Sociology is the scientific examination of how human societies operate, including inquiry into the meaning of daily interactions and the larger forces that organize social life.
Criminology is an interdisciplinary field of study heavily influenced by sociology. Criminologists seek to understand what the laws say and mean, who makes them and in what social arrangements, law-breaking, and the consequences of law-breaking. This field includes the study of criminal law, police, courts, sentencing, corrections, and community-based organizations.
Ohio University sociology faculty study various aspects of criminology:
- Court actors
- Crime and delinquency
- Criminalization of mental illness
- Feminist criminology
- History of criminology
- Human rights
- International and transnational justice practices and movements
- Law and society
- Legal processes and cultures
- Prisoner reentry
- Privatization of corrections
- Problem-solving courts
- Sex workers
- Sociology of jurisprudence
- State crime
- Theory of criminology