The focus of criminology had been directed toward three principal areas: 1) studies of the delinquent individual as initiated by Lombroso using inductive experimental methods and requiring clinical verification, 2) studies of offenses, developed from the stimulus of Garofalo and using deductive methodology and abstract logic, and 3) studies of the social factors contributing to delinquency, initiated by Ferri and using the deductive experimental method. The first major synthesis of these areas began at the Second International Congress of Criminology in Paris in 1950; from that time on the individual and social spheres have been defined by their interactions. Only since the early 70's has research established that the legal definition of the offense and the repressive control system may also induce criminal behavior. Integration of the three major elements of the criminal phenomenon and comprehension of the interactions among those elements has made possible development of realistic criminal policy which is concerned with all means of prevention and considers the complexity of the criminal phenomenon and the social reaction in organizing its systems. Criminal policy research must be separated from penal dogma, legal philosophy and sociology, and comparative criminal law. Instead, such research must concentrate on the study of the modern state and the evolution of systems of reaction to crime, with special attention to the real goals, methods, and results of such systems. Policy is the result of merging integrated knowledge from a number of legal sciences with social reality. The system for the administration of justice applies research results and develops sociopolitical strategies in a particular country at a given time. The disciplines which are the basis of the system for the administration of justice are criminal law, criminal procedure, criminalistics, and corrections. Notes and figures are supplied.