Advances in Criminological Theory – serie

This volume marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Travis Hirschi’s seminal work Causes of Delinquency. The influence of Hirschi’s book, and the theory of social control it described, can scarcely be overstated. Social control theory has been empirically tested or commented on by hundreds of scholars and is generally regarded as one of the three dominant theories of crime.The current work highlights the impact that social control theory has had on criminological theory and research to date. Agnew’s contribution highlights the role that Hirschi’s tests of control versus strain theory had in contributing to the "near demise" of classic strain theories, and to the subsequent development of general strain theory. Serrano-Maillo relates control to drift, and Tedor and Hope compare the human nature assumptions of control theory to the current psychological literature. Other contributions return to Hirschi’s original Richmond Youth Survey (RYS) data and demonstrate the robustness of Hirschi’s major findings. Costello and Anderson find strong support for Hirschi’s predictions in an analysis of a diverse group of youths in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1999; Nofziger similarly finds support for Hirschi’s predictions with an analysis of the girls in the RYS, and explores the criticisms of social control theory that were the result of Hirschi’s failure to analyze the data from the girls in the sample. Kempf-Leonard revisits her seminal 1993 survey of control theory and reviews the current empirical status of control theory. Other contributions explore new directions for both social control theory and self-control theory. The contribution by Cullen, Lee, and Butler holds that one element of the social bond, commitment, was under-theorized by Hirschi, and the authors present a more in-depth development of the concept. Quist explores the possibility of expanding social control theory to explicitly incorporate exchange theory concepts; Ueda and Tsutomi apply control theory cross-culturally to a sample of Japanese students; and Felson uses control theory to organize criminological ideas. Vazsonyi and Javakhishvili’s contribution is an empirical analysis of the connections between social control in early childhood and self-control later in life; Chapple and McQuillan’s contribution suggests that the gender gap in delinquency is better explained by increased controls in girls than by gendered pathways to offending. Oleson traces the evolution of Hirschi’s control theory, and suggests that, given the relationships between fact and theory, a biosocial model of control might be a promising line of inquiry. Fifty Years of Causes of Delinquency: The Criminology of Travis Hirschi describes the current state of control theory and suggests its future directions, as well as demonstrates its enduring importance for criminological theory and research. The volume will be of interest to scholars working in the control theory tradition as well as those critical of the perspective, and is suitable for use in graduate courses in criminological theory.

A Criminologist’s Life: Essays in Honor of the Criminological Legacy of Francis T. Cullen honors the vast scholarly contributions of Francis T. "Frank" Cullen as well as the immeasurable influence that he has had on the field for over 40 years.With over 500 publications to his name and more than 67,000 citations to his work, Frank Cullen has left an indelible mark on the fields of criminology and criminal justice. Although best known for his work on rehabilitation and criminological theory, Frank also has profusely published in and shaped the areas of white-collar crime, the use of meta-analytic techniques to organize knowledge, the sexual victimization of college women, and public opinion on crime and punishment. However, Frank’s legacy on the field is not limited to his scholarly contributions: He has served as a mentor to countless students, colleagues, and others in the field, helping support and guide the next generation of scholars. Thus, the current volume is organized to recognize both his scholarly work and mentoring, as well as to provide an opportunity for Frank to reflect on his career "in his own words."The result is a collection of essays from Frank’s former students, colleagues, and friends written to pay homage to the more than 40 years of work he has done to advance criminological knowledge and shape the field.

Fifty years ago, David Matza wrote Delinquency and Drift, challenging the ways people thought about the development of criminals. Today, Delinquency and Drift Revisited reminds criminologists that they ignore Matza’s writings at their own intellectual peril. Matza’s work shows his insights on a range of core criminological issues, such as: the complex nature of culture and its connection to criminality; the extent to which rule-breakers are truly different from the "rest of us"; the importance of focusing on human agency in understanding the subjective side of offending; the interaction of propensity and peer influences in criminal involvement; the role of the state in signifying individuals as deviant and entrapping them in criminal roles; and the processes that lead offenders to desist from crime. This volume was not written to pay homage to Matza, but to show how his ideas remain relevant to criminology today by continuing to question conventional wisdom, by making us pay attention to realities we have overlooked, and by inspiring us to theorize more innovatively.

