History of Criminology (Criminology)

Introduction

A comprehensive survey of criminology, in all its variants, manifestations, and historical antecedents, has yet to be written. Several reasons can be adduced why the effort has yet to be undertaken. The first results from a professional orientation shared by all scientific endeavors. The most immediate imperative of science is to begin accumulating knowledge of the phenomena it wishes to comprehend. This mandate produces a professional orientation toward expertise. The premium placed on the esoteric over the general requires the scholarly community to direct the profession toward the dissection of smaller aspects of the larger, more complicated subject matter. It is presumed that documenting its own history is a secondary concern better left to historians. An additional impediment is an artifact of the field’s canon being fed by contributions from a wide spectrum of disciplines through the years, from political science, psychology, and biology to moral philosophy and economics and everything beyond. These peculiarities of an undisciplined emerging discipline present challenges for any historian attempting to determine the working identity of the study of crime and its control. Combining the multiple strands and facets of the field is a challenge not to be dismissed lightly; nevertheless, offering an outline of the field’s development is certainly not an impossible task. The bibliographic format, and the larger bibliographic effort of which this article is but a small part, offers an ideal opportunity to attempt a compilation of criminology’s history. The approach followed here will mimic that of an introductory criminology text, with a few modifications. Each theoretical school will be represented in the sequence in which it appears in the historical record, roughly considered, as seen in the publication of foundational works. The theoretical school that supersedes the earlier contributions will then be introduced. There are only two minor departures from the textbook-like formula. First, the article begins with a section dedicated to introducing a body of work that is about the field of criminology. Increasing attention has been given of late to chronicling its history. Second, a section is included that considers pre-professional criminology. These writings address the question of crime and its control prior to the field cohering around a professional identity. Because the article endeavors to provide a history capturing the seminal works in its canon readers interested in learning of recent theoretical developments beginning in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., career criminal research, life-course theory, self-control/general theory of crime, bio-social criminology) are encouraged to consult entries dealing with these topics found elsewhere in the Oxford Bibliographies Online collection. [Please note that many of the works cited here were originally published at much earlier dates.]

General Overviews

Several notable scholars have voiced a desire to see more effort at archiving and discussing the history of the field. These exhortations have been made with greater frequency of late and they have garnered some response. Admittedly, a definitive account that traces the history of the field from its beginnings to the present day is as yet unavailable. However, a number of histories have chronicled aspects of the field’s past. These histories are often rendered via recollections of the work done by early scholars in the field. Mannheim 1972 (first edition released in 1960) set a trend as an edited volume of biographical accounts of numerous eminent historical figures from Bentham and Beccaria to Bonger. Rock 1994 is a compilation of very early European criminology. The edited volume includes writings from leading figures highlighted in the section Continental Sociology, such as André-Michel Guerry and Lambert Quetelet, in addition to a number of lesser-known contributors. The chapters were written by experts writing within the traditions begun by the respective luminaries. The edited volume approach was repeated half a century later in The Origins of American Criminology (Cullen, et al. 2011). The book compiles recollections from contemporary criminologists. Similarly, Laub 1983 constitutes an early effort using an oral history approach to capture firsthand accounts from major scholars. That effort has been followed by an ongoing project cataloging video recordings with major figures both in the United States and abroad. The Oral History Criminology Project is hosted by the American Society of Criminology (ASC). The video collection of more than seventy scholars are available free of charge through the ASC website listed in the citation. A survey of mainstream criminology, as told through the writings of many current figures responding to the question: What is Criminology? has been published recently (Bosworth and Hoyle 2011). This volume has a philosophical orientation, pondering the question of the field’s identity. Wetzell 2000 examines criminology in Germany from the advent of the 20th century through the collapse of the Nazi regime and serves as a cautionary tale in terms of the field’s proximity to policy. This international framework is considered in Becker and Wetzell 2006.

Becker, Peter, and Richard F. Wetzell, eds. 2006. Criminals and their scientists: The history of criminology in international perspective. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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Criminology has manifested itself in numerous ways across time and space. This edited volume includes contributions from authors from across the globe to illustrate how criminality is framed, from criminal psychiatry in Australia to social hygiene in France. Lombroso’s work in Italy and criminology in Germany are also explained.
Becker, Peter, and Richard F. Wetzell, eds. 2006. Criminals and their scientists: The history of criminology in international perspective. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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Bosworth, Mary, and Carolyn Hoyle, eds. 2011. What is criminology? New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
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The thirty-four chapters of the book are listed under six major headings. The work outlines the various branches within the field across a few axes: conceptual, methodological, and political. The latter half of the book outlines the sources of several limitations to future development: disciplinary, geographic, and academic.
Bosworth, Mary, and Carolyn Hoyle, eds. 2011. What is criminology? New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Cullen, Francis T., Cheryl Lero Jonson, Andrew J. Myer, and Freda Adler, eds. 2011. The origins of American criminology: Advances in criminological theory. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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The volume includes contributions from many leading figures, some writing on the development of their ideas and careers. Two major themes are covered. The first provides an overview of older schools and institutions—Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia. Newer themes includes reflections on developmental theories and the control tradition.
Cullen, Francis T., Cheryl Lero Jonson, Andrew J. Myer, and Freda Adler, eds. 2011. The origins of American criminology: Advances in criminological theory. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Laub, John H. 1983. Criminology in the making: An oral history. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press.
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The book includes edited interviews with nine of the 20th century’s most recognizable figures in the field—Donald Cressey, Thorsten Sellin, Albert Cohen, among others. Laub’s interviews with these men consider in depth the development of major ideas, research projects, and interactions within the scholarly community.
Laub, John H. 1983. Criminology in the making: An oral history. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press.
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Mannheim, Herman, ed. 1972. Pioneers in criminology. 2d ed. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
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The book contains a veritable roster of the preeminent scholars who informed the development of the field that later became known as criminology. Lengthy entries on careers of scholars such as Durkheim, Alexander Maconochie, Gabriel Tarde, Lombroso, and numerous others; entries authored by an expert on the life’s work of the scholars.
Mannheim, Herman, ed. 1972. Pioneers in criminology. 2d ed. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
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Oral History Criminology Project. Columbus, OH: American Society of Criminology.
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Video archive that is actively being expanded. Currently there are more than seventy hour-long recordings with many leading scholars from the United States and abroad available for viewing, free of charge. Scholars offer commentary on their own work and the development of their careers.
Oral History Criminology Project. Columbus, OH: American Society of Criminology.
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Rock, Paul, ed. 1994. History of criminology. Aldershot, UK: Dartmouth.
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Five-part book dedicated to tracking the development of criminology from its origins in moral statistics in the 20th century when it grew into an academic pursuit. The work elaborates on the European contribution to the foundations of criminology. An abbreviated list of highlighted work includes those of Burt, Defoe, Sir Romilly, and Colquhoun.
Rock, Paul, ed. 1994. History of criminology. Aldershot, UK: Dartmouth.
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Wetzell, Richard F. 2000. Inventing the criminal: A history of German criminology, 1880–1945. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press.
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An exhaustive account of the historical record involving the intersection of biology, sociology, and law in Germany leading up to and including the Nazi regime. The work highlights tensions between biology and sociology on the eugenic agenda, against the criminal backdrop of the Holocaust.
Wetzell, Richard F. 2000. Inventing the criminal: A history of German criminology, 1880–1945. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press.
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Pre-Professional Criminology

