1) Criminology differs from other viewpoints of crime due to it being the scientific study of crime in itself. It attempts to explain crimes within a social context and the variances between societies and cultures. When it comes to other perceptions such as the consensus perspective which played a more dominant role in the early 1900's, assumed that individuals both agree on what is right and wrong, as well as how they were implemented into laws and how they were enforced. In the 1950's, a different perception such as the conflict perspective, maintained there was conflict between societal groups with different interests and challenged the consensus approach. Criminology simply focuses on the "why" of the crime to identify patterns to make