Unraveling the Crime-Place Connection examines in a new light how places enhance our understanding of crime and its control. While there has been much work in this area focused on policy, few have examined the underlying theories that inform this work. Theory has played a secondary role in the "criminology of place," and this volume brings it to the forefront of scholarly concerns. Each part and its chapters illuminate cutting-edge ideas in the etiology and control of crime at place, beginning with an introductory Part I. Crime is often concentrated in very small geographies, and Part II emphasizes the importance of capturing the dynamic nature of places in order to understand crime clustering. Part III offers integrative theories on the varying contextual arrangements of places and links theories of places to other theories of individuals, neighborhoods, and other social contexts. In Part IV, theorists ask how the actions of place owners facilitate or control crime and what policies governments can institute to regulate place management. This volume will be of interest to criminologists worldwide and useful for graduate-level or advanced undergraduate courses on environmental criminology or crime prevention.

Deterrence, Choice, and Crime explores the various dimensions of modern deterrence theory, relevant research, and practical applications. Beginning with the classical roots of deterrence theory in Cesare Beccaria’s profoundly important contributions to modern criminological thought, the book draws out the many threads in contemporary criminology that are explicitly mentioned or at least hinted by Beccaria. These include sanction risk perceptions and their behavioral consequences, the deterrent efficacy of the certainty versus the severity of punishment, the role of celerity of punishment in the deterrence process, informal versus formal deterrence, and individual differences in deterrence. The richness of the volume is seen in the inclusion of chapters that focus on the theoretical development of deterrence across disciplines such as criminology and economics. In an innovative section, the role of agents of deterrence is considered. Lessons are learned from the practical applications of deterrence undertaken in the areas of policing, corrections, and the community. The closing section includes Michael Tonry’s "An Honest Politician’s Guide to Deterrence: Certainty, Severity, Celerity, and Parsimony," a reminder of Beccaria’s dictum that "it is better to prevent crimes than punish them." In the current environment, deterrence arguments are routinely used to justify policies that do just the opposite. Ray Paternoster, who contributed two chapters, passed away as this volume was being finalized. Fittingly, this book is dedicated to him and ends with Alex Piquero’s poignant remembrance of Ray, a path-breaking deterrence scholar, beloved mentor, and ardent supporter of social justice.Suitable for researchers and graduate students as well as for advanced courses in criminology, this book breaks new ground in theorizing the effects of punishment and other sanctions on crime control.

Theories of Terrorism explains and advances the major theories of terrorism that address issues of becoming a terrorist, being a terrorist, and leaving terrorism, in a clear and accessible format.Readers will gain an understanding of the most promising explanations of terrorism that have been developed to date and how they can be used to explore core substantive issues related to the topic. The content is delivered with a scholarly depth, though still accessible by students at different levels. The book offers explanations from prominent scholars for the three phases of radicalization, covering emerging topics such as women’s involvement in terrorism, fear of terrorism, the code of the terrorist, and suicide terrorism. This is the first book in the Advances in Criminological Theory series to address the issue of terrorism and emphasizes the use of theory to direct research development in the future.The style and content coverage of the book make it appropriate as a supplemental text in undergraduate courses on terrorism and political violence. The inclusion of current empirical literature and guidance for future research efforts gives the text appeal for graduate students and academics in the disciplines of criminology/criminal justice, political science, sociology, and interdisciplinary terrorism studies. The emphasis on theory and the radicalization process throughout the text will also make the book useful as a reference for general graduate-level theory courses within these areas.

In light of the Black Lives Matter movement and protests in many cities, race plays an ever more salient role in crime and justice. Within theoretical criminology, however, race has oddly remained on the periphery. It is often introduced as a control variable in tests of theories and is rarely incorporated as a central construct in mainstream paradigms (e.g., control, social learning, and strain theories). When race is discussed, the standard approach is to embrace the racial invariance thesis, which argues that any racial differences in crime are due to African Americans being exposed to the same criminogenic risk factors as are Whites, just more of them. An alternative perspective has emerged that seeks to identify the unique, racially specific conditions that only Blacks experience. Within the United States, these conditions are rooted in the historical racial oppression experienced by African Americans, whose contemporary legacy includes concentrated disadvantage in segregated communities, racial socialization by parents, experiences with and perceptions of racial discrimination, and disproportionate involvement in and unjust treatment by the criminal justice system.Importantly, racial invariance and race specificity are not mutually exclusive perspectives. Evidence exists that Blacks and Whites commit crimes for both the same reasons (invariance) and for different reasons (race-specific). A full understanding of race and crime thus must involve demarcating both the general and specific causes of crime, the latter embedded in what it means to be "Black" in the United States. This volume seeks to explore these theoretical issues in a depth and breadth that is not common under one cover. Again, given the salience of race and crime, this volume should be of interest to a wide range of criminologists and have the potential to be used in graduate seminars and upper-level undergraduate courses.

