NCJ Number
120845
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1989) Pages: 289-309
Date Published
1989
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Antipersonality themes in mainstream criminology have been fueled for years by highly suspect moral, professional, and ideological concerns and by something less than a rational empirical approach.
Abstract
The research evidence regarding the importance of personality has been positive from the beginning but has been the focus of a highly rhetorical and pseudoscientific form of criticism. These efforts as knowledge destruction are reviewed and are found to be ideologically and professionally convenient but weakly grounded logically and empirically. The paper concludes that a social theory of criminal conduct need not resist recognition of the importance of human diversity. 53 references (Publisher abstract)