ABSTRACT
A concern among criminologists is that the complexity of the crime problem is often not appreciated by politicians, the media, or the general public. Criminology is a science that is interplay between ideas formulated to explain crime and data collected to test those explanations or theories. The broadest criminological conceptualization of crime emanates from the camp of critical criminology. There are a number of competing theoretical perspectives, sometimes termed paradigms, within criminology. The positivistic paradigm, or positivism, dominated American criminology for most of the twentieth century. Depending upon their ideological leanings, criminologists vary considerably in the methods they employ, what they see as the goal(s) of criminology, what constitutes “crime,” and the paradigm or theoretical perspective that guides their work. Islamic fundamentalist states have restricted all manner of women’s lives by criminalizing all but a narrow range of modes of dress, traversing public space without a male escort, or driving an automobile to name only a few.
