Topic 4. Methods of criminological research. Goals, objectives and functions of criminology

The methodological basis of criminological research consists of three groups of methods: general scientific methods; methods and techniques borrowed by criminology from such sciences as sociology, psychology, psychiatry, biology, physiology and others; actually criminological methods, or tools.

The first group of methods includes the following:

▪ from abstract to concrete;

▪ hypothesis;

▪ system-structural analysis;

▪ comparison;

▪ dynamic and statistical methods.

Also, from the general scientific methods of cognition in criminology, abstraction, modeling, analysis, synthesis, etc. are used.

The group of methods borrowed by criminology from other sciences includes the statistical method, interview, questionnaire method, testing, sociometry, observation, peer review, experiment, documentary method, etc. Let us dwell on the statistical method, which allows us to present in numbers:

▪ a comprehensive description of the state of crime in the country as a whole, its regions, in a particular locality, etc.;

▪ patterns of crime development in the country (regions), its dynamics;

▪ composition of criminals according to socio-demographic and other characteristics of criminal legal and criminological significance (gender, age, number of crimes committed, etc.);

▪ the most characteristic, stable and natural connections between crime and other social phenomena;

▪ necessary material that can serve as the basis for identifying the causes and conditions contributing to the growth of crime, as well as for predicting it and developing specific measures for its prevention;

▪ data characterizing criminal legal and administrative measures applied to criminals in order to optimize them and increase their efficiency.

However, the statistical method today has not received due development. There are several reasons for this, the most important of which are as follows.

1. The scientific literature is dominated by a causal approach to the study of such a social phenomenon as crime in general. Why is this approach preferred? As we know, crime is a certain number of crimes committed in a given territory for a specific period of time. It is known that each crime is committed under the influence of specific causes, conditions, certain life circumstances. Similarly, for crime as a social phenomenon, you can find the appropriate causes, conditions and circumstances. The logic of this reasoning at one time was optimal, corresponded to the available amount of knowledge and, therefore, it was true for its time. Today, it is quite obvious that crime is not a simple set of crimes committed in a given territory over a specific period of time, but, first of all, their system, which develops all over the world according to certain laws that are still unknown to people, regardless of their will and desire.

2. There is no statistical database that allows broad generalizations to be made. It is known that only since 1985 in Russia did crime statistics become open.

3. There is a shortage of computers and related software products that are able to quickly process huge amounts of information (it is almost impossible to do this manually).

Finally, the third group of methods of criminological research is actually criminological methods, or tools, the choice of which is determined by the range of specific problems being studied. There are three such methods:

▪ statistics;

▪ typology (or single case study);

▪ a combination of these two methods.

Goals of criminological research. Russian scientists note a significant difference in approaches to typology or the study of a single case between domestic practice and the practice of their Western colleagues. According to our scientists, in the West too much attention is paid to the study of a single case, while the ultimate goals of criminological research are to explain this or that negative phenomenon and develop recommendations for the prevention or prevention of these phenomena in the life of society. Based on this, the goals of criminology can be divided into theoretical and practical. It is also important to differentiate immediate, long-term and final goals. All these goals, naturally, should be considered from the standpoint of their unity, but with appropriate specification.

From the goals of criminology listed above, its tasks can also be deduced, namely:

▪ obtaining reliable information about everything that constitutes the subject of criminology;

▪ scientific explanation and forecasting of criminological phenomena;

▪ obtaining essential information about the causes of crimes, which can be used in determining measures aimed at preventing new crimes;

▪ determination of the general policy for the development of science, i.e. analysis of existing developments made during the Soviet period, preservation of valuable scientific research and rejection of dogmatic and truth-distorting provisions;

▪ implementation of the results of theoretical research into practice, especially in terms of forecasting and planning (carrying out criminological examinations, etc.);

▪ study and use of international experience in fighting crime. Here, an important place should be given to the analysis of international legal documents, scientific achievements, including criminology, participation in international organizations such as Interpol, police associations and other various conferences and seminars.

Carrying out the scientific research included in its subject, criminology performs three main functions:

▪ empirical, or collective, when the researcher finds out how a particular process occurs;

▪ theoretical, or explanatory, when the researcher seeks to find out why a given process occurs this way and not otherwise;

▪ prognostic, when the researcher seeks to look into the future and reveal the prospects for the development of the phenomenon or process being studied, as well as the possibility of a positive influence on them.

At the same time, some domestic scientists classify the functions of criminology somewhat differently. For example, according to Professor A.I. Alekseev, criminology performs the following functions:

▪ descriptive;

▪ explanatory;

▪ predictive;

▪ ideological;

▪ practically transformative.

The methodology of criminology proceeds from the materialistic essence and the dialectical nature of the interaction of phenomena. Russian scientists have used this approach before, only then it was known under a different name - dialectical and historical materialism as two sides of Marxist-Leninist philosophy. The methodology of Western scientists is correlated with what is meant by the subject of criminology. There is no single approach here, and this explains the presence of a number of criminological schools, which were described above. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that both domestic and foreign scientists use the same philosophical categories: general, particular and singular; necessary and accidental; content and form, etc. Thus, it should be noted that there are no special disagreements in the general methodology.

Authors: Vasilchikova N.V., Kukharuk V.V.

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