--- title: Criminology description: Criminology is the scientific study of crime, criminal behavior, and the justice system. Learners will examine the social causes of crime, analyze patterns of deviance, and evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation and law enforcement policies. category: social-sciences subcategory: sociology difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/criminology --- # Criminology Criminology is the scientific study of crime, criminal behavior, and the justice system. Learners will examine the social causes of crime, analyze patterns of deviance, and evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation and law enforcement policies. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 3 Websites ## Websites ### 1. Criminology Web Video explainers, a podcast, and short articles from criminologist Margit Averdijk covering strain theory, rational choice, differential association, and other frameworks. Useful for grasping how each theory explains crime causation before reading the primary academic literature. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://criminologyweb.com/ **Tags:** criminology, crime-theory, sociology, video-lectures ### 2. British Society of Criminology The UK professional body for criminologists, hosting an events calendar, postgraduate seminar series, a research blog, and job listings. Its site points to the British Journal of Criminology and helps map who works on what across British criminology. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.britsoccrim.org/ **Tags:** criminology, professional-society, uk, criminology-research ### 3. themarshallproject.org The Marshall Project is a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering U.S. criminal justice, offering investigative reporting, explainers, and data-driven stories on policing, courts, and prisons, with interactive graphics and policy analysis. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://themarshallproject.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, sociology ## Podcasts ### 1. Criminal **Author:** Vox Media Podcast Network Criminal is the first of its kind. A show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Phoebe Judge. Named a Best Podcast of 2023 by the New York Times. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://thisiscriminal.com/ **Tags:** criminology, true-crime, narrative-journalism, criminal-justice ### 2. Ear Hustle **Author:** Ear Hustle & Radiotopia Ear Hustle is prison slang for eavesdropping, and that’s what listening to the show feels like: a raw, often funny, and always surprising peek into the reality of life inside prison.  Hosts Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods co-created the show that launched in 2017 while Earlonne was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, where Nigel was a volunteer teaching photography. Since Earlonne’s release in 2018, the show has expanded to include stories from prisons across the state, including the California Institution for Women, as well as stories about getting out of prison and starting over, post-incarceration. From finding romance, to grapp... **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.earhustlesq.com/ **Tags:** criminology, incarceration, prison, narrative-journalism ## Books ### 1. The Condemnation of Blackness **Author:** Khalil Gibran Muhammad A historical account of how crime statistics gathered after emancipation were used to construct Black criminality as a racial trait, shaping urban policy and policing. Explains the origins of ideas still embedded in American criminal justice. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674062116?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, sociology ### 2. Discipline and Punish **Author:** Michel Foucault Traces the shift from public execution to the modern prison, arguing that discipline, surveillance, and the panopticon produce docile subjects across schools, factories, and hospitals. Foundational for understanding power-based critiques of punishment. Dense and philosophical. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679752552?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, sociology ### 3. Are Prisons Obsolete? **Author:** Angela Y. Davis A short abolitionist argument tracing the prison from slavery and convict leasing to today's expanding penal system, and questioning whether imprisonment reduces harm. Introduces the case for decarceration and alternatives such as education and healthcare. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1583225811?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, sociology --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/criminology