Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Birth of Modern Academic Criminology in Bangladesh: Directions for Future Research and the Growth of the Science of Criminology

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Crime, Criminal Justice, and the Evolving Science of Criminology in South Asia

  • 470 Accesses

Abstract

Academic criminology in Bangladesh was formally established with the opening of Master of Social Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Dhaka University in 2010. This chapter explores the contexts and the catalysts for this birth of modern academic criminology in Bangladesh and examines its future growth and evolution. The impetus for the growth of academic criminology in Bangladesh came in the contexts of both global and local imperatives. Globally, the science of criminology became firmly established within the academic settings of the West by the end of the twentieth century. At the same time, there also began a global movement for reforms in criminal justice as an integral part of an international development aimed to foster human security, democracy, the rule of law, judicial accountability, and equal access to justice. Locally, Bangladesh was facing many challenges of expanding global crimes in the South Asian region, and the country embarked on a huge plan to modernize its criminal justice system with the aid of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the European Union (EU), the Asian Development Bank, and many other international assistance organizations. The time of the first decade of the twenty-first century was, therefore, ripe for the growth of academic criminology in Bangladesh. For future growth and productivity, Bangladesh criminology should focus on such areas as theory development, modernization of crime measurement, development of victimization and self-reporting crime surveys, integration of modern science and technology into policing and crime analysis, development of new laws for combating global crimes of different kinds, and innovative methods and strategies for crime prevention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The paper presenters in the First Conference were: (1) Dr. Habib Haque Khondker, Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences, College of Arts & Science, Zayed University; (2) Dr. A.I. Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, Professor and Chairperson, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University’ (3) Dr. Sumaiya Khair, Professor and Chairperson, Department of Law, Dhaka University; (4) Dr. Shahadat Hossain, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (5) Mr. Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, Associate Professor, Department of Law, Dhaka University; (5) Mr. Naim Ahmed, Additional Inspector General of Police and Rector, Police Staff College, Dhaka; (6) Mr. Mohammad Bin Kashem, Associate Professor, National University, Dhaka; (7) Ms. Salma Safi, Center for Urban Studies, Dhaka; (8) Md. Saidur Rashid Sumon, Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Rajshahi University; (9) Dr. A.S. Abdul Quadir, Epidemiologist, Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, USA; (10) Mr. Omar Faruk, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminology & Police Science, Maulana Bashani Technology University, Tangail; and (11) Ms. Ishrat Shamim, Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University. The discussants in the First Conference were: (1) Dr. Mizanur Rahman Mia, Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Southern Illinois University, USA; (2) Mr. Nurul Huda, Inspector General of Police, Bangladesh (Retired); (3) Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan, Professor, Department of Law, Dhaka University; (4) Dr. Iftekharuddin, Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (5) Dr. Kazi Tobarack Hossain, Professor, Department of Sociology, Rajshahi University; and (6) Dr. Shah Ehsan Habib, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University. The moderators in the First Conference were: (1) Dr. Bazlul Mobin Choudhury, Vice-Chancellor, IUB; (2) Mr. A.S.M. Shahjahan, Inspector General of Police, Bangladesh (Retired), Senior Advisor, UNDP-Bangladesh; and (3) Mr. K.A.M. Saaduddin, Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University. Review of the papers presented at the First Conference in 2010 suggest that even without a formal academic discipline in place to pursue the study of crime and criminology, many in Bangladesh were exploring significant criminal justice issues. The papers presented at the conference suggest that some of the criminal justice issues that were dominant in the minds of the criminal justice experts and other scholars included state violence, white collar crime, children in conflict with the law, politics of urban violence, growth of urban underclass and violence in the neoliberal era, law and human trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, relations between health and violence, and crime patterns in Bangladesh.

  2. 2.