This volume marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Travis Hirschi’s seminal work Causes of Delinquency. The influence of Hirschi’s book, and the theory of social control it described, can scarcely be overstated. Social control theory has been empirically tested or commented on by hundreds of scholars and is generally regarded as one of the three dominant theories of crime.The current work highlights the impact that social control theory has had on criminological theory and research to date. Agnew’s contribution highlights the role that Hirschi’s tests of control versus strain theory had in contributing to the "near demise" of classic strain theories, and to the subsequent development of general strain theory. Serrano-Maillo relates control to drift, and Tedor and Hope compare the human nature assumptions of control theory to the current psychological literature. Other contributions return to Hirschi’s original Richmond Youth Survey (RYS) data and demonstrate the robustness of Hirschi’s major findings. Costello and Anderson find strong support for Hirschi’s predictions in an analysis of a diverse group of youths in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1999; Nofziger similarly finds support for Hirschi’s predictions with an analysis of the girls in the RYS, and explores the criticisms of social control theory that were the result of Hirschi’s failure to analyze the data from the girls in the sample. Kempf-Leonard revisits her seminal 1993 survey of control theory and reviews the current empirical status of control theory. Other contributions explore new directions for both social control theory and self-control theory. The contribution by Cullen, Lee, and Butler holds that one element of the social bond, commitment, was under-theorized by Hirschi, and the authors present a more in-depth development of the concept. Quist explores the possibility of expanding social control theory to explicitly incorporate exchange theory concepts; Ueda and Tsutomi apply control theory cross-culturally to a sample of Japanese students; and Felson uses control theory to organize criminological ideas. Vazsonyi and Javakhishvili’s contribution is an empirical analysis of the connections between social control in early childhood and self-control later in life; Chapple and McQuillan’s contribution suggests that the gender gap in delinquency is better explained by increased controls in girls than by gendered pathways to offending. Oleson traces the evolution of Hirschi’s control theory, and suggests that, given the relationships between fact and theory, a biosocial model of control might be a promising line of inquiry. Fifty Years of Causes of Delinquency: The Criminology of Travis Hirschi describes the current state of control theory and suggests its future directions, as well as demonstrates its enduring importance for criminological theory and research. The volume will be of interest to scholars working in the control theory tradition as well as those critical of the perspective, and is suitable for use in graduate courses in criminological theory.

Criminal Justice Theory: Explanations and Effects undertakes a systematic study of theories of the criminal justice system, which historically have received very little attention from scholars. This is a glaring omission given the risk of mass imprisonment, the increasing presence of police in inner-city communities, and the emergence of new policy initiatives aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of the administration of justice. Fortunately, however, a number of disparate theoretical works have appeared that seek to provide insight into the nature and impact of criminal justice. Based on 13 original essays by influential scholars, this volume pulls together the most significant of these perspectives, thus creating a state-of-the-art assessment of contemporary criminal justice theory.Criminal justice theory can be divided into two main categories. The first includes works that seek to explain the operation of the criminal justice system. Most of these contributions have grappled with the core reality of American criminal justice: its rising embrace of punitiveness and the growth of mass imprisonment. The second category focuses on works that identify theories that have often guided efforts to reduce crime. The issue here focuses mainly on the effects of certain theoretically guided criminal justice interventions. The current volume is thus organized into these two categories: explanations and effects.The result is an innovative and comprehensive book that not only serves researchers by advancing scholarship but also is appropriate for advanced undergraduate or graduate classroom use.

This volume speaks to the fundamental issues inherent in trying to understand the who-what-where-and-whys of corporate crime. Only in addressing these larger issues does it become possible to begin to integrate the study of corporate crime into the larger criminological theory literature. A collection of chapters by experts in the field grapples with three deceptively simple questions:When are firms morally and legally responsible agents?What are the harms of corporate wrongdoing and who are the victims?What theories offer insight to explain corporate wrongdoing?In the first section, chapter authors wrestle with what it means for a corporation to have agency enough to commit a violation of law as well as what philosophies of punishment might apply when there is no body to jail. The second section focuses attention on the often unnamed, ambiguous, or even ignored victims of corporate crime. Many authors in this section take a broad view of “victimization,” speaking to the ways in which the intentional acts of corporations produce negative consequences for individuals and society at large through both the violation of law and the use of corporate power to produce laws that do not problematize corporate behavior. The third section turns to issues in corporate offending research, including the circumstances that beget offending, how corporations may be thought to have “life courses,” and the role of the State in structuring criminal opportunity. The editors wrap up the volume by proposing a framework for developing a more comprehensive system of criminal responsibility for corporate actors.The chapters in this volume underscore the failures of the current system and are intended to inspire readers to push for change. This important work will be of interest to a wide range of criminologists and has potential to shape the future of corporate crime theory and research. It is ideal for use in graduate seminars and upper-level undergraduate courses.

