International Journal on Criminology Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2013 | Page 11

International Journal on Criminology
School of Criminology and Technical Policing of the Ministry of Justice is reserved for
magistrates, lawyers, university graduates, and those with specialist knowledge.
In continental European criminology institutes attached to law faculties, there are
two models for entry conditions. In the first, institute courses in criminology, the
criminological sciences and related sciences form an ensemble and must all be studied
together. Criminology teaching is consequently independent of the law program. It is an
additional course with particular entry requirements. In the second model, however,
courses at the criminology institute do not form an ensemble. Law students simply have
to follow one of the courses during their studies.
When teaching at a criminology institute is compulsory and complementary, proof of
prior scientific training is an admission requirement. The Leuven criminology school in
Belgium accepts applicants holding an “applicant” university degree and medical
students having successfully completed the second year, which serves as an “application”
test in the natural and medical sciences. Similar conditions apply in Brussels, Ghent, and
Liège. In Paris, only students with at least a Bachelors in law or holding a certificate of
legal competence are admitted, together with students in the humanities, science, or
medicine. In Rome, graduates in law, economy, commerce, or the political and social
sciences, and medical doctors or surgeons, as well as those holding a degree from another
university, can register. In Turkey and Yugoslavia, admission depends on academic and
professional qualifications.
It can thus be seen that when a criminology institute provides compulsory or
additional teaching, the entry conditions range from those applied to ordinary higher
education applicants (as in Belgium), to conditions similar to those required by Anglo-
Saxon style professional development institutes (as in Rome, Turkey, and Yugoslavia),
with a variety of intermediary situations (as in Paris). The same does not apply when one
of the programs is compulsory for law students (Vienna, Graz): They must take two
hours of criminology per week for one semester. It should also be noted that students in
other faculties can attend the institute’s courses. Auditing is also allowed on these
courses.
Given these admission requirements, it is remarkable that no establishment asks
applicants to take a preparatory course teaching the basics of biology, psychology, and
sociology—notions without which it would seemingly be very difficult to follow
anything more than a rudimentary course. General or specialist university qualifications
or even professional experience in particular areas cannot be a substitute for the rational
acquisition of this basic knowledge.
Criminological teaching outside of institutes is less problematic in terms of entry
conditions. In the UK, where criminology is most often taught as a branch of the social
sciences, it is obviously the entry conditions for these studies that count. Similarly, in the
United States, all sociology or social administration students have the opportunity to
follow the general criminology modules in universities. In the Anglo-Saxon countries, the
criminological sciences are also taught outside of sociology departments, as a part of the
general teaching of the other core disciplines. In continental Europe, specialized teaching
in the core disciplines (criminal anthropology, forensic psychology, forensic psychology),
where it exists, takes place within the framework of corresponding studies in medicine
and psychology. Notions of criminology within or linked to criminal law are reserved for
law students. The same applies for humanities or medical students, when criminological
notions are evoked in relation to other courses in their programs (such as psychology,
sociology, psychiatry, or forensics).”
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