Criminology

Criminology, scientific study of the causes of criminal behavior, its development, and its treatment. Belgian statistician Adolphe Quételet (1796–1874) introduced the correlation of crime and social or environmental conditions, and Italian scholars continued what was known as the positivist study of crime in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cesare Lombroso (1836–1909) advanced a now-discredited theory representing criminals as reversions to a more primitive stage of human development. His work was followed by that of Enrico Ferri (1856–929) and Raffaele Garofalo, both of whom stressed social factors.