This volume investigates the significant role qualitative research plays in expanding and refining our understandings of crime and justice. It features seventeen original essays that discuss the relationship between methodology and theory. The result is a theoretically engaged volume that explores the approaches of qualitative scholars in the collection and treatment of data in criminological scholarship.Among the key issues addressed in the volume are methodological rigor in qualitative research; movement between method, theory building, theoretical refinement and expansion; diversity of qualitative methodologies, from classic field research to contemporary innovations; and considerations of the future of qualitative criminological research.Qualitative research use has expanded rapidly in the last twenty years. This latest volume of Advances in Criminological Theory presents a cogent appraisal of qualitative criminology and the ways in which rigorous qualitative research contributes to theorizing about crime and justice.

This volume is divided into five sections that, when taken together, offer an informative account of the impact of Ruth Rosner Kornhauser's Social Sources of Delinquency on the development of American criminological thought. This classic book was her major contribution to the field.Section I tells the story of Kornhauser's brief but influential academic career. Section II probes deeply into the specific ways in which she challenged criminological theory and the subsequent responses that were forthcoming. Section III then presents commentary on specific lines of inquiry inspired by Kornhauser's book and orientation to criminological theory. Section IV explores recent efforts to move beyond Kornhauser's insights on communities and crime. Section V concludes with three critical essays contending that Social Sources of Delinquency paid insufficient attention to criminal motivation, the role of opportunity in offending, and gangs and girls.This volume—authored by prominent scholars—shows that Kornhauser's way of thinking about crime continues to be a starting point for much criminological theory today.

Revitalizing Victimization Theory: Revisions, Applications, and New Directions revises some of the major perspectives in victimization theory, applies theoretical perspectives to the victimization of vulnerable populations, and carves out new theoretical territory that is clearly needed but has yet to be developed. With the exception of a handful of isolated works in the mid-twentieth century, theory and research on victimization did not come into its own until the late 1970s with the articulation of lifestyle and routine activity theories. Research conducted within this tradition continues to be an important part of the overall criminological enterprise, and a large body of empirical knowledge has been generated. Nevertheless, theoretical advances in the study of victimization have largely stalled within the field of criminology. Indeed, little in the way of new theoretical headway has been made in well over a decade. This is an ideal time to revitalize victimization theory, and this volume does just that. It is an ambitious project that will hopefully reignite the kinds of theoretical discussions that once held the attention of the field. The work included here will shape the future of victimization theory and research in years to come. This volume should be of interest to a wide range of criminologists and have the potential to be used in graduate seminars and upper-level undergraduate courses.

Revitalizing Victimization Theory: Revisions, Applications, and New Directions revises some of the major perspectives in victimization theory, applies theoretical perspectives to the victimization of vulnerable populations, and carves out new theoretical territory that is clearly needed but has yet to be developed. With the exception of a handful of isolated works in the mid-twentieth century, theory and research on victimization did not come into its own until the late 1970s with the articulation of lifestyle and routine activity theories. Research conducted within this tradition continues to be an important part of the overall criminological enterprise, and a large body of empirical knowledge has been generated. Nevertheless, theoretical advances in the study of victimization have largely stalled within the field of criminology. Indeed, little in the way of new theoretical headway has been made in well over a decade. This is an ideal time to revitalize victimization theory, and this volume does just that. It is an ambitious project that will hopefully reignite the kinds of theoretical discussions that once held the attention of the field. The work included here will shape the future of victimization theory and research in years to come. This volume should be of interest to a wide range of criminologists and have the potential to be used in graduate seminars and upper-level undergraduate courses.

Criminal Justice Theory: Explanations and Effects undertakes a systematic study of theories of the criminal justice system, which historically have received very little attention from scholars. This is a glaring omission given the risk of mass imprisonment, the increasing presence of police in inner-city communities, and the emergence of new policy initiatives aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of the administration of justice. Fortunately, however, a number of disparate theoretical works have appeared that seek to provide insight into the nature and impact of criminal justice. Based on 13 original essays by influential scholars, this volume pulls together the most significant of these perspectives, thus creating a state-of-the-art assessment of contemporary criminal justice theory.Criminal justice theory can be divided into two main categories. The first includes works that seek to explain the operation of the criminal justice system. Most of these contributions have grappled with the core reality of American criminal justice: its rising embrace of punitiveness and the growth of mass imprisonment. The second category focuses on works that identify theories that have often guided efforts to reduce crime. The issue here focuses mainly on the effects of certain theoretically guided criminal justice interventions. The current volume is thus organized into these two categories: explanations and effects.The result is an innovative and comprehensive book that not only serves researchers by advancing scholarship but also is appropriate for advanced undergraduate or graduate classroom use.

