What is criminology and what are its challenges? Criminology is a basic term that is a social construct, defined by society that can vary depending on people's theoretical thinking and what they define crime as. How criminology has been defined during the 19th century is based on moral sanity and evolution. The challenge that criminology has, is that the discipline's Western origins can make it narrow in scope and eliminate other views on what is defined as a crime such as Indigenous criminology. During the 19th century, criminology offers a broad definition, suggesting it is one's interpretation that defines crime and criminology. Nicole Rafter (2011, p. 144) states that Cesare Beccaria can be interpreted as the first criminologist, publishing a small volume On Crimes and Punishment (1764/1986). His view on criminals is that "man is a rational being, capable of making self-interested choices". Ultimately Beccaria is suggesting that a person's desire cause acts of violation and that no reasonable person will commit these violations. In the early developments of criminology during the 18th-century murders were described as the common sinner, that is until the 19th century when they were addressed as that of a moral monster, as argued by Karen Halttunen (1998) (Nicole Rafter 2011, p. 147). The evolution of what defines a criminal reinforces the argument that criminology is built on key proportions made by society, including their ethical and cultural beliefs and values. When defining 'what is criminology?' it can be interpreted that crime is comprehensive when being "problematised and out into discourse" as David Garland explains (Nicole Rafter 2011 p. 148). Moral insanity is one theory developed by psychiatrists when attempting to explain why offenders commit crimes repeatedly despite their punishments.(p.149). This 19th-century theory suggested that crime was a condition, not a set of behaviours or a social problem. However, arguments different to this theory is that criminology is automatically formed by the hypothesis that "organisms change biologically through the generations" (p.150). Evolution is a theory of degeneration, arguing that some devolve into a "condition of lesser complexity" (p.150). Therefore, as explained, criminology can alter and be reconstructed regarding societies finding and their overall understanding of what crime is. Thus, suggesting that theories discovered by 'criminologists' ultimately
define the discipline of criminology, and that criminology is an ever changing field of study. Criminology is a discipline that is overly Westernised resulting in it being underdeveloped and primitive in Indigenous investigations of criminology. Indigents is the development of sense of self, belonging and coming to understand our responsibilities (Karen Martin & Booran M, 2003, p. 206.). Despite criminology's advancements in areas such as feminist criminology to adverse the dominance of male view (Goyes DR & South N 2021 p. 116), indigenous criminology has been overlooked in terms of knowledge and theoretical alterations. This is purely due to how criminologists live their lives and the investigation of issues that seem to 'matter' (Goyes DR & South N, 2021, p. 116). This acts as a challenge to the study of