Prior to the existence of a formally recognized profession of criminology, much less one rooted in measuring aspects of empirical reality, moral philosophy held sway. During the Enlightenment two thinkers in particular gave thought to how to establish a more humane social order. The vision of Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham proved seminal, especially for the criminological tradition that would proceed under the largely interchangeable monikers of rational choice, deterrence, or classical theory. Bentham worked to articulate a rationally guided construction of law (Bentham 2007). Beginning from a few essential assumptions he built utilitarian philosophy. Beccaria found the notion of man as rational calculator compelling as well (Beccaria 2009). His formulation of deterrence came to inform the infrastructure of Western criminal justice with axioms such as fairness in punishment, and limitations on the state’s prerogative to punish in excess (his work constituted a broadside against state executions). The idea that came to sustain the aforementioned criminological approaches as well as control theory was that human nature is such that one will engage in crime if left unchecked. Both philosophies prescribe state action to counteract these base inclinations. Hirschi and Gottfredson 1990 outlines a primary schism in the field as that between these rationalistic theories and the later development of positivism. The general orientation of the field, with a few exceptions for both critical theory and control theories, is toward a scientifically informed approach tasked with locating the etiology of crime. Rationalists after all do not seek to explain crime but rather its absence. The numerous positivist traditions to be detailed elsewhere in this article all tend to work at isolating these external causes of crime that produce criminal motives. Sherman 2005 points to another fissure in the field that dates from the Enlightenment. Criminology made an early decision to engage in analytic studies as opposed to the use of experimentation. The former approach works to draw up hypotheses and apply statistical methodology in an effort to reveal patterns. Experimentation permits an altering of the environment to determine if our suppositions are correct by testing them directly. An early example is found in Fielding 1988. It includes an account of the creation of the Bow Street Runners, which acted as a de facto police force in successfully intervening to reduce robberies in a London rife with alcohol-driven violence. The formulation of his hypothesis relied on principles that would appear later with environmental criminology, namely, a close inspection of the conditions from which crime arose.

Beccaria, Cesare. 2009. On crimes and punishments and other writings. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press.
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Written in 1764, the classic formulation of the deterrence doctrine. From his Italian salon the tract was penned, pointing to a rationally informed method for the state to reduce crime. Laws should be written clearly. Enforcement should be swift, certain, and offered with just enough severity to make crime more painful than pleasurable. (On Crimes and Punishments published originally under the Italian title, Dei delittle e delle pene [Milan: Rizzoli, 1950]).
Beccaria, Cesare. 2009. On crimes and punishments and other writings. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press.
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Bentham, Jeremy. 2007. An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. Mineola, NY: Courier Dover.
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This enduring statement from 1789 lays out the fundamentals of utilitarianism. Utility is the organizing principle. Bentham asserts that humankind acts to increase pleasure while minimizing pain. The ultimate aim of a just political order therefore is to promote the greatest good for the greatest number.
Bentham, Jeremy. 2007. An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. Mineola, NY: Courier Dover.
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Fielding, Henry. 1988. An enquiry into the causes of the late increase of robbers and related writings. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan Univ. Press.
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Originally published a decade before Beccaria’s work (1751). Acting as a magistrate of the Bow Street Court in London Fielding carried out an investigation into the causes of robbery by means of interviews. A hypothesis was developed and tested. Paying “police” and raising the cost of gin reduced robbery and murder.
Fielding, Henry. 1988. An enquiry into the causes of the late increase of robbers and related writings. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan Univ. Press.
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Hirschi, Travis, and Michael Gottfredson. 1990. Substantive positivism and the idea of crime. Rationality and Society 2.4: 412–428.
DOI: 10.1177/1043463190002004002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The assumptions of rationalism are set against those offered by a number of schools working within the positivist tradition. On five different points restraint (i.e., “control”) models are judged to be preferable to those produced by science. Science has a priori assumptions built in despite insistence that induction is value free.
Hirschi, Travis, and Michael Gottfredson. 1990. Substantive positivism and the idea of crime. Rationality and Society 2.4: 412–428.
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Sherman, Lawrence. 2005. The use and usefulness of criminology, 1751–2005: Enlightened justice and its failures. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 600:115–135.
DOI: 10.1177/0002716205278103Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A divergence between analytic and experimental methodology is outlined. The analytic framework has come to dominate the field as a result of an Enlightenment-informed collective decision. The disadvantage of this framework is that it allows only for post-hoc assessments; experiments permit the advantage of manipulating variables.
Sherman, Lawrence. 2005. The use and usefulness of criminology, 1751–2005: Enlightened justice and its failures. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 600:115–135.
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Continental Sociology

The attempt to locate the sources of criminal behavior within the social context began within continental Europe in the early 1800s. More specifically, the perspective was introduced by French and German scholars. These contributions converged on a few key themes and subsequently came to constitute a major theme within mainstream criminology, which would come to include a number of perspectives: anomie/strain, social disorganization, subcultural theory, differential association, and social control. Positivism posits the use of scientific methods to gather evidence to ascertain the sources of motivation in criminality. Sociology proffers that the social structure of society plays an integral role in explaining crime. The early French works Guerry 2002 and Quetelet 2013 are set within the tradition that came to be known as “moral statistics.” More effective governance could be administered if the relevant facts could be gathered. This principle became embedded in early political science. From these empirical observations (e.g., descriptive statistics and basic population demographics) theory could then be generated. Émile Durkheim, arguably the dominant figure in the French sociological tradition, was cast against Karl Marx, a German expatriate who settled in the United Kingdom, in defining sociological theory. Durkheim offered a consensus model; Marx’s magnum opus rejected that in favor of a conflict model (Marx 1990). The conflict model points to a divided public. Communism draws attention to how a small group that holds exclusive control of the economic means of production uses the law to exploit the labor of the lower classes. Durkheim’s perspective stated otherwise. In The Division of Labor in Society he characterizes society as integrated (Durkheim 2014a). In The Rules of Sociological Method and Selected Texts on Sociology and Its Method (Durkheim 2014b) he goes even further in arguing that even crime plays a vital function in preserving social order (“functionalism”). He finds that societal factors play a role in shaping deviant behavior such as suicide in the eponymous book Suicide: A Study in Sociology (Durkheim 1952). Lastly, two works proved instrumental in shaping early reactions to institutional responses to crime, namely prisons. Although de Tocqueville is most famous for his reflections on American political order (Democracy in America), he and a co-author made a lasting mark on penology. On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application in France (de Beaumont and de Tocqueville 1964) helped the French government to understand how this new social innovation might serve to remedy crime through a formal bureaucratic response. De Tarde 1912 theorizes that this might not be terribly effective given that a concentration of convicts in one location might grant little more than additional opportunity for inmates to learn the craft of crime.