Criminology has developed strong methodological tools over the past decades, establishing itself as a competitive, sophisticated, and independent social science. Perhaps because of its emphasis on matters of design, methodology, and quantitative analysis, criminology has had few significant advances in theory. Advances in Criminological Theory is the first series exclusively dedicated to the dissemination of original work on criminological theory.The Process and Structure of Crime, the ninth volume in this landmark series, is a thorough overview of the conceptual and empirical issues raised by the adoption of a criminal event perspective, which takes into account the multifaceted character of human behavior. This book is divided into three sections: conceptual bases of criminal events, the criminal event perspective itself, and responses to criminal events. Contributors analyze and explore a wide range of topics, including: how interpersonal routines are structured through past experience; the influence of social context on interpersonal routines; criminal opportunity and its impact on criminal events; the significance of neighborhood context; the effect of victimization and fear; how problem-oriented policing efforts need to be informed by and reflect the problems of repeat offenders, repeat victims, and hot spots of crime; and finally, how changes in the physical environment constrain or limit criminal opportunities. This fascinating work will be beneficial to criminologists, sociologists, and scholars of legal studies.Contributors to this volume include: Leslie W. Kennedy, Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot, Robert F. Meier, Mark Warr, Christopher Birkbeck, Luis Gerardo Gabaldon, Kriss A. Drass, Terance D. Miethe, Julie Horney, Jeffrey Fagan, Deanna L. Wilkinson, Robert J. Buskirk, Jr., Vincent F. Sacco, Ross Macmillan, John E. Eck, Paul J. Brantingham, and Pat Brantingham.

This tenth volume in the Advances in Criminological Theory series is dedicated to the work of Albert J. Reiss, Jr. It focuses on the relationship between crime and social organization that is so central to his work. This focus rejects a view of crime solely as the action of atomistic individuals and sees the criminal justice system as inseparable from its social, political and organizational context. This perspective has had a resurgence in recent years, and this volume brings together some of the most important scholars who have contributed to these developments. Articles examine the social organization of crime itself, the context of crime, and the response to crime. The concept of co-offending, originally developed by Reiss, is explored both as a way of improving understanding of juvenile offending and as a framework for understanding patterns of criminal organization across crime types and the relationship of criminal to licit organization. Other articles recast social disorganization theory in light of recent theoretical and empirical developments. They argue for a version of control theory that incorporates internal, contextual, and state-focused dimensions. Organizational actors, both as offenders and as governmental agencies responding to crime, are explored. Building from Reiss's groundbreaking work on policing, a group of articles on policing examine organizational change through reorganization, the adoption of strategies such as community policing and the increased use of empirical evidence, complicated by routines, organizational culture and political constraints. Taken together, these works develop new connections between dimensions of social organization and renew the social organization perspective on crime and criminal justice. Contributors include: Diane Vaughan, Joan McCord, Kevin P. Conway, Elin Waring, Felton Earls, Beat Mohler, Peter Manning, Stephen Mastrofski, Lawrence Sherman, David Weisburd, Robert Sampson, David F. Greenberg, Margaret Kelley, Robin Tamarelli, and Jeremy Travis.

For the past twenty to thirty years, control theories of crime have been at the center of theoretical development in criminology. Key to the control theory perspective is the notion that crime is an inherently individual act, and its explanation requires that we focus on the characteristics of individuals who commit crimes. Consequently, control theory focuses on such issues as self-control and social control.The contributions to this volume explicate and extend the application of control theory. It is divided into three general areas. Part 1 focuses on key assumptions and components of control theories. Contributors discuss the notion of learning, or socialization, in the context of control theory and the effects that families, peers, and the criminal justice system have on self-control, social ties, and criminal behavior. Part 2 applies control theory to areas typically assumed to be out of the domain of self-control theory and social control theory, such as gender differences in crime, domestic violence, and group crime. Considering control theory's emphasis on explaining individual criminal acts, these chapters suggest an interesting area of development by highlighting the possibility that differences in crime across or within groups may begin with individual characteristics and then making inferences about groups and group processes.Part 3 approaches the explanation of crime cross-nationally and at the macro-level. Although the authors take different approaches, they all illustrate that a theory of crime does not require culture-specific elements in order to be a valid cross-cultural explanation. Contributors to this volume include: Robert Agnew, Todd Armstrong, Leana Allen Bouffard, Augustine Brannigan, Chester Britt, Barbara Costello, Maja Dekovic, Matt DeLisi, Michael Gottfredson, Henriette Haas, Kelly H. Hardwick, Travis Hirschi, Marianne Junger, Martin Killias, Helen Mederer, Kevin Thompson, and Alexander Vazsonyi.

