NCJ Number
76503
Editor(s)
D H Kelly
Date Published
1980
Length
590 pages
Annotation
The text combines classic and current approaches to definitions, measurements, explanations, and controls of criminal behavior.
Abstract
The first section describes the evolution of laws and how various historical forces (legislative and political) influence their creation. The selections show how those with power and resources affect the prevailing definitions of crime and decide both who the supposed criminals are and how they should be treated. Another section examines the measurement and costs of crime. It describes the strategies used to assess the nature and extent of criminal activity and emphasizes the role statistics play in the definition, control, and prevention of crime. Explanations of why crime exists and why people violate the laws are also examined. The selections present the major sociological and social-psychological theories advanced to explain criminal behavior (including the labeling and control theories). The text then explores how people become exposed to crime and learn criminal values and traditions. The selections focus on female murders, sexual offenders, street crime, white-collar criminals, and government and corporate criminality. The effect of criminal involvement on the individual's personal and public identity is also discussed, and how those individuals who act in the name of institutions attempt to control lawbreakers is examined. The readings show how institutional representatives go about identifying, processing, and sentencing criminals. The text looks at possible methods of reducing crime and reforming the criminal, and it focuses on obstacles to the reform of career criminals and rehabilitative programs; suggestions for improvements are made. The selections include tabular data, bibliographical footnotes, and references. (Author abstract modified)