de Beaumont, Gustave, and Alexis de Tocqueville. 1964. On the penitentiary system in the United States and its application in France. Translated by Francis Lieber. Carbondale: Southern Illinois Univ. Press.
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The French government dispatched the two authors to make a firsthand assessment of the merits and flaws of the various designs of the emerging penitentiary in the United States. The report evaluated the philosophies, applications, and results of the penal models seen in the prisons of at Eastern State, Auburn, Sing-Sing, and Walnut Street. (Original publication, Du système pénitentaire aux États-Unis et de son application en France [Paris: H. Fournier, 1833].)
de Beaumont, Gustave, and Alexis de Tocqueville. 1964. On the penitentiary system in the United States and its application in France. Translated by Francis Lieber. Carbondale: Southern Illinois Univ. Press.
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Durkheim, Émile. 1952. Suicide: A study in sociology. Translated by John A. Spaulding and George Simpson. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
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Analyzing data gathered from several European countries, Durkheim moves the sources of suicide from psychology to society. A number of external factors are found to correlate with suicide rates—economic, religious, and familial. Three basic types are characterized as egoistic, anomic, and altruistic. (Original work published in French, Le suicide: Étude du sociologie [Paris: Félix Alcan, 1897].)
Durkheim, Émile. 1952. Suicide: A study in sociology. Translated by John A. Spaulding and George Simpson. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
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Durkheim, Émile. 2014a. The division of labor in society. New York: Free Press.
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The point of contrast the book examines is between agrarian and urban order. The earlier, more rural order, he defines as being united by mechanical solidarity. Urban life required a comprehensive reassessment to permit interdependence. In this emerging environment organic solidarity is required for trade and role specialization to emerge. (English translation drawn from the original French publication, De la division du travail social [Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1893].)
Durkheim, Émile. 2014a. The division of labor in society. New York: Free Press.
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Durkheim, Émile. 2014b. The rules of sociological method and selected texts on sociology and its method. New York: Free Press.
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Durkheim works to lay down a few organizing schematics for the emerging science of sociology. Crime is seen to serve a vital social purpose (or function) that helps society achieve social solidarity. Functionalism implies that society cannot never remove crime; it will always seek to invent it. (French publication from which the English version is drawn: Les règles de la méthode sociologique [Paris: Félix Alcan, 1895].)
Durkheim, Émile. 2014b. The rules of sociological method and selected texts on sociology and its method. New York: Free Press.
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Guerry, André-Michel. 2002. A translation of Andre-Michel Guerry’s Essay on the Moral Statistics of France (1883): A sociological report to the French Academy of Science. Studies in French Civilization 26. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen.
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A compilation of crime statistics within each of the departments of France was undertaken in the early 19th century. The results reveal geographic variations and were displayed in shaded maps and charts, presaging the geographic software used by modern police departments to show crime hot-spots. (The French original is titled Essai sur la statistique morale de la France [Paris: Crochard, 1833].)
Guerry, André-Michel. 2002. A translation of Andre-Michel Guerry’s Essay on the Moral Statistics of France (1883): A sociological report to the French Academy of Science. Studies in French Civilization 26. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen.
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Marx, Karl. 1990. Capital. Vol. I. New York: Penguin.
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Originally published in 1867. An exhaustive critique of the logic and evolution of capitalism. The core of the problem is that the proletariat (“underclass”) are being exploited by the bourgeoisie, or those controlling the means of production. What results from this “alienation of labor” is enduring friction. The legal system is mobilized against those threatening the hold of capitalists on power.
Marx, Karl. 1990. Capital. Vol. I. New York: Penguin.
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Quetelet, Lambert Adolphe Jacques. 2013. A treatise on man and the development of his faculties. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139864909Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Along with Guerry, his contemporary, Quetelet pioneered the development of moral statistics. He began drawing associations between various factors such as seasons, sex ratios, and crimes reported to police on crime rates. Most famously, he was one of the first to document the age-crime curve. (The title of the French original is Sur l’homme et le développement de ses facultés, ou essai de physique sociale [Paris: Bachelier, 1835].)
Quetelet, Lambert Adolphe Jacques. 2013. A treatise on man and the development of his faculties. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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de Tarde, Gabriel. 1912. Penal philosophy. Boston: Little, Brown.
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Working in late-19th-century France Tarde reacts against then fashionable biological explanations. Rather, he theorizes that crime results from a process of imitation. This happens through three means—contact with those who practice crime, inferiors adopting the superiors’ mannerisms, and, lastly, fashions and customs. (Original publication, La philosophie pénale [Lyon, France: Storck, 1890].)
de Tarde, Gabriel. 1912. Penal philosophy. Boston: Little, Brown.
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Early Biology

Coming on the heels of Charles Darwin’s watershed work, The Origin of Species (1859), efforts were undertaken to apply his logic to the task of understanding crime. Cesare Lombroso, an Italian prison physician, was the first to earn fame for his efforts to do so. The book documenting his studies, Criminal Man (Lombroso 2006), was popular enough to justify printing several subsequent editions. His brand of positivism emphasized the science of measuring physical attributes to determine how biology influences criminal behavior. He theorized that the prisoners under his care were atavistic (“biological throwbacks”). The physical makeup of the criminaloid indicated the individual constituted a lingering vestige of a less-evolved period. The problem encountered with labeling individuals as “born criminals” is referred to as determinism. The crude remedies to help society avoid the criminal behavior they were predestined to commit resulted in death and sterilization on a mass scale. These progressive policies were justified by the eugenics movement. Toward the end of his career his writings began to mirror that of his most famous pupil, Enrico Ferri who pointed to more sociological influences acting to produce criminality while downplaying the role of biology (Ferri 1917). One of the first criticisms leveled at his thinking was that of Charles Goring. His research addressed a limitation in Lombroso’s methods, namely the lack of a comparison group (Goring 1972). Goring’s measurements of the imprisoned alongside those of university students found results contrary to what Lombroso would anticipate; the latter outscored his prisoners on several criminogenic factors. This setback did not stop others from pursuing this kind of work, however. The intellectual descendant who worked most diligently to defend the tradition is Earnest Albert Hooton (Hooton 1968). Sheldon’s somatotyping, explained in Varieties of Delinquent Youth (Sheldon, et al. 1970), also bears a likeness to the work of Lombroso. The somatotype suggests that particular body types are associated with different temperamental characteristics. The most recent critique of the theory is Rafter 2008, which is historically informed. Rafter’s writing generally addresses the inherent problem of how the science of biology and crime has been framed from era to era and the matter of the remedies these theories tend to promote, a moral matter of significant importance.