Beyond Empiricism expands the discourse on theories of criminal behavior. It considers institutional, social, and individual issues related to criminal behavior, while individually each raises questions about the adequacy of current theoretical claims. The topics have significant implications both for policy and research in criminology.Per-Olof Wikstrom introduces a cross-level action theory of crime. He suggests that better understanding of causal mechanisms can lead to a situational theory of action based on perception of alternatives and the process of choice. David Wolcott and Steven Schlossman provide new perspectives on the issues of racial disparity and the incarceration of adolescents in adult prisons. These authors highlight gaps in our understanding of early twentieth-century juvenile justice and negate some popular claims about recent changes in the criminal law. Peter Grabosky spotlights privatization policies in the criminal justice system, suggesting a framework for analyzing the balance of advantage resulting from three basic forms of institutional relationships in policing. Steven Messner and Richard Rosenfeld discuss why institutional analysis has been seriously underdeveloped in etiological analyses of crime. Jordan Pederson and Matthew Shane scrutinize the concept of aggression. Their descriptions of aggressive behavior among non-human animals provide a fascinating backdrop for understanding human actions. Joan McCord emphasizes the intentionality of crimes as she argues that to understand what causes crime, one must have a theory about what it means to act intentionally. After critically appraising prior theories, McCord introduces and defends a new theory of motivation based on a post-empiricist theory of language.This latest volume in the distinguished Advances in Criminological Theory series continues to add to the theoretical underpinnings of the field, and will be important to all collections of social science research on criminology.

This sixth volume Advances in Criminological Theory is testimony to a resurgent interest in anomie-strain theory, which began in the mid-1980s and continues unabated into the 1990s. Contributors focus on the new body of empirical research and theorizing that has been added to the anomie tradition that extends from Durkheim to Merton. The first section is a major, 75-page statement by Robert K. Merton, examining the development of the anomie-and-opportunity-struc-ture paradigm and its significance to criminology.The Legacy of Anomie Theory assesses the theory's continuing usefulness, explains the relevance of Merton's concept of goals/means disparity as a psychological mechanism in the explanation of delinquency, and compares strain theory with social control theory. A macrosociological theoretical formulationis used to explain the association between societal development and crime rates. In other chapters, anomie is used to explain white-collar crime and to explore the symbiotic relationship between Chinese gangs and adult criminal organizations within the cultural, economic, and political context of the American-Chinese community.Contributors include: David F. Greenberg, Sir Leon Radzinowicz, Richard Rosenfeld, Steven F. Messner, David Weisburd, Ellen Chayet, Ko-lin Chin, Jeffrey Pagan, John P. Hoffmann, Timothy Ireland, S. George Vincent-nathan, Michael J. Lynch, W. Byron Groves, C. Ray Jeffery, Gilbert Geis, Thomas J. Bernard, Nikos Passas, Robert Agnew, Gary F. Jensen, Deborah V. Cohen, Elin Waring, and Bonnie Berry. The Legacy of Anomie Theory \s important for criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, and other professionals seeking to understand crime and violence in culture.

In Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency, Terence P. Thornberry and his contributors show that criminal behavior is not a static human attribute, but ebbs and flows over the life course of the individual. Criminal behavior tends to follow a distinct psychological pattern. It is relatively uncommon during childhood, is initiated by most offenders during adolescence, flourishes during late adolescence and early childhood, and usually diminishes or disappears by the mid-twenties. This pattern is not characteristic of all people--some never commit crimes and others become career criminals--but it is a general description of the developmental pattern of criminal offenders. This pattern has profound implications for theories of crime and delinquency. Not only does it explain initiation into, maintenance of, and desistance from involvement in crime, it offers insight into why crime flourishes during adolescence. Traditional theories of crime and delinquency have often failed to distinguish among different phases of criminal careers. They tend to ignore developmental changes that occur across a person's life course, changes that coincide with and can explain the causes and patterns of criminal behavior. This paperback edition of the seventh volume of the distinguished series Advances in Criminological Theory moves us from static identifications of the criminal by presenting a broad range of developmental explanations of crime. Each contributor articulates a developmental or life course perspective in explaining how people become involved in delinquency and crime. Each covers a wide range of theoretical territory and reveals how a developmental perspective enhances the explanatory power of traditional theories of crime and delinquency. This volume is an invaluable tool for criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, and other professionals seeking to teach how crime and violence can be understood in our culture.

