What Criminologists Actually Do (It's Not CSI)

Most people think criminology is about catching criminals. In reality, it's a social science that asks harder questions: Why does crime happen? Does the justice system actually work? And what are we missing when we only look at police data? This episode unpacks the six domains where criminologists work—from academia and government research to insurance and cybersecurity—and reveals surprising findings like the RAND study that showed most detective work is administrative, not investigative. We also explore the "nothing works" era of corrections and how criminology corrected itself.