Ferri, Enrico. 1917. Criminal sociology. Boston: Little, Brown.
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The title of the book indicates a softening from the determinist assumption that haunts early biological theory. The book offers five typologies of offender, only two of which are strictly biologically defined. Criminal sociology therefore combines aspects of biology, psychology, statistics, and sociology. (English translation of Sociologia criminale [Turin, Italy: Fratelli Bocca, 1892].)
Ferri, Enrico. 1917. Criminal sociology. Boston: Little, Brown.
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Goring, Charles. 1972. The English convict: A statistical study; Including the schedule of measurements and general anthropological data. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
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The 1913 study was offered as a critique of Lombroso’s theory. A comparison of 3,000 subjects, both criminal and noncriminal (primarily college students), found little correlation between the ninety-six characteristics, including physique, vital statistics, and mental health, to criminality. Goring equated biology to superstition in terms of its explanatory power.
Goring, Charles. 1972. The English convict: A statistical study; Including the schedule of measurements and general anthropological data. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
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Hooton, Earnest Albert. 1968. Crime and the man. New York: Greenwood.
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Originally published in 1939. From his post at Harvard University Hooton endeavored in this work to resurrect the tradition of Lombroso. The numerous measurements collected on tens of thousands of subjects led him to the same approximate conclusions produced decades earlier by Lombroso, namely, biology prevails over psychological explanations.
Hooton, Earnest Albert. 1968. Crime and the man. New York: Greenwood.
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Lombroso, Cesare. 2006. Criminal man. Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press.
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The first edition, printed in 1876, outlined the link between the physical constitution of an individual as more or less criminogenic. His measurements of prisoners’ physical characteristics—facial symmetry, jaw size, forehead pitch, facial hair, among dozens of others—produced a conclusion that these atavistic traits denote born criminals. (Translation from the original Italian treatise L’uomo delinquente [Milan: Hoepli, 1876].)
Lombroso, Cesare. 2006. Criminal man. Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press.
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Rafter, Nicole. 2008. The criminal brain: Understanding biological theories of crime. New York: New York Univ. Press.
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The book includes a compilation of her published work that guides the reader from biological theory in its early days to its renaissance with today’s biosocial criminology. Topics include moral insanity, phrenology, body-typing, atavism, degenerate brains, and criminology and the Third Reich.
Rafter, Nicole. 2008. The criminal brain: Understanding biological theories of crime. New York: New York Univ. Press.
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Sheldon, William Herbert, Emil M. Hartl, and Eugene McDermott. 1970. Varieties of delinquent youth. Darien, CT: Hafner.
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From the mid-1940s until his death in 1977 Sheldon worked at collecting thousands of measurements to link body-types (“somatotypes”) with criminality. Individuals were measured on a scale from 1 to 7 on their endomorphy, ectomorphy, and mesomorphy. The more mesomorphic, the more “somotonic,” that is, risk-taking and aggressive.
Sheldon, William Herbert, Emil M. Hartl, and Eugene McDermott. 1970. Varieties of delinquent youth. Darien, CT: Hafner.
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Chicago School/Social Disorganization

The great Chicago fire of 1871 leveled the city but life quickly reemerged on the banks of Lake Michigan. With a sizeable grant from the Rockefeller family the University of Chicago was founded. The university housed a department that forged its own distinct brand of sociology beginning just after the turn of the 20th century. Abbott 1999 and Bulmer 1986, both historical works documenting developments within the university’s famed Sociology Department, point to the early Protestant zeal in reforming aspects of urban life that created deviance. Several of these early efforts were ethnographic and descriptive in tone. Zorbaugh 1983, Thrasher 1963, and Shaw 1966 represent early classics within the Chicago School tradition. Zorbaugh’s The Gold Coast and the Slum (Zorbaugh 1983) juxtaposes life in a blighted area with that of upper-class society. Dramatic differences between the culture and physical setting that define each are made evident in his work. Thrasher’s analysis of gang life works toward an early neighborhood control model. Gangs were seen as unsupervised and unstructured play groups, many (but not all) of which engaged in delinquency. Clifford Shaw’s series of works editing personal narratives from delinquent youth (“own stories”) served to indicate the structural patterns evident in neighborhoods that allow for delinquency to flourish. Theory emerged from a few other efforts unfolding within the department. Park, et al. 1967 established the parameters of a social ecological approach to understanding city life. The venue of the roiling metropolis of Chicago played an important role in the development of the department and its thinking. Robert Park and Ernest Burgess began a long tradition of using the city as a laboratory of sorts. Their concentric zone theory would later be affirmed with the prodigious efforts of Clifford Shaw and Henry Donald McKay to document cases of official delinquency during three different decades early in the 20th century (Shaw and McKay 1942). Their evidence pointed to the idea that zones of transition could be found immediately outside of the central business district. Ethnic succession and poverty meant that the neighborhoods were defined as socially disorganized. Immigrants would arrive seeking employment and cheap rents. As they acculturated and advanced they would seek opportunities in more organized neighborhoods located farther from the central business district. Kornhauser 1978 dismisses the subcultural elements from the Chicago School and points to the origins of crime arising from a community’s inability to reach consensus on its communal values and enforce them with enough force to reduce delinquency (“cultural attenuation”).

Abbott, Andrew. 1999. Department and discipline: Chicago sociology at one hundred. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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The book began as a journal article written as an ode to the American Journal of Sociology (AJS), founded and maintained at the University of Chicago. The AJS story appears in the narrative. The dominant theme is of the various camps and contending personalities driving the science of sociology through its history.
Abbott, Andrew. 1999. Department and discipline: Chicago sociology at one hundred. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Bulmer, Martin. 1986. The Chicago School of Sociology: Institutionalization, diversity, and the rise of sociological research. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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A history of the Sociology Department at the University of Chicago. The book chronicles the foundation of the department, its relationship to the city, and major scholarly milestones. The time frame of the work concludes in the early 1930s.
Bulmer, Martin. 1986. The Chicago School of Sociology: Institutionalization, diversity, and the rise of sociological research. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Kornhauser, Ruth Rosner. 1978. Social sources of delinquency: An appraisal of analytic models. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Critique of strain and “cultural deviance” (learning) models. Kornhauser affirms the insights of Thrasher, Shaw and McKay, as well as Gerald Suttles. Neighborhoods do not support subcultures of delinquency. Rather, “attenuated culture” means they are unable to effectively enforce norms. The work falls within the larger control tradition on a macro level.
Kornhauser, Ruth Rosner. 1978. Social sources of delinquency: An appraisal of analytic models. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Park, Robert E., Ernest Burgess, and Roderick Duncan McKenzie. 1967. The city. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Typically cited as Park and Burgess (1925). The publication marks the first appearance of concentric zone theory. Areas radiating out from Chicago’s central business district are characterized as part of its social ecology. The book provides a statement of how their approach would support a broader research agenda.
Park, Robert E., Ernest Burgess, and Roderick Duncan McKenzie. 1967. The city. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Shaw, Clifford R. 1966. The jack-roller: A delinquent boy’s own story. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226074962.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Originally published in 1930. This work pioneered the development of the “own story” of methodology. Several books resulted from the lengthy interviews with edits to delinquent boys’ personal accounts, including Clifford R. Shaw, The Natural History of a Delinquent Career (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1931), and Clifford R. Shaw, Brothers in Crime (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938). Neighborhood dynamics and peer associations play a role in shaping delinquency.
Shaw, Clifford R. 1966. The jack-roller: A delinquent boy’s own story. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Shaw, Clifford Robe, and Henry Donald McKay. 1942. Juvenile delinquency and urban areas. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Using pins on maps to locate the addresses of delinquent youth the authors determine that the phenomenon is not evenly distributed. Delinquency is concentrated in concentric zones. Based on associations with other neighborhood factors such as poverty and residential instability. They theorize that the locations are socially disorganized.
Shaw, Clifford Robe, and Henry Donald McKay. 1942. Juvenile delinquency and urban areas. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Thrasher, Frederic M. 1963. The gang: A study of 1,313 gangs in Chicago. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Gangs were characterized as a spontaneous effort to create order in a disordered environment. They tend to appear in “interstitial” areas, that is, between well-defined geographic areas. The group is integrated through conflict. Gang members either mature out of the gang lifestyle or, like Al Capone, graduate to criminal enterprise.
Thrasher, Frederic M. 1963. The gang: A study of 1,313 gangs in Chicago. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Zorbaugh, Harvey Warren. 1983. The Gold Coast and the slum. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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The contrast between the lives of Chicago’s business elites living side by side with the residents of a ghetto is the focus of this analysis set during the turn of the 20th century. The book draws attention to both the physical and the social ecology that define life in these two areas.
Zorbaugh, Harvey Warren. 1983. The Gold Coast and the slum. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Anomie/Strain