Two new criminological approaches are defined and applied to categories of crime in Routine Activity and Rational Choice, now available in paperback. Routine activity analyzes the criminal event, and avoids motivations and psychology as topics for discussion, whereas rational choice approaches crime as purposive behavior designed to meet the offender's commonplace needs, such as money, status, sex, and excitement. These conceptual models are both employed to analyze such crimes as drunk driving, gun use, kidnapping, and political violence. This volume discusses the relationship of these theories to more traditional approaches to crime studies.The Advances in Criminological Theory series encourages theory construction and validation in the articles and themes selected for publication. It also furthers the free exchange of ideas, propositions, and postulates. Following publication of the first volume, Michael J. Lynch of Florida State University asserted that "Advances in Criminological Theory is to be applauded as an attempt to revive criminological theory by providing an accessible outlet." Contributions to this volume include: Pierre Tremblay, "Searching for Suitable Co-offenders"; Raymond Paternoster and Sally Simpson, "A Rational Choice Theory of Corporate Crime"; Richard B. Felson, "Predatory and Dispute-related Violence"; Gordon Trasler, "Conscience, Opportunity, Rational Choice, and Crime"; Ezzat A. Fattah, "The Rational Choice/Opportunity Perspectives as a Vehicle for Integrating Criminological and Victimological Theories"; Patricia L. Brantingham and Paul J. Brantingham, "Environment, Routine, and Situation"; Maurice Cusson, "A Strategic Analysis of Crime"; Richard W. Harding, "Gun Use in Crime, Rational Choice, and Social Learning Theory."

Deterrence, Choice, and Crime explores the various dimensions of modern deterrence theory, relevant research, and practical applications. Beginning with the classical roots of deterrence theory in Cesare Beccaria’s profoundly important contributions to modern criminological thought, the book draws out the many threads in contemporary criminology that are explicitly mentioned or at least hinted by Beccaria. These include sanction risk perceptions and their behavioral consequences, the deterrent efficacy of the certainty versus the severity of punishment, the role of celerity of punishment in the deterrence process, informal versus formal deterrence, and individual differences in deterrence. The richness of the volume is seen in the inclusion of chapters that focus on the theoretical development of deterrence across disciplines such as criminology and economics. In an innovative section, the role of agents of deterrence is considered. Lessons are learned from the practical applications of deterrence undertaken in the areas of policing, corrections, and the community. The closing section includes Michael Tonry’s "An Honest Politician’s Guide to Deterrence: Certainty, Severity, Celerity, and Parsimony," a reminder of Beccaria’s dictum that "it is better to prevent crimes than punish them." In the current environment, deterrence arguments are routinely used to justify policies that do just the opposite. Ray Paternoster, who contributed two chapters, passed away as this volume was being finalized. Fittingly, this book is dedicated to him and ends with Alex Piquero’s poignant remembrance of Ray, a path-breaking deterrence scholar, beloved mentor, and ardent supporter of social justice.Suitable for researchers and graduate students as well as for advanced courses in criminology, this book breaks new ground in theorizing the effects of punishment and other sanctions on crime control.

Criminology has developed strong methodological tools over the past decades, establishing itself as a competitive and sophisticated social science. Despite and perhaps because of its emphasis on matters of design, methodology, and quantitative analysis, criminology has had few significant advances in theory. Advances in Criminological Theory is the first publication exclusively dedicated to the dissemination of original work on criminological theory. It was created to overcome the neglect of theory construction and validation in existing criminological publications, as well as to further the free exchange of ideas, propositions, and postulates. This first volume of the series meets this challenge.

Criminology has developed strong methodological tools over the past decades, establishing itself as a competitive and sophisticated social science. Despite and perhaps because of its emphasis on research design, methodology, and quantitative analysis, criminology has had few significant advances in theory. This is the first publication exclusively dedicated to the dissemination of original work on criminological theory. It encourages theory construction and validation in existing criminological publications, as well as furthering the free exchange of ideas, propositions, and postulates. This volume is dedicated to a pioneer in criminology, Donald Cressey, and is especially noteworthy for its comparative and international dimension.

