Criminology focuses on the behaviour that violates the criminal law and seeks explanations for that behaviour.

The study of the origin of laws that define certain behaviour as criminal is a primary focus of the sociology of law, although a number of sociologists include in criminology the study of how certain behaviour has come to be defined as criminal. As important as it is to know why laws are passed to criminalize certain behaviour, such knowledge does not explain why certain people violate the law whereas others do not. It is useful to understand the origin of the law of theft, but it is also important to know why some people steal and others do not, and why some of those use force against their victims in robberies whereas use stealth." "Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding delinquency and crime as social phenomena. It includes within its scope the process of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting towards the breaking of laws. Certain acts that are considered undesirable are defined by the political society as crimes. In spite of this definition some people persist in the behaviour and thus commit crimes; the political society reacts by punishment, treatment, or prevention. This sequence of interactions is the subject matter of criminology. Crime consists of three principle divisions, as follows: 1. the sociology of law, which is an attempt to systematically analysis the conditions under which criminal laws develop and also an explanation of variations in the policies and procedures used in the administration of criminal justice. 2. Criminal etiology, which is an attempt at scientific analysis of the causes of crime; and 3. Penology, which is concerned with the control of crime. The objective of criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principles and of other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime and reaction to crime. This knowledge will contribute to the development of other sciences, and through these other social sciences will contribute to an understanding of social behaviour. In addition, criminology is concerned with the immediate application of knowledge to programs of social order and crime control. This concern with practical programs is justified, in part, as experimentation which may be valuable because of its immediate results but at any rate will be valuable in the long run because of the increased knowledge which results from it." "Criminology in the broadest sense covers the whole of criminal science. In a narrower sense it refers to the part of criminal science which empirically describes criminal behaviour and explores individual and social factors associated with crime and criminals. Criminology is aimed principally at elucidating the connection between crime and the personal characteristics of the offender or his environment, with special reference to the origin of the offence ( etiology, genesis ). As an object of research, however, the genesis of criminal behaviour cannot be separated from the behaviour itself. Therefore, criminology must also contain a descriptive part, criminography. Furthermore, criminology encompasses prognosis or the science or prediction. Victimology, which is research into the relation between offender and the victim, is also included under criminology