Robert Merton’s formulation of anomie theory in 1938 (Merton 1938) is one of the most cited writings in the field because it provided a framework (structural analysis) for approaching the question of crime. There is a common cultural goal, to earn money. Society establishes rules to limit the numbers who cheat the rules and earn rewards through crime. Five different adaptations (conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion) are defined in which individuals either accept or reject the culturally approved goals and accept or reject the pursuit of these aims through legally approved means. The theory combines aspects of Durkheim and Marx, as explained in Cullen and Messner 2007. Merton’s intention in his writing was to articulate how an organization at the macro level can explain how unbridled ambition generates vice to fulfill culturally approved desires. Strain is an individual-level explanation developed by a later generation of scholars to account for how the goals-means frustrations produce crime. Cullen, one of Cloward’s students (but not Merton’s) while at Columbia, examines the relationship between Mertonian anomie and strain through an historical account of Cloward and Ohlin’s theory in Cullen 1988. On the macro level, Merton and others argued that variations in opportunities for legitimate advancement can be seen across and within societies. The variations produce different rates of crime. Therefore, crime is not pathological. Similarly, Stinchcombe’s Rebellion in High School locates individual motivations toward rebellion in the social structure of high school (Stinchcombe 1964). While the Chicago School was churning out graduates, Merton was earning a reputation as a leading sociologist at Columbia University. Despite publishing little additional work on criminology during his lengthy career he did influence a few sociologists, who extended his theory in a number of innovative directions. The first student he encountered while at Harvard, Albert Cohen, penned a book, Delinquent Boys (Cohen 1955), that reflects the influence of Merton’s structurally oriented analysis. His contribution also combines significant elements drawn from his dissertation advisor at Indiana University, Edwin Sutherland (differential association). Sutherland earned his doctorate at Chicago, which had a neighborhood focused sociology. Lloyd Ohlin also studied there but later linked up with another student of Merton’s, Richard Cloward. Their work, Delinquency and Opportunity (Cloward and Ohlin 2011, originally published in 1960) draws attention to differential rates of exposure to illegitimate opportunity structures according to neighborhood. Merton discusses these extensions in Adler and Laufer 1995. His influence is detailed in the personal correspondence he shares in this work.

Adler, Freda, and William S. Laufer, eds. 1995. The legacy of anomie theory. Advances in Criminological Theory 6. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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The volume is a contemporary take on the resurgence of anomie theory that began in the mid-1980s. Contributors offer thoughts on several aspects of the theory. Most importantly, in the seventy-five-page introduction Merton outlines the development of his theory. Here he recounts the work of his various students while also including personal correspondence.
Adler, Freda, and William S. Laufer, eds. 1995. The legacy of anomie theory. Advances in Criminological Theory 6. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Cloward, Richard A., and Lloyd E. Ohlin. 2011. Delinquency and opportunity: A study of delinquent gangs. New York: Routledge.
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In this extension of Merton’s anomie, the authors suggest that just as legitimate opportunities are limited, so are illegitimate opportunities. Neighborhoods have a criminal infrastructure to a greater or lesser degree, which affects types of crime. Organized crime has a neighborhood orientation. Those individuals lacking access to structure are left to unorganized conflict or substance abuse to adapt.
Cloward, Richard A., and Lloyd E. Ohlin. 2011. Delinquency and opportunity: A study of delinquent gangs. New York: Routledge.
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Cohen, Albert K. 1955. Delinquent boys. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
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The book offers a theory of gang formation. Status frustration results from young working class boys being placed into the school context. School emphasizes a middle-class orientation, to which they are held accountable. Not being interested or able to meet these expectations they drop out, forming groups with other disenfranchised youth.
Cohen, Albert K. 1955. Delinquent boys. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
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Cullen, Francis T. 1988. Were Cloward and Ohlin strain theorists? Delinquency and Opportunity revisited. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 25.3: 214–241.
DOI: 10.1177/0022427888025003002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The article challenges the standard reading that the two theorists offered a strain theory. It complicates the narrative by pointing out how illegitimate opportunity structure combines Merton’s approach with a Chicago School orientation. The reactions to strain are addressed through recourse to available options. These options are structurally situated.
Cullen, Francis T. 1988. Were Cloward and Ohlin strain theorists? Delinquency and Opportunity revisited. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 25.3: 214–241.
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Cullen, Francis T., and Steven F. Messner. 2007. The making of criminology revisited: An oral history of Merton’s anomie paradigm. Theoretical Criminology 11.1: 5–37.
DOI: 10.1177/1362480607072733Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A published interview, with commentary by the authors, on the origin of anomie theory and the life of Robert Merton. The story begins with his upbringing in an impoverished Jewish neighborhood before discussing the formulation of anomie. Merton offers a reaction to critiques of the theory and explains minor reformulations since 1938.
Cullen, Francis T., and Steven F. Messner. 2007. The making of criminology revisited: An oral history of Merton’s anomie paradigm. Theoretical Criminology 11.1: 5–37.
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Merton, Robert K. 1938. Social structure and anomie. American Sociological Review 3.5: 672–682.
DOI: 10.2307/2084686Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The rough formulation outlined is that of goals-means disparity. All members in society face the inconsistency between their wants and their legitimate opportunities to fulfill those desires. Anomie results when those committed to earning rewards, but lacking the institutional means to do so, resort to criminal behavior to satisfy these goals.
Merton, Robert K. 1938. Social structure and anomie. American Sociological Review 3.5: 672–682.
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Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1964. Rebellion in a high school. Chicago: Quadrangle.
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The central aim of the work is to explain deviance as resulting from a low degree of “articulation.” Rebels fail to connect future status with present activity. Therefore they are poorly connected to school. “Expressive alienation” results from three sources: structural, cultural, and psychological.
Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1964. Rebellion in a high school. Chicago: Quadrangle.
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Subcultural and Learning Theory

The United States in the early 20th century was fixated on issues of immigration and assimilation. A large-scale influx of peoples from distant lands with alien values presented a challenge to the life of the native born. These ideas were viewed as a threat to the existing order. Subcultures could arise if enough subscribed to them. Sellin 1938 drew attention to the fact that the legal structure working at the behest of the elites was being pressed into service to address the concern. Sellin disagreed with that application of law on several grounds. Alternatively, several decades later Edward Banfield would argue that authorities should take a firm stance against permissive attitudes for those acting on subculturally informed values (Banfield 1974). Issues of class play a central role in animating subcultural themes. The field eventually turned against much of this type of theorizing as it began to adopt a more left-liberal orientation. Contributions such as Lewis 1966 were dismissed as works that essentially blame the victim. This award-winning book on the culture of poverty sought to offer an account of the values that sustain slum-dwelling (in a term of the day) communities. Another academic dispute arose from the implication that these writings which suggests that these communities actively champion values that produce chronic poverty and deviance. Walter Miller introduces “focal concerns”, six values that foster delinquency and are promoted within certain subcultures (Miller 1958). Elliot Liebow’s ethnography, Tally’s Corner, presents the case that minority men in impoverished communities are excluded from the labor market, each adopting a set of common coping mechanisms to deal with their marginal status (Liebow 2003). Subcultural values present problems because violence is often seen as a legitimate means to settle disputes. In fact, Wolfgang and Ferracuti 1967, a study of homicidal encounters, suggests that avoiding conflict stands contrary to subcultural custom. In each of the above works the group plays an important role in influencing deviant outcomes. Sutherland, et al. 1992, written by the father of sociological criminology, incorporates these ideas into a concrete formulation with differential association (e.g., learning theory). Crime results when one comes into contact with an excess of definitions favorable to breaking the law in terms of their frequency, intensity, priority, and duration. A critique that emerged pointed to the lack of an explanation of how learning or acquiring this delinquent orientation arises. Burgess and Akers 1966 responds by paring down the nine principles to seven. This was done through integrating a punishment/reward system inspired by Burgess’s training in psychology.

