Welcome to the official website of the Hellenic Society of Criminology (HSC)

 

The scientific subject of Criminology is the study of the criminal phenomenon. More precisely, what is observed in every organized society is that there exist: a) rules that forbid some human behaviors as quite harmful to the community are laid down; b) some members of the community violate these prohibitions and c) are therefore punished. In other words, the elements that constitute the criminal phenomenon are: the rule (penal law), the violation of the rule (criminal act) and the penal sanction (penalty).

 

Even though the content of these elements varies according to time and space, depending on the political, socio-economic and cultural conditions, the phenomenon as such remains: it never existed in the past, nor it exists in the present, nor it will exist in the future, any organized society where this phenomenon will be absent. This has been shown by all the historical and comparative studies. Only if all the people had the same structure of personality, had been socialized in the same way and the general environmental conditions remained inalterable, this phenomenon would not be observed. The criminal phenomenon is general, positive and accessible to scientific investigation, key prerequisites for the relative autonomy of the science that studies it. Part of the phenomenon is also a subject matter of the Penal Science, although from another point of view and in another way. Penal Science is a regulatory science, whereas Criminology is, mainly, a science of reality. Criminology consists for the Criminal Law whatever Political Science consists for the Constitutional Law.

 

It is obvious that all the theoretical and the researching efforts that develop in the context of the science of Criminology do have a social utility, since they aim at the acquisition and the right interpretation of the necessary data, in order a proper policy for the crime reduction to be set and applied.

 

This is the framework in which we operate since 1978, when we founded the Hellenic Society of Criminology. According to its Statute, the aim of the Society is “the promotion of the study of the criminal phenomenon through the united and coordinated efforts of those theoretically and practically engaged in this subject’’. By creating this website we endeavor to achieve mutual knowledge and create communication channels among not only the current members of the Society but also among those who would like to engage from now on in the subject of Criminology.

 

By navigating in our website you can find the Statute of the Hellenic Society of Criminology, our actions undertaken during all these years, the curricula vitae of the members of the current Administrative Board along with the curricula vitae and the initiatives of the members of our Youth Action Team  (postgraduate students or alumni of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Democritus University of Thrace, University of Crete and Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences).

 

We hope that the information obtained in our website will serve you in several useful ways.

 

THE PRESIDENT OF THE HELLENIC SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY

 

James Farsedakis

 

Professor Emeritus of Criminology, Panteion University

Hon. Dean, School of Law, European University of Cyprus

Beaumont – Tocqueville Prize