NCJ Number
197878
Journal
International Annals of Criminology Volume: 36 Dated: 1998 Pages: 27-42
Date Published
1998
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the criminological knowledge that emerged from modernization in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Abstract
In the 19th century, the second phase of industrialization was believed to have improved economic and technological progress, as well as the material conditions of human life. The birth of modern criminal policy was in the so-called age of enlightenment. The first crime statistics in the early 19th century brought about the practical idea of direct crime control in modern societies. The birth of the more offender-oriented root of modern criminology was in 1876. In 1881, all disciplines that dealt with aspects of crime, criminality, crime control, criminal policy and crime prevention were brought together. There were similarities between the European and American criminologists’ ideas, including interdisciplinary concepts and the neutralization of the recidivist offender. The cornerstones of modern sociological analysis of the crisis of modernization and the understanding of crime were laid in the late 1800's. Crime is a social construct, which was created by social-psychological processes of establishing norms and sanctions for the breach of those norms. Criminologists concentrate on the core content of the forces that cause harmful behavior. The more that is known about the causes of deviant behavior, the more that individualized schemes of prevention, sanctioning, and treatment can be developed. Comparative social or socio-psychological factors need to be taken into account. The comparisons of societies may inform on what structural conditions guarantee a low crime rate in one society and a crime wave in another. The goal is not to eradicate crime, but to moderate and modify it. By doing so in a careful manner, the amount of social and individual harm caused by crimes may be minimized. 19 references