Criminology -- because it trespasses into so many other academic disciplines -- becomes fair game in a number of larger social controversies. The questions that motivate criminology research include philosophical considerations: What is a crime? Who makes the laws? What kinds of social power precede lawmaking? What kinds of social privileges and disadvantages skew the application of law enforcement? And what kinds of culturally-trained prejudices inflect police, juries and officers of the court?
The table of contents for Akers and Sellers' "Criminological Theories" lists theories named rational choice, biological, psychological, social learning, social bonding and control, labeling, anomie, conflict, Marxist, feminist and integrating criminological. Each of these theoretical approaches has been exhaustively articulated by its proponents, yet the conclusions of the various approaches can contradict one another, engendering lively academic debate and serious intellectual challenges for the student of criminology.
Criminology departments offer courses that address crime from several directions, theory being only one. Practical and specialty courses might include studies of the actual criminal justice system, particular kinds of crime, like homicide or burglary, and how to deal with juvenile offenders. Practical courses on policing are offered alongside prison management and counseling. Some courses will describe crime, some will study the causes of particular crimes and some will focus on how particular crimes can be controlled.
The reason for getting a criminology degree, presumably, is to work as a criminologist, employment that has several aspects. Working as a criminologist generally requires at least a master's degree, more often a Ph.D. Employment for criminologists includes teaching and research in law, sociology, psychology, policing, police policy, corrections policy, juvenile justice, substance abuse, criminal ethnography and victimology. Criminology studies can also serve as a pre-law major or as part of the professional development of police.