1 The Study of Crime 1
The Nature of Crime and Delinquency 2
The Characteristics of Crime 4
Juvenile Delinquency 5
Social Origins of the Criminal Law 6
Theoretical Perspectives on Crime and the Criminal Law 6
The Social Construction of Crime 9
Strategies of Criminological Research 10
Comparative and Historical Research 11
Biographies 12
Patterns of Crime 13
The Cohort Study 15
Surveys 16
Other Strategies of Criminological Research 18
Summary 20
IMPORTANT TERMS 20
REVIEW QUESTIONS 21
FOR FURTHER STUDY 21
2 Measuring Crime 22
The Emergence of Modern Criminology 22
Classical Criminology 22
Cartography 23
Positivism 24
Official Crime Statistics 25
History of Crime Statistics in the United States 26
FBI Crime Statistics 26
Crime Rates 28
Gathering Crime Statistics 31
Using FBI Data for Criminological Research 36
Measuring Criminal Victimization 36
History of Victimization Surveys 36
Comparing NCVS and FBI Data 37
The Dark Figure 37
Methodological Problems with Victimization Surveys 39
Measuring Crime by Self-Reports 40
History of Self-Report Studies 40
The Dark Figure 41
Methodological Problems with Self-Report Studies 42
Summary 44
IMPORTANT TERMS 45
REVIEW QUESTIONS 45
FOR FURTHER STUDY 45
3 Crime and Its Costs 46
Conventional Crimes 48
Crimes of Violence 48
Property Crimes 58
White-Collar Crime 64
Is White-Collar Crime Different? 65
The Costs of White-Collar Crime 67
Organized Crime 68
The Costs of Organized Crime 69
Victimless Crimes 69
Drug Use 70
Gambling 70
Prostitution 71
Summary 71
IMPORTANT TERMS 72
REVIEW QUESTIONS 72
FOR FURTHER STUDY 73
4 Dimensions of Crime 74
Cross-National Variations in Crime Rates 74
Regional Variations in Crime Rates within the United States 76
Variations in Crime Rates by Community 77
Crime within Metropolitan Areas 78
Migration and Crime 80
Temporal Variations in Crime Rates 81
Seasonal Variations in Crime Rates 81
Annual Trends in Crime Rates 82
Variations in Crime Rates by Sex 83
Sex and Juvenile Delinquency 85
Sex and Crime 86
Sex and Victimization 87
Variations in Crime Rates by Age 88
Age-Specific Arrest Rates 88
Age Distribution and Crime Rates 89
Age and Victimization 91
Variations in Crime Rates by Race 91
Race, Arrest Statistics, and Self-Report Studies 93
Race, Crime, and Background Variables 94
Race and Victimization 95
Variations in Crime Rates by Social Class 97
Social Class and Adult Crime 97
Social Class and Juvenile Delinquency 97
Methodological Problems 98
Social Class and Victimization 99
Summary 99
IMPORTANT TERMS 100
REVIEW QUESTIONS 101
FOR FURTHER STUDY 101
5 Biological and Psychological Explanations of Crime 102
Biological Explanations of Crime 102
History of the Biological Perspective on Crime 103
Modern Biological Research on Crime 104
Biology and Modern Criminology 111
Psychological Explanations of Crime 113
Intelligence and Crime 113
Personality Characteristics 116
Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders 124
Psychology and Variations in Crime Rates 125
Psychology and the Criminal Law 126
Summary 129
IMPORTANT TERMS 130
REVIEW QUESTIONS 130
FOR FURTHER STUDY 131
6 Social, Cultural, and Economic Sources of Crime 132
Social, Cultural, and Economic Sources of White-Collar Crime 133
Free Enterprise: Profits and Competition 133
Market Structure and Crime 135
Trust and Credit 136
Corporations and Crime 136
Development of New Technology 137
Social, Cultural, and Economic Sources of Organized Crime 139
Prohibition and Organized Crime 140
Organized Crime after Prohibition 140
Organized Crime and the Economic System 142
Social, Cultural, and Economic Sources of Conventional Crime 142
Modernization and Crime 143
Opportunity and the Economy 144
Unemployment and Crime 144
Relative Deprivation and Crime 147
Anomie, Strain, and Crime 148
Differential Opportunity and Delinquency 152
Social Class, Values, and Delinquency 154
The Subculture of Violence 156
Gender, Crime, and Feminist Criminology 159
