NCJ Number
92813
Editor(s)
G P Waldo
Date Published
1983
Length
135 pages
Annotation
Seven papers discuss specific crimes to demonstrate the applicability of theories concerning career crime and career criminals.
Abstract
The papers for this volume were all presented at the 1982 meeting of the American Society of Criminology. All discuss specific types of criminal behavior and use a typological approach to crime. The book does not attempt to develop a typology per se, nor do any of the readings concern an overall typology of crime. Papers provide a detailed review of the theoretical and empirical literature on professional crime, focus on the pickpocket at the Super Bowl, and question whether a nationwide criminal conspiracy exists that controls organized crime in the United States. One chapter attempts to apply social network analysis to study a specific group of organized criminals, while another uses participant observation and field methods to test the structural versus the process approach to organized crime. Additional papers explore the impact of labeling what might be organized crime as white-collar crime and examine the implications of the Ford Pinto case, highlighting the inadequacies of the criminal justice system in controlling corporate crime. Notes, references, and tables are provided. For separate papers, see NCJ-92814-17.