Limits and challenges of contemporary Criminology. Analytical Criminology as the way to achieve scientific status

Abstract

This paper analyses the current state of contemporary criminology and identifies the main limits and challenges it faces in achieving full scientific status. It reviews key problems concerning the definition of criminology’s object of study, as well as its epistemological foundations and research method. As a response to these limitations, it's suggested that criminology should adopt an analytical agenda similar to that advanced within sociology. The paper briefly outlines the core concepts and programmatic principles of analytical sociology. It concludes that so-called analytical criminology may constitute a suitable way for overcoming the discipline’s current problems and for attaining scientific status.