Happy family

Find a legal form in minutes

Browse US Legal Forms’ largest database of 85k state and industry-specific legal forms.

Criminalistics vs. Criminology

Criminalistics- Criminalistics is a discipline that operates under forensic science.   The American Board of Criminalistics defines criminalistics as the science and profession dealing with the recognition, collection, identification, individualization, and interpretation of physical evidence, and the application of the natural sciences to law-science matters.   It is the application of scientific techniques in collecting and analyzing physical evidence in criminal cases. Criminalistics is often termed as an applied science. 

Criminology– Criminology is defined as the scientific study of crime, criminal behavior and law enforcement.  Criminology studies crime and how society responds to crimes.  Its study includes how crime can be prevented.  Criminology examines the psychological, hereditary and environmental causes of crime.  It also examines the modes of criminal investigation and conviction.  The study also analyses the effectiveness of punishment or correction methods as compared with forms of treatment or rehabilitation.  In short it is the scientific study of the non-legal aspects of crime, including its causes and prevention.  A very famous definition of criminology is as follows: “the study of the making of laws, the breaking of laws, and reactions to the breaking of laws.”


Inside Criminalistics vs. Criminology