Attending law and security college involves more than just learning the practical skills you will need in your day-to-day work. The best programs will also include courses that guide you through the theory and social science that helps shape policing and security work.

Criminology is an important course that law and security students at Gates College take during their studies in order to build their understanding of crime and criminal justice. Keep reading to learn more about what criminology is, and how it can help make law and security graduates more effective professionals, no matter what career path they choose after their training.

Criminology Helps Explain the Crimes You Will Prevent After Law and Security College

Criminology is mainly focused on providing descriptions of, and explanations and remedies for, criminal behavior in a population. By studying trends in crime, characteristics of perpetrators and victims, and examining the circumstances of a crime, criminologists can help policymakers and law enforcement officials better understand why crime occurs.

There are many schools of thought in criminology. Some focus on individual motivations for crimes, while others consider biological factors, or study social environments. Students in law and security college can use the insights from their criminology coursework to better understand the individuals they will encounter throughout their careers – both the people committing crimes, and the ones suffering from their effects.

Use Criminology to Understand the Social Context of Your Law and Security Program

Another important component of criminology is its exploration of the social and political context that shapes criminal behavior. What a society considers to be criminal is based on a number of factors, including morals, politics, and safety concerns. Criminology helps individuals understand how these lines are drawn.

Additionally, criminology highlights how conditions like poverty, disaster, and geography can all impact an individual’s environment and shape their susceptibility to either perpetrate or be a victim of particular crimes. Criminology helps demonstrate that crime is not just an individual issue – it is an aspect of society that can be prevented in many different ways.

Criminology Brings Theory and Practice Together for Law Enforcement Professionals

What does this mean for the law enforcement careers of police foundations graduates? Studying criminology during your training is important because it can help give you theoretical guidance for the practical skills you will learn in other classes and in the field. When you are working with people who have committed crimes, it can make it easier for you to understand how they behaved and why, which may be important factors as they move through the criminal justice system.

Criminology will also help you understand the impact of crimes on victims, which will make it easier for you to be an informed and effective professional in your community. Finally, having some knowledge of criminology will make it easier for you to understand crime on a larger scale, and improve your ability to contribute to solving and preventing it.

Do you want to know more about what you will study in a law and security program?

Contact Gates College to learn how we prepare our students for the workforce.

Regular exercise is important for keeping clients with disabilities healthy and happy. Children with disabilities should exercise at least an hour per day to keep strong, while adults can benefit from 75 minutes of moderate cardio workouts each week.

Various exercises can help improve muscle strength and elasticity, allow for greater blood circulation, and help your clients to develop a better range of motion. Exercise could even help prevent other health problems like obesity and coronary heart disease in your clients.

As a developmental service worker (DSW), there are a few fun and calming exercises that can accommodate clients with physical disabilities. Read on to learn more about the kinds of activities you can encourage your clients to try.

DSWs Can Recommend Tai Chi for Wheelchair Users

Tai Chi is an ancient martial art form that has helped numerous practitioners around the world. Thanks to the innovations of Dr. Zibin Guo and the Beijing 2008 Paralympics Committee, 13 Tai Chi movements have now been adapted for wheelchair users. Each movement targets the upper body, helping your clients to improve mobility in their wrists, shoulders, and waists, while promoting better circulation.

Commencing forms get your clients upright and relaxed before beginning each movement and transition. Many of the Tai Chi movements, like the Brush Knee and Push Right Hand involve manipulating the arms and hands, rolling the fist, and sometimes bringing the palms up or down to the elbow and knee. While this form of Tai Chi is not intended to be too strenuous, DSWs can help their clients by guiding their actions, and supporting their arms if they experience weakness.

Isometric Exercises Can be Great for Clients with Limited Mobility

Isometric exercises are excellent for helping clients with limited mobility maintain strength in their abdominal and bicep muscles. Isometric exercises are simple enough to perform while seated, requiring your clients to push or pull on a fixed object, or to tighten their muscles. Your clients should try to do these exercises without moving their joints too much so they can get the most out of this activity.

One isometric exercise can be done while sitting in front of a table and grabbing hold of it. Your clients should not actually lift the table, but tighten their bicep muscles enough to simulate the movement. Graduates of DSW courses should make sure that their clients don’t exert themselves, as the amount of tightness this exercise provides should be similar to that of a standard curl. Your clients can apply the same principle to their stomachs by tightening their abdominal muscles for up to 30 seconds. After releasing the tension, your clients should rest for about 10 seconds before repeating the exercise.

Grads of DSW Courses Can Use Aquatic Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy

If you work with children suffering from cerebral palsy after your developmental service worker program, water-based activities could be an entertaining way for them to get exercise. Cerebral palsy can negatively affect a person’s posture and mobility, but as the amount of gravity decreases in water it allows children with this condition to move more easily. Aquatic therapy can help a child with cerebral palsy improve muscle tone and flexibility, while giving them a feeling of independence and raising their self-esteem.

Some aquatic therapy exercises include walking or running in deep or shallow water. Your clients can also grip the side of the pool and tread water to strengthen the muscles in their legs. Of course, DSWs should always be mindful of their client’s safety, and ensure that these children wear life preservers whenever necessary.

Are you excited to start your career with a great developmental service worker college?

Contact Gates College to find out more today!