    The following were the paper presenters at the Second Annual Conference of the Bangladesh Society of Criminology held on January 4, 2012: (1) Mr. K.A.M. Saaduddin, Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (2) Dr. A.I. Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, Chairperson, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (3) Dr. Abdul Hakim Sarker, Professor, Institute of Social Work and Research; (4) Ms. Shegufta Tabassum and Mr. Lokman Hossain, Graduate Students, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Dhaka University; (5) Ms. Rawshan Sadia Afroze, Graduate Student, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Dhaka University, (6) Ms. Shamim Ara, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Dhaka University; (7) Mr. Bimalendu Kishore Pal, Graduate Student, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Dhaka University; (8) Ms. Kazi Tuney Zinnat, Graduate Student, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Dhaka University; (9) Ms. Ishrat Shamim, Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (10) Dr. Abu S. Abdul-Quader, Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, USA; (11) Mr. Naim Ahmed, Additional Inspector General of Bangladesh Police; (12) Mr. Nabil Ahmed, Syed Masud Reza, and Ashrafuzzaman, Graduate Students, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Dhaka University; (13) Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, Professor, Department of Journalism and Communications, South Carolina State University, USA; (14) Dr. Shahdeen Malik, Director, School of Law, BRAC University; (15) Dr. Sadeka Halim, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka; (15) Mr. Rokon Uddin, Graduate Student, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Dhaka University; and (16) Mr. Mujib Ahmmad Patwary, Graduate Student, Criminology and Criminal justice Program, Dhaka University; The following were the Session Chairs in the Second Annual Conference of the BSC: (1) Dr. Mokerrom Hossain, Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Virginia State University, USA; (2) Mr. K.A.M. Saaduddin, Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (3) Mr. S. Aminul Islam, Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (4) Dr. Mizanur Rahman Mia, Professor and Director, School of Social Work, University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, USA; and (5) Mr. Muhammad Nurul Huda, Inspector General of Bangladesh Police (Retired).

  3. 3.

    The four Sessions of the Third Annual Conference were chaired by (1) Professor K.A.M. Saaduddin, Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka; (2) Dr. Mokerrom Hossain, Professor and Chair of the Graduate Program in Criminal Justice, Virginia State University, Virginia, USA; (3) Dr. Mizanur Rahman Miah, Professor and Director, School of Social Work, University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, USA; and (4) Professor M. Imdadul Haque, Chairperson, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University. The four discussants of the sessions were; (1) Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, Professor, Department of Journalism and Communication, South Carolina State University, USA; (2) Dr. Zia Rahman, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; and (3) Mr. Shaikh Abdul Baten, Graduate Student, Binghamton University, New York, USA. The following were the paper presenters at the Third Annual Conference of the BSC: (1) Dr. Mokerrom Hossain, Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Virginia State University, USA; (2) Dr. H.K.S. Arefeen, Professor, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (3) Dr. Zakir Hossain, Dean of Social Sciences, Lock Have University, Pennsylvania, USA; (4) Ms. Shegufta Tabassum Ahmed, Graduate Student, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Dhaka University; (5) Dr. Md. Shajahan, District and Session Judge, Narsingdi, Bangladesh; (6) Professor S. Aminul Islam, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (7) Mr. Lipon Kumar, Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University; (8) Ms. Tuney Binte Zinnet, Graduate Student, Department Criminology and Criminal Justice, Dhaka University; (9) Mr. Syed Masud Reza, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Samford University, Dhaka; (10) Mr. Abdur Razzak, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Bangladesh Police; (11) Mr. Ziauddin Ahmed, Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication, and Technology, Government of Bangladesh; (12) Mr. Safiullah Al Mamun, Additional Superintendent of Police, Bangladesh Police; (13) Dr. Tureen Afroz, Associate Professor, School of Law, BRAC University, Bangladesh; and (14) Ms. Anindita Islam, Women’s Rights Activist, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

References

  • Adler, F. (1983). Nations not Obsessed with Crime. Littleton, Colorado: Fred B. Rothman and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bangladesh Transparency International. (2010). Corruption in the service sectors: National household survey 2010. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Bangladesh Transparency International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bdnews24.com. (2010, October 23). New Criminology Department Commended. Dhaka, Bangladesh.

  • Bosworth, M., & Hoyle, C. (2012). What is Criminology? Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • British Home Office. (2011). Crime in England and Wales, 2010–2011. London: The British Home Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, M. (2014). Penal Power and Colonial Rule. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, J., & Marx, G. (2011). Technological Innovations in Crime Prevention and Policing. A Review of the Research on Implementation and Impact. Cahiers Politiestudies Jaargang, 20(3), 17–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calder, J. D. (1993). The Origin and Development of Federal Crime Control Policy: Herbert Hoover Initiatives. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Culp-Ressler, T. (2013, September 10). What We Can Learn from The Largest International Study On Rape That’s Been Conducted So Far. Retrieved from www.thinkprogress.org.

  • Elias, N. (1994). The Civilizing Process: Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations. Oxford, England: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, P., & Roberts, M. (2016). Leveraging Urbanization in South Asia: Managing Spatial Transformation for Prosperity and Livability. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Garland, D. (2002). Culture and Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Oxford, England: University of Oxford Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hasan, M. (2002). Corruption in Bangladesh’ Surveys: An Overview. Retrieved on May 10 from unpan1.un.org.

