This need is related to cultural emphasis on the importance of material possessions. Because society is stratified in such a way that equal and legal opportunities to acquire wealth do not exist, envy and competition may manifest in the committing of crime. Crimes that have economic benefits include amongst others theft, robbery, burglary, cheque, credit card and computer fraud as well as syndicate operations. Traffic safety focuses on current traffic issues that are of importance to criminology as a discipline as well as the ways in which these offences can be studied scientifically. In penology attention is given to the criminal justice system as a whole with the aim to point out the importance of using an integrated approach when dealing with offenders.
Emphasis is placed on aspects such as legality, elements of crime and culpability.
A theoretical framework for the handling and treatment of offenders also receives attention. Various punishment options are evaluated and the impact of imprisonment as well as the experiencing of being incarcerated are addressed. Forensic criminalistics can be defined as the systematic search for the truth regarding crime. This involves searching for objective and subjective evidence that could lead to the solving of crime. Objective evidence involves the collecting of physical evidence by means of dactyloscopic, serological, toxicological, odontological, ballistic, documentary and post-mortem examinations.