CRIMINOLOGICAL TRAINING IN THE MILITARY POLICE: CONTRIBUTIONS OF TRADITIONAL AND CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY TO HUMANIZED AND EFFICIENT POLICE PRACTICE

Abstract

This article analyzes the importance of Criminology in the training of the Military Police, emphasizing the complementarity between Traditional Criminology and Critical Criminology as tools for enhancing contemporary police practice. The study aims to demonstrate how an understanding of the social causes of crime, mechanisms of social control, and processes of penal selectivity can contribute to police action that is more technical, proportionate, and efficient, while remaining aligned with the principles of the democratic rule of law. The methodology involves a literature review of classic and contemporary works in criminology, the sociology of social control, and public safety, alongside an analysis of the curriculum proposed for the 2026/2027 Enlisted Personnel Training Course of the Paraná Military Police; the study is qualitative in nature, with an exploratory and descriptive design. The results indicate that incorporating Criminology into police training helps move beyond an exclusively repressive view of police work, enabling professionals to understand crime as a complex, multifactorial social phenomenon. It was also found that Critical Criminology, when applied alongside Traditional Criminology, contributes to strengthening institutional legitimacy, procedural justice, and police conduct guided by objective and humanistic criteria. The article concludes that institutionalizing criminological education within police training represents a significant step toward consolidating a model of "citizen-oriented public safety"—one focused on maintaining public order while respecting fundamental rights, proportionality, and human dignity.