  • Hossain, M., & Shahidullah, S. M. (2008). Global-Local Nexus and the Emerging Field of Criminology and Criminal Justice in South Asia: Bangladesh Case. Bangladesh E-Journal of Sociology, 5(2), 51–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Society of Criminology. (1957). The University Teaching of Social Sciences: Criminology. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, J., Habenton, B., & Jou, S. (2013). Progress in Asian Criminology: Editors’ Introduction. Handbook of Asian Criminology (pp. 1–10). London, England: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire, M., Morgan, R., & Reiner, R. (Eds.). (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Partners for Prevention. (2016). The UN Multi-Country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. Retrieved from www.partners4prevention.org.

  • Pratt, T. C., & Godsey, T. W. (2002). Social Support and Homicide: A Cross-National Test of an Emerging Criminological Theory. Journal of Criminal Justice, 3(6), 589–601.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rafter, N. (2012). Origins of Criminology. In M. Bosworth & C. Hoyle (Eds.), What is Criminology? (pp. 143–154). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarker, A. (2013, March 18). Backlog of Cases. The Daily Star (A Local English Daily in Bangladesh). Dhaka, Bangladesh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, H. (2010). Constructing the Criminal Tribe in Colonial India: Acting Like a Thief. London: Wiley and Blackwell.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shahidullah, S. M. (2002). Crime Policy in America: The Changing Paradigms. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology. Chicago, November.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahidullah, S. M. (2008). Crime Policy in America: Laws, Institutions, and Programs. Lanham, MD: American University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahidullah, S. M. (2009). Globalization, Global Terrorism, and Global Organized Crime: Modernizing Criminal Justice System in South Asia. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology. Philadelphia, November 3–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahidullah, S. M. (2010). Improvement of Criminal Justice Education, Research, and Training in Bangladesh (Proposal Submitted to the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies). Wisconsin, USA: American Institute of Bangladesh Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahidullah, S. M. (2014). Comparative Criminal Justice Systems: Global and Local Perspectives. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahidullah, S. M. (2015). New Faces of Crime and New Demands for Rights and Justice: Significance of the Science of Criminology. In K. Vaidya (Ed.), Criminal Justice for the Curious: Why Study Criminal Justice. Canberra, Australia: Canberra University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahidullah, S. M., & Khondker, H. H. (2009, March 3). Modernizing Criminal Justice. The Daily Star (Local English Daily). Dhaka, Bangladesh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L. (2005). The Use and Usefulness of Criminology. 1751-2005: Enlightened Justice and its Failures. Annals, 600, 115–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Daily Star. (2010, July 8). The USA, UAE professors Meet DU VC. Dhaka, Bangladesh: The Daily Star. Retrieved from http://www.thedailystar.net.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2006). United Nations Norms and Standards in Crime Prevention. Vienna: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2010). Handbook on the United Nations Crime Prevention Guidelines. Vienna: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2011). Global Report on Homicide: Trends, Contexts, and Data. Vienna, Austria: UNODC.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2014). International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes: Principles-Structure-Application. Vienna, Austria: UNODC.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations, Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Organization. (2010). World Social Science Report: Knowledge Divides. Paris: International Social Science Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • United State Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2012). Expanded Offense. Washington DC: The United States Department of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, K. C. (2008). The Study of Criminology in China, Part II: Contemporary Developments. China Report, 44(4), 323–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, L. S. (2008). Anomie Theory and Crime in Transitional China (1978-). International Criminal Justice Review, 18(2), 137–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Hampton University, Hampton, USA

    Shahid M Shahidullah

  2. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Virginia State University, Virginia, USA

    Mokerrom Hossain

Authors
  1. Shahid M Shahidullah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mokerrom Hossain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shahid M Shahidullah .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sociology and Criminal Justice, Hampton University, Hampton, VA, USA

    Shahid M. Shahidullah

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Shahidullah, S.M., Hossain, M. (2017). The Birth of Modern Academic Criminology in Bangladesh: Directions for Future Research and the Growth of the Science of Criminology. In: Shahidullah, S.M. (eds) Crime, Criminal Justice, and the Evolving Science of Criminology in South Asia. Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50750-1_16

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50750-1_16

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-50749-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-50750-1

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation