NCJ Number
176632
Date Published
1998
Length
443 pages
Annotation
This criminal justice text is ideally suited for introductory criminology courses since it deals with the definition of crime, the measurement of crime, and theories of crime.
Abstract
The first part of the text defines crime and other forms of wrongdoing by focusing on how the notion of crime develops, social changes, and crime victims. The second part focuses on crime measurement, with emphasis on official crime counts, direct and indirect observations, victim surveys, and self-reports. The third part covers the social location of serious crime and discusses age and sex as correlates of crime, ethnic differences in crime rates, and urban criminality. The fourth part explains crime in terms of crime causes, crime control, socialization, power and conflict, structures of opportunity, social inequalities, subcultures, differential association, and social reactions to crime. References, tables, and figures