The traditional focus in Argentina on the study of the established laws has hindered both criminology and other sciences of human behavior. However, Jose Ingenieros, an Argentinian, was especially instrumental in the early 1900's in awakening Latin American interest in criminology. More recently, Argentina further contributed to Latin American criminology by being the site of the First Pan American Congress of Criminology in November 1979. The University of Buenos Aires has offered degrees in criminology and criminal law since the late 1960's. Other centers for criminological studies operate in various areas of Argentina, operating under government or private auspices. The Institute of Research and Teaching in Criminology is a technical organization which operates under the Ministry of Government of the Province of Buenos Aires. Other institutions are the National University at La Plata, the Institute of Criminology and Legal Medicine of Mendoza, the National University of Litoral, and the recently created Institute of Penal and Criminological Sciences. The organizations most actively concerned with criminology are the Argentinian Criminological Society, the Society of Criminal Science and Legal Medicine, the Criminological Society of Rosario, and societies located in Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Currently, increasing attention is focusing on the complex interrelationships between crime prevention and treatment and the broader issues of socioeconomic development. Notes and 32 references are provided.