The Generalizability Problem 160
The Gender Ratio Problem 160
Gender Socialization 162
Doing Gender 162
Power-Control Theory 164
Women as Victims, Women as Resisters 165
Social, Cultural, and Economic Factors and Variations in Crime Rates 165
Summary 167
IMPORTANT TERMS 168
REVIEW QUESTIONS 168
FOR FURTHER STUDY 168
7 Social Control and Commitment to the Law 170
Neutralizing the Law 170
Drift 170
Delinquent, Dominant, and Subterranean Values 171
Techniques of Neutralization 172
Evidence on Techniques of Neutralization 177
Critique of Neutralization Theory 180
Social Control Theory 181
The Family 181
The School 182
The Peer Group 182
Conventional Lines of Action and Adult Activities 182
Evidence on Social Control Theory 183
Critique of Social Control Theory 197
Techniques of Neutralization, Social Control Theory, and Variations in Crime Rates 199
Summary 200
IMPORTANT TERMS 201
REVIEW QUESTIONS 201
FOR FURTHER STUDY 201
8 Learning to Commit Crime 202
Sources of Learning to Commit Crime 202
The Community 202
The Peer Group 203
The General Culture 203
The Media 205
Sports 208
Pornography 210
Correctional Institutions 211
Differential Association Theory 212
Critique of Differential Association Theory 214
Evidence on Differential Association Theory 216
The Labeling Perspective 221
Labeling and Self-Concepts 222
Labeling and Opportunities 224
Labeling and Subcultures 225
Critique of the Labeling Perspective 226
Rewards and Risks of Crime 226
Reward-Risk Models of Criminal Behavior 227
The Rewards and Risks of Crime 230
Critique of Reward-Risk Models 234
Learning Theories and Variations in Crime Rates 234
Summary 235
IMPORTANT TERMS 237
REVIEW QUESTIONS 237
FOR FURTHER STUDY 237
9 Opportunities and Facilitating Factors 238
Routine Activities Theory 238
A Critique of Routine Activities Theory 240
Targets of Crime 241
Property Crimes 242
Vulnerability of Victims 243
Victim Precipitation 247
Facilitating Factors: Alcohol, Drugs, and Firearms 249
Alcohol and Crime 250
Drugs and Crime 252
Firearms and Crime 254
Summary 260
IMPORTANT TERMS 261
REVIEW QUESTIONS 261
FOR FURTHER STUDY 261
10 Criminal Careers 263
Theoretical Perspectives on Criminal Careers 264
Analyzing Criminal Careers 265
Career Contingencies 265
The Labeling Perspective 266
The "Zigzag Path": Criminal Careers and Legitimate Pursuits 267
Recruitment into a Criminal Career 268
Typologies of Criminal Careers 269
Delinquent Careers 269
Chronic Offenders 270
Patterns of Delinquent Careers 271
Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Criminal Careers 272
Criminal Careers of Robbers 274
Career Patterns 275
Planning Crimes 275
Use of the Stolen Money 276
Intensive and Intermittent Career Criminals 276
Criminal Careers of White-Collar Offenders 277
Leaving a Life of Crime 278
A Model of the Exiting Process 278
Reasons for Leaving a Career as a Professional Thief 280
Reasons for Leaving a Career in Violent Crime 280
Reasons for Leaving a Career as a Drug Dealer or Smuggler 281
Exiting and Theories of Crime Causation 281
Exiting and the Correctional System 283
Summary 284
IMPORTANT TERMS 285
REVIEW QUESTIONS 285
FOR FURTHER STUDY 286
11 The Organization of Criminal Behavior 287
The Meaning of Organization 288
Juvenile Gangs 290
The Unorganized Gang 291
The Organized Gang 292
Conventional Crime 295
Professional Theft 295
Drug Smuggling and Dealing 299
Violent Crime 301
Organized Crime 301
The Mafia in the United States 303
New Forms of Organized Crime 307
White-Collar Crime 309
Summary 310
IMPORTANT TERMS 311
REVIEW QUESTIONS 311
FOR FURTHER STUDY 312
12 Community Reactions to Crime 313
Fear of Crime 314
Consequences of the Fear of Crime 316
Informal Control of Crime 319
Community and Informal Social Control 319
Defensible Space and Informal Social Control 322
Individual Response to Crime 324
Bystander Responses to Crime 324
Collective Response to Crime 328
A Historical and Comparative Perspective 329
Urban Patrol Groups 330