Banfield, Edward C. 1974. The unheavenly city revisited. Boston: Little, Brown.
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Crime results from a combination of two factors, the proneness of the individual and structural incentives. Banfield identifies a number of factors in urban environments that feed deviant values: poverty, lack of education, family dissolution, unemployment. He affirms that cities wanting to reduce crime should impose more penalties rather than excuse crime because of root causes.
Banfield, Edward C. 1974. The unheavenly city revisited. Boston: Little, Brown.
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Burgess, Robert L., and Ronald L. Akers. 1966. A differential association-reinforcement theory of criminal behavior. Social Problems 14.2: 128–147.
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This reformulation of Sutherland’s theory offers seven principles to account for differential association. The revision works to explain how learning occurs. It accomplishes this through incorporating a reinforcement mechanism drawn from Skinnerian behaviorism. Behaviors such as delinquency are either rewarded or punished. The reactions help to affirm definitions and belief.
Burgess, Robert L., and Ronald L. Akers. 1966. A differential association-reinforcement theory of criminal behavior. Social Problems 14.2: 128–147.
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Lewis, Oscar. 1966. La vida. New York: Random House.
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This work came to be identified as a canonical work in the “culture of poverty” literature. A cultural anthropologist’s take on how poverty perpetuates itself across several generations in Puerto Rico and the United States. Culture is a common response to a collective problem, both an adaptation and a response to poverty.
Lewis, Oscar. 1966. La vida. New York: Random House.
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Liebow, Elliot. 2003. Tally’s corner: A study of Negro streetcorner men. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
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Originally published in 1967. An ethnographic study of a group of largely unemployed black men in inner-city Washington, DC, the book anticipates the work of Elijah Anderson and William Julius Wilson several decades later. Structural forces and racist hiring practices marginalize men. This frustrates their sense of identity and ability to form lasting relationships.
Liebow, Elliot. 2003. Tally’s corner: A study of Negro streetcorner men. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
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Miller, Walter B. 1958. Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency. Journal of Social Issues 14.3: 5–19.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1958.tb01413.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Miller’s theory is often referred to as one of “focal concerns.” There are six values that lower-class life is built around: trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, and autonomy. These informal rules establish expectations for youth that produce delinquent outcomes. They are enforced in primary groups.
Miller, Walter B. 1958. Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency. Journal of Social Issues 14.3: 5–19.
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Sellin, Thorsten. 1938. Culture conflict and crime. American Journal of Sociology 44.1: 97–103.
DOI: 10.1086/217919Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The theory is built around two primary issues, immigration and a critique of legal definitions of crime. Immigration presents potential social friction between natives and those arriving with alternative values. Science demands definitions that do not rely on a changing political structure. Outsiders are powerless in shaping law.
Sellin, Thorsten. 1938. Culture conflict and crime. American Journal of Sociology 44.1: 97–103.
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Sutherland, Edwin H., Donald R. Cressey, and David F. Luckenbill. 1992. Principles of criminology. Dix Hills, NY: General Hall.
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In the 3rd edition of his text (originally published in 1939) the famous nine principles of differential association are first offered. The theory states that an excess of definitions favorable (versus unfavorable) to deviance will produce delinquency. These definitions are encountered and become ingrained through primary group associations.
Sutherland, Edwin H., Donald R. Cressey, and David F. Luckenbill. 1992. Principles of criminology. Dix Hills, NY: General Hall.
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Wolfgang, Marvin Eugene, and Franco Ferracuti. 1967. The subculture of violence. London: Tavistock.
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Theory developed in explaining non-premeditated homicides. The subcultural elements include aspects of learning theory. The subculture is age delimited. Those who abide by these codes are prepared to engage consistently in violence. As a result of these values being endorsed feelings of guilt at employing violence are diminished.
Wolfgang, Marvin Eugene, and Franco Ferracuti. 1967. The subculture of violence. London: Tavistock.
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Control Theory

Postwar 1950s America, with its expanding industry and conformist mentality, saw the beginnings of conservative-oriented control theory. The root assumption binding the tradition together is one that maintains a view of human nature as inherently limited and flawed. Contrary to the positivist tradition, it insists that man is self-interested, able to engage in criminal behavior with no account of motivation needing to be granted. Positivism is deeply concerned with discerning the sources of criminal motivation, control with explaining conformity. Prior to the disparate strands being collected in Hirschi’s seminal statement (Hirschi 2002, originally published in 1969), a number of theorists viewed crime and delinquency through this prism. Two general ideas were prevalent, one inspired by the Chicago School’s macro-oriented control model and the other locating controls in the family unit. Reckless 1961 and Reiss 1951 indicate the influence of the authors’ training at the University of Chicago with the inclusion of neighborhood-informed theories. Both also worked to combine aspects of internal regulation acting in conjunction with external sources to define restraint. Briar and Piliavin 1965 offers a similar argument via the concept of “situational inducements” helping to predict delinquency. Toby 1957 and Nye 1958 draw attention to the primacy of the family as an important socializing agent. Toby’s “stakes in conformity” conceptualizes nondelinquency as resulting from an individual’s reluctance to risk social capital and other gains from conformity by dabbling in delinquent acts. Nye’s study of connection between family relationships and structure and crime outlines four mechanisms through which family can effectively limit delinquent behavior. Travis Hirshi’s dissertation at the University of California at Berkeley, later published as Causes of Delinquency (Hirschi 2002), is the landmark work within the social control tradition. On his committee was David Matza, whose work Delinquency and Drift (Matza 1964) problematized the concept of motivation. Neutralization and drift allow a delinquent the opportunity to rationalize their potential behavior as not violating the law. The implication is that this allows room to engage crime without bearing any moral qualms. Hirschi’s theory characterizes social control as a neo-classical theory but argues that rather than the law serving as a source of deterrence, informal sources exerting control account for this effect. His aim is to propose and test his theory of how attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief in law interact to act as social controls. The locus of social control is to be found in social institutions, such as family and school.

