear new questions and controversies about these two fields that will need to be solve. References For a good overview of the issues involved, see Judge Harold J. Rothwax, Guilty: The Collapse of Criminal Justice (New York: Random House, 1996) â€Å"The Defendants’ Rights at a Criminal Trial,† http://www. mycounsel. om//content/arrest/courts/rights. html (accessed February 10, 2010). Major Cities Chiefs Association, Terrorism: The Impact on State and Local Law Enforcement, Intelligence Commanders Conference Report, June 2002, http://www. neiassociates. org/mccintelligencereport. pdf (Accessed September 30, 2009). Criminology and criminal justice frequently asked questions. Informally published manuscript, S lippery Rock University, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, Retrieved from http://academics. ru. edu/sasw/criminology/faq. html Criminal justice. (2013). Informally published manuscript, Department of Justice, Indiana University South Bend, Indianapolis. Indiana, Retrieved from https://www. iusb. edu/criminal-justice/index. php Criminology. (2000). Informally published manuscript, Department of Criminology, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, Retrieved from http://criminology. pages. tcnj. edu/ (2010). Criminology theories, patterns, and typologies. . (10th ed. , p. 554). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.