Neighborhood Watches 332
Community Crime-Prevention Strategies 333
Summary 334
IMPORTANT TERMS 335
REVIEW QUESTIONS 335
FOR FURTHER STUDY 336
13 The Criminal Justice System 337
The Police 338
History of the Police 338
Police Abuses of Authority 340
The Clearance Rate 346
Criminal Courts 347
The Bail System 348
Preventive Detention 348
Prosecutors 349
Defense Attorneys 349
Judges 350
Juries 350
Plea Bargaining 350
Probation 351
Sentence Disparity 352
The Prisons 358
History of Prisons 359
The Prison Population 359
Parole 361
The Victim in the Criminal Justice System 362
Compensation 362
Restitution 363
The Changing Role of the Victim 364
Summary 365
IMPORTANT TERMS 366
REVIEW QUESTIONS 366
FOR FURTHER STUDY 367
14 Deterrence, Incapacitation, Retribution,and Rehabilitation 368
Deterrence 368
Assumptions about Behavior 369
Deterrence and Other Effects of Penalties 370
Deterrence and the Criminal Act 371
Deterrence and the Sanctioning Process 372
Deterrence and the Criminal Justice System 374
Incapacitation 382
Selective Incapacitation 382
Career Criminal Programs 383
"Three Strikes and You're Out" 384
Retribution 384
A System of Just Deserts 386
Retribution and the Criminal Justice System 390
Rehabilitation 397
Rehabilitation and the Criminal Justice System 398
Types of Treatment 400
Does Rehabilitation Work? 402
Reaffirming Rehabilitation 404
Reintegrating the Offender into Society 406
The Future of Rehabilitation 407
Summary 408
IMPORTANT TERMS 409
REVIEW QUESTIONS 409
FOR FURTHER STUDY 410
15 Solving the Crime Problem 411
Ideological Approaches to Solving the Crime Problem 411
The Conservative Approach 411
The Liberal Approach 412
The Radical Approach 412
Attitudes toward the Causes and Prevention of Crime 413
The Politics of Crime 414
The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice 414
The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration 415
The 1968 and 1972 Presidential Elections 416
The Crime Issue during the Reagan Administration 416
The 1988 Presidential Election and the George H. W. Bush Administration 417
The 1992 and 1996 Elections and the Clinton Administration 417
The 2000 Presidential Election and the George W. Bush Administration 418
Crime and the Criminal Justice System 420
Overreach of the Criminal Law 420
The Police 420
The Courts 421
The Prisons 424
Situational Crime Prevention 425
Target Hardening 426
Self-Protective Measures 426
Informal Social Control 426
Community Crime Prevention 427
Dealing with the Causes of Crime 427
Economic Factors 428
The Process of Social Change 429
Political Factors 429
Community Ties 430
The Family 430
The School 431
Discrimination 431
Conclusion 432
Summary 432
IMPORTANT TERMS 433
REVIEW QUESTIONS 433
FOR FURTHER STUDY 433
Glossary 435
Bibliography 443
Name Index 478
Subject Index 486
FEATURE BOXES 35
Crime and the Media 35
The Police and the News Media 35
Reporting Terrorism 57
White-Collar Crime in the News 66
Race and the Student-Murderer 92
Internet Crimes against Young People 138
The How-to-Commit-Crime Manual 213
Crime Stoppers 325
Crime on Campus 43
Measuring the Problem 43
Fraud and Student Loans 61
Computer Crime and Differential Association Theory 220
Routine Activities and Criminal Victimization 241
The Role of Alcohol and Drugs 250
Just Deserts for Student Offenders? 385
Cross-Cultural Perspectives 55
Hate Crimes against French Jews 55
Violent Crime in South Africa 75
Japanese Corporations and the Yakuza 143
Machismo and Murder in Brazil 204
Terrorism and the al Qaeda Network 288
Rape in Bosnia 302
Lynchings in Brazil 330
Rape and Adultery in Pakistan 363
Capital Punishment in China 381
Using Criminology 90
Can Curfews Stop Juvenile Crime? 90
Neurological and Psychological Problems of Juveniles Condemned to Death 110
Gender and the Student-Murdarer 163
Holding Parents Responsible for Their Children's Behavior 188
RICO and Organized Crime 306
Profiling the Serial Killer 422