Briar, Scott, and Irving Piliavin. 1965. Delinquency, situational inducements, and commitment to conformity. Social Problems 13.1: 35–45.
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The authors state that anyone is capable of engaging in delinquency. Criminal and conformist outcomes result from contextual factors acting in concert with a subject’s commitment to conformity or lack thereof. An individual’s self-concept and fear of the social implications of arrest serve to act as restraints.
Briar, Scott, and Irving Piliavin. 1965. Delinquency, situational inducements, and commitment to conformity. Social Problems 13.1: 35–45.
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Hirschi, Travis. 2002. Causes of delinquency. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Reprint of the 1969 classic. Poses the question of why individuals conform. The answer relies on his analysis of self-report data and it pits social control against popular positivist accounts. Attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief are offered as explanations. These factors produce social control which suppress self-serving motivations.
Hirschi, Travis. 2002. Causes of delinquency. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Matza, David. 1964. Delinquency and drift. New York: John Wiley.
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“Drift” addresses the question of motivation. Youth engage in a process of neutralization that permits but does not necessitate delinquent behavior. The value of the law is rationalized away by invoking one set of common excuses. As individuals nullify the law in a situation they are free to break the law.
Matza, David. 1964. Delinquency and drift. New York: John Wiley.
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Nye, F. Ivan. 1958. Family relationships and delinquent behavior. New York: Wiley.
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An analysis of self-reported data from high school youth laid the groundwork for control theory. Delinquency did not require expertise or much effort to carry out. The family was seen as important in terms of preventing this through four means: direct control, indirect control, internalized control, and opportunity control.
Nye, F. Ivan. 1958. Family relationships and delinquent behavior. New York: Wiley.
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Reckless, Walter C. 1961. New theory of delinquency and crime. Federal Probation 25:42–46.
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An abbreviated explanation of containment theory that is showcased in his textbook, The Crime Problem (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967). Inner and outer controls exert themselves in limiting criminal inclinations. Inner controls are personality-oriented restraints; outer controls include those that are structural inducements to conformity.
Reckless, Walter C. 1961. New theory of delinquency and crime. Federal Probation 25:42–46.
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Reiss, Albert J. 1951. Delinquency as the failure of personal and social controls. American Sociological Review 16.2: 196–207.
DOI: 10.2307/2087693Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Personal and social controls result from absorbing the values of one’s immediate social context. Personal controls are those values that become internalized by virtue of being reinforced by primary groups.
Reiss, Albert J. 1951. Delinquency as the failure of personal and social controls. American Sociological Review 16.2: 196–207.
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Toby, Jackson. 1957. Social disorganization and stake in conformity. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science 48.1: 12–17.
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Stakes in conformity is roughly analogous to Hirschi’s notion of commitment. One with a stake in avoiding delinquency is someone who has something to lose by being apprehended, an outcome to be avoided. A well-integrated family and community, lacking unemployment and poverty, serve the purpose of reducing inclinations to misbehavior.
Toby, Jackson. 1957. Social disorganization and stake in conformity. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science 48.1: 12–17.
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Labeling Theory

Societal reaction or, as it is more commonly known, labeling theory finds reinforcing a deviant identity is what accounts for sustained delinquency. Most youth engage in acts of delinquency, yet only a few mature into career criminals. Lemert 1972 explains this fact as a result of secondary deviance. One’s identity is assigned by criminal justice authorities. The problem begins when this aspect of identity becomes so fixed that an individual cannot rehabilitate their image. When the community reacts in such a way that an individual accepts and internalizes that identity it becomes, as Tannenbaum 1957 notes, a self-fulfilling prophecy. The reaction in one’s community can become deterministic. These determinations can even apply to what we would tend to regard as objectively verifiable matters, such as mental illness and blindness. These are presumed to be medically informed diagnoses. Yet even these assessments are subject to a measure of interpretation, according to Scheff 1999 (mental illness) and Schur 1971 (blindness). Applying the label of “mentally ill” to a patient is done for a number of reasons other than a strictly dispassionate reading of the facts. Also, a party who is labeled does reserve some agency in defying or adopting the judgments of experts and the wider community. Goffman 2009, a study of dozens of cases of the stigmatized, reveals that there are clever ways in which to mask, mute, or otherwise manage one’s identity. In one of the bestselling works in all of criminology, Outsiders, Howard Becker reveals that those indulging in the marijuana scene also devise collective solutions to manage their counter-cultural identities (Becker 2012). Smokers came to embrace, reject, or craft ways to conceal their engagement in secret deviance in response to the communal verdict of one’s character. Lofland 2002 argues that individuals were able to adjust public perceptions of their character with enough effort. This line of theory came into vogue in the 1960s, a period during which government authority to draft young men into war, set moral boundaries with race relations, and define labels came under heavy scrutiny. A major critique, based upon an assessment of the accumulated evidence, is found in Gove 1975, an edited book. The contributors to the volume reached the verdict, eventually ratified by the field at large, that the theory’s capacity to account for the empirical evidence was unpersuasive. Eventually, it came to be viewed less as a theory than as a sensitizing mechanism.

Becker, Howard S. 2012. Outsiders. New York: Free Press.
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Originally published in 1963. A study in the contrasts between deviant and “square” (straight) culture. Outsiders defy convention and must find a way to adapt to being labeled. The divide between the two cultures results in one of four orientations: conformist, pure deviant, falsely accused, and secret deviant. Also coined the term “moral entrepreneur.”
Becker, Howard S. 2012. Outsiders. New York: Free Press.
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Goffman, Erving. 2009. Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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Identifies three primary sources of stigma: character traits, physical abnormalities, and group identity (e.g., race/ethnicity). The book draws on a number of personal accounts as to how the identity is managed. There are a host of strategies commonly used by those bearing stigma when dealing with “normal.”
Goffman, Erving. 2009. Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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Gove, Walter R., ed. 1975. The labelling of deviance. New York: John Wiley.
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Collection of papers from the third sociology conference at Vanderbilt University, where Gove was on the faculty. Chapters, written by experts in several domains, from alcoholism and mental retardation to crime (Tittle) and delinquency (Hirschi), evaluate the evidence on labeling theory. The resounding conclusion is that labeling is not the cause driving crime patterns.
Gove, Walter R., ed. 1975. The labelling of deviance. New York: John Wiley.
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Lemert, Edwin M. 1972. Human deviance, social problems, and social control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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Compilation of published papers written by a leading authority on labeling. The concept of secondary deviance is explained in a chapter. Other chapters include accounts of how labeling operates across the globe (Polynesia, Hawaii, North Pacific coastal Indians) and with respect to a few deviant behaviors (alcoholism, check forgery, stuttering).
Lemert, Edwin M. 1972. Human deviance, social problems, and social control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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Lofland, John. 2002. Deviance and identity. Clinton Corners, NY: Percheron.
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A synthesis of personal, physical, and social factors interact to produce deviance. This is generally referred to as a phenomenological account. Lofland points to mechanisms whereby deviants can leave the label behind by “normal-smithing” and vice versa by “deviant-smiths.”
Lofland, John. 2002. Deviance and identity. Clinton Corners, NY: Percheron.
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Scheff, Thomas J. 1999. Being mentally ill. 3d ed. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
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Originally published in 1966. Offers nine propositions that are based on three primary concerns which the book pursues. First, examining mental illness as a social construct and a role which one fills. Second, explaining why some are or are not labeled. Third, critically questioning reactions to the labeled.
Scheff, Thomas J. 1999. Being mentally ill. 3d ed. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
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Schur, Edwin M. 1971. Labeling deviant behavior. New York: Harper & Row.
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This theoretical account examines how blindness is defined, imposed, and internalized by those who are labeled. The theoretical insights are applied to crime as well. Terms such as “retrospective interpretation” and “role engulfment” are introduced to account for how the process unfolds.
Schur, Edwin M. 1971. Labeling deviant behavior. New York: Harper & Row.
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Tannenbaum, Frank. 1957. Crime and the community. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
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Perhaps the first statement of a recognizable societal reaction theory. The “dramatization of evil” highlights the role of audience in “tagging, defining, identifying, segregating, describing, and emphasizing” (p. 19) deviants. Marginalized persons are then left few other options than embracing deviance in what becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Tannenbaum, Frank. 1957. Crime and the community. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
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Deterrence/Rational Choice