Theories of Terrorism explains and advances the major theories of terrorism that address issues of becoming a terrorist, being a terrorist, and leaving terrorism, in a clear and accessible format.Readers will gain an understanding of the most promising explanations of terrorism that have been developed to date and how they can be used to explore core substantive issues related to the topic. The content is delivered with a scholarly depth, though still accessible by students at different levels. The book offers explanations from prominent scholars for the three phases of radicalization, covering emerging topics such as women’s involvement in terrorism, fear of terrorism, the code of the terrorist, and suicide terrorism. This is the first book in the Advances in Criminological Theory series to address the issue of terrorism and emphasizes the use of theory to direct research development in the future.The style and content coverage of the book make it appropriate as a supplemental text in undergraduate courses on terrorism and political violence. The inclusion of current empirical literature and guidance for future research efforts gives the text appeal for graduate students and academics in the disciplines of criminology/criminal justice, political science, sociology, and interdisciplinary terrorism studies. The emphasis on theory and the radicalization process throughout the text will also make the book useful as a reference for general graduate-level theory courses within these areas.

This volume takes stock of contemporary perspectives on gender and crime. In 1975, Freda Adler published her pathbreaking book, Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal. She made the bold claim that changes in American society—including changing attitudes and opportunities—would allow for greater participation of women in criminal enterprises.Beyond her substantive thesis, which turned out to be partially accurate, Adler opened up a vibrant new area within criminology: the study of gender and crime. Now nearly a half‑century later, the field of criminology is replete with women scholars who are making plentiful and important contributions. As a result, this volume explores cutting‑edge issues. Part I starts by laying out a theoretical foundation, focusing on the origins of theories of female criminality, and then providing an overview of more contemporary perspectives. Part II explores the role of race in shaping women’s criminality, drawing on the novel approaches of “Black Criminology” and the study of intersectionality. Part III gives attention to issues that heretofore were male‑centric, illuminating female desistance from crime, the effects of peer groups, and gender differences in attitudes toward criminal justice policies. Finally, Part IV considers the explanation of three important realms of criminality—risky lifestyles, white‑collar crime, and terrorism.This volume will be of interest to a wide range of criminologists and is an ideal choice for use in graduate seminars and upper‑level undergraduate courses.

This volume takes stock of contemporary perspectives on gender and crime. In 1975, Freda Adler published her pathbreaking book, Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal. She made the bold claim that changes in American society—including changing attitudes and opportunities—would allow for greater participation of women in criminal enterprises.Beyond her substantive thesis, which turned out to be partially accurate, Adler opened up a vibrant new area within criminology: the study of gender and crime. Now nearly a half‑century later, the field of criminology is replete with women scholars who are making plentiful and important contributions. As a result, this volume explores cutting‑edge issues. Part I starts by laying out a theoretical foundation, focusing on the origins of theories of female criminality, and then providing an overview of more contemporary perspectives. Part II explores the role of race in shaping women’s criminality, drawing on the novel approaches of “Black Criminology” and the study of intersectionality. Part III gives attention to issues that heretofore were male‑centric, illuminating female desistance from crime, the effects of peer groups, and gender differences in attitudes toward criminal justice policies. Finally, Part IV considers the explanation of three important realms of criminality—risky lifestyles, white‑collar crime, and terrorism.This volume will be of interest to a wide range of criminologists and is an ideal choice for use in graduate seminars and upper‑level undergraduate courses.

A Criminologist’s Life: Essays in Honor of the Criminological Legacy of Francis T. Cullen honors the vast scholarly contributions of Francis T. "Frank" Cullen as well as the immeasurable influence that he has had on the field for over 40 years.With over 500 publications to his name and more than 67,000 citations to his work, Frank Cullen has left an indelible mark on the fields of criminology and criminal justice. Although best known for his work on rehabilitation and criminological theory, Frank also has profusely published in and shaped the areas of white-collar crime, the use of meta-analytic techniques to organize knowledge, the sexual victimization of college women, and public opinion on crime and punishment. However, Frank’s legacy on the field is not limited to his scholarly contributions: He has served as a mentor to countless students, colleagues, and others in the field, helping support and guide the next generation of scholars. Thus, the current volume is organized to recognize both his scholarly work and mentoring, as well as to provide an opportunity for Frank to reflect on his career "in his own words."The result is a collection of essays from Frank’s former students, colleagues, and friends written to pay homage to the more than 40 years of work he has done to advance criminological knowledge and shape the field.