One of the key questions that criminology deals with is What is the origin of crime? This question is interested in understanding the causes of crime patterns. Understanding the causes of crime in general, or of specific criminal behavior, can help us understand what environmental settings are more likely associated with criminal behavior.

What is crime anyway? We may think of violent crime, theft, and organized crime as clearly dangerous because it destroys everyone’s sense of safety, but what about white-collar, or so-called "victimless" crimes, like drug use? Another way to express this question is to ask How does a particular behavior become identified as criminal? Most of us would agree that there’s a difference between behavior that is unusual, or merely deviant, and behavior that is criminal. When criminology focuses on this question, it studies the broader issue of social harm, rather than just crime, to see how certain "non-criminal" practices that are created and approved by the state, like human rights violations or environmental abuse, can be greatly damaging to society.

What are the most effective ways to deal with crime? This area of criminology, called penology, has a lot in common with criminal justice. Criminologists who study correction and criminal behavior control evaluate various justice policies to see whether they are effective in achieving their goals, and how they may be made more effective. For example, a criminologist interested in penology may study the effectiveness of the death penalty in reducing crimes in those states where the death penalty is sanctioned.

In your own words, explain the big questions that criminology wants to answer.