Classical theory as it was laid out by the continental philosophers Beccaria and Bentham provided an appealing template for creating a civilized legal order. The theory began to fade with the introduction of a positivist paradigm. The assertion that crime results from rational decisions was undermined by locating the sources of motivation in external causes. A progressive political agenda began to devise ways to overcome these issues through policy and programming innovations. The theory was pushed further into the margins during the tumultuous decade of 1960s America. Legal authority was subjected to withering critique, radical (Marxist influenced) ideas and labeling theory came to dominate academic discussion, and policies were advanced advocating nonintervention. In the aftermath of a spike in crime, deterrence began to reappear with a force beginning in the early to mid-1970s, ushering in a “get tough” on crime era. Roshier 1989 provides an accurate rendering of the ups-and-downs of the tradition. Several Europeans played a key role in reintroducing deterrence. The French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault is generally considered to be a radical theorist but his explanation of how deterrence has been expressed and formulated through the centuries has proved to be an enduring account (Foucault 2006, originally published in 1977). Johannes Andeneas, a Norwegian lawyer, and Ernest van den Haag, a Dutchman and a former radical turned conservative, both worked to reformulate the theory in their respective treatises, Punishment and Deterrence (Andeneas 1974) and Punishing Criminals (van den Haag 1975). Each was also working against the political grain in rejecting rehabilitative ideology. The state’s singular role is to administer more effective sanctions to dissuade criminal behavior. Three influential American intellectuals were simultaneously adding their effort to advancing the cause as well. The Nobel Prize–winning economist Gary Becker, who also held a position on the University of Chicago’s sociology faculty, authored an influential paper, Becker 1968. His contribution helped to formulate the deterrence question in considering the costs and limitations of full-fledged enforcement. Becker also emphasized the cost-benefit analysis from the perspective of a potential offender. Within academic criminology, Jack Gibbs was both a leading theorist and researcher on the topic. Gibbs 1975 outlines the definitional issues central to the study of the use of law to reduce crime. The work served to provide an outline of the research agenda for the field. James Q. Wilson was a leading public intellectual in the field. Wilson 2013 (originally published in 1975) constituted a mainstream bestseller. It galvanized public sentiment around a theme rejecting Great Society programming aimed at eliminating “root causes” of crime.

Andeneas, Johannes. 1974. Punishment and deterrence. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
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Andeneas states the case that deterrence ought to serve as the primary purpose of criminal law. He advocates general deterrence and specifies how it is to work on an individual level. Ethical implications of his argument are also identified.
Andeneas, Johannes. 1974. Punishment and deterrence. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
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Becker, Gary S. 1968. Crime and punishment: An economic approach. Journal of Political Economy 76:169–217.
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Using a strict economic approach he finds there is an optimal level of law enforcement that falls short of completely eradicating crime. What prevents total elimination is that the costs do not justify the results. Therefore, by implication societies tolerate crime.
Becker, Gary S. 1968. Crime and punishment: An economic approach. Journal of Political Economy 76:169–217.
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Foucault, Michel. 2006. Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage.
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Originally published in 1977. Provides a theoretical framework to explain the dramatic change in penal modalities from the earlier age, one defined by torture, to the birth of the penitentiary. The role of the body and the politics of power explain discipline. The penitentiary shifted the focus from introducing pain to changing the conscience of the prisoner.
Foucault, Michel. 2006. Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage.
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Gibbs, Jack P. 1975. Crime, punishment, and deterrence. New York: Elsevier.
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The book offers a detailed examination of the definitional issues surrounding deterrence. The term distinguishes legal and extra-legal forms of deterrence, stating only the former falls within acceptable use of the term. Another distinction, between absolute and restrictive deterrence, has proven popular, spawning perceptive deterrence research.
Gibbs, Jack P. 1975. Crime, punishment, and deterrence. New York: Elsevier.
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Roshier, Bob. 1989. Controlling crime: The classical perspective in criminology. Milton Keynes, UK: Open Univ. Press.
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A survey of the classical tradition from its origins to the 20th century. Roshier explains the lapse in interest in classical criminology in the 1960s and 1970s due to Marxist reinterpretations of the legal structure. The book concludes with musings on a post-classical legal order built around conformity.
Roshier, Bob. 1989. Controlling crime: The classical perspective in criminology. Milton Keynes, UK: Open Univ. Press.
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van den Haag, Ernest. 1975. Punishing criminals: Concerning a very old and painful question. New York: Basic Books.
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Argues that social programming and welfare policy are unlikely to reduce crime. Crime results from a rational decision and therapy cannot help to eliminate that. What is needed are stern punishments. Advocates for a “supervisory court” to determine release following sentence being served in full, an approach that brought criticism.
van den Haag, Ernest. 1975. Punishing criminals: Concerning a very old and painful question. New York: Basic Books.
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Wilson, James Q. 2013. Thinking about crime. Rev. ed. New York: Vintage.
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Collection of articles on criminal justice policy originally published in 1975. The nonacademic tone made the book popular. His admonishing sociology for wasting time in search of “root causes” proved controversial. Arguing that “wicked” people exist, Wilson advises policymakers to increase penalties to make crime pay. Broken windows theory introduced.
Wilson, James Q. 2013. Thinking about crime. Rev. ed. New York: Vintage.
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Marxist Criminology

The work of Marx and Engels stands at the head of a genre of criminology that opts to focus on legality as opposed to criminality. Appreciating the dynamic of economic and political power does more to explain who is targeted, the Marxist approach deems state control a more fruitful basis of inquiry than seeking to account for any enduring factors pointing to a criminal pathology. Despite the voluminous output of their work, there was little appreciable commentary beyond mention of a “lumpenproletariat.” This was a subset of the proletariat that represented a drain on revolutionary plans because they were criminal in orientation. Beyond Marx 1990 (cited under Continental Sociology), applying economic analysis to crime was left to others. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci (Gramsci 1971) added to the source material, but it was really Bonger’s Crime and Economic Conditions (Bonger 1916) that spelled out how economic conditions, rather than individual pathologies, influence crime rates. Sociology has been primarily responsible for carrying forth an intellectual identity dedicated to considering how political power shapes social interaction. C. Wright Mills is most associated with this tradition through various writings, notably The Power Elite (Mills 1999), a popular work that critics generally regarded as too conspiratorial. Within criminology George Vold’s textbook, originally published in 1958, helped introduce generations to the field of culture conflict. The book went through several editions, revised by others, including Bernard, et al. 2010. The Marxist tradition came under criticism as the atrocities of the Stalinist regime became known. Several scholars worked to establish its intellectual credentials by developing the theory’s capacity to offer trenchant and relevant social commentary in the mid-1960s. Both Turk 1969 as well as Chambliss and Seidman 1971 drew attention to how legal structure affects crime. The authors of the latter work framed this effort within a larger dialectic analysis, documenting the interplay between capitalist interests and the mobilization of law. Turk on the other hand worked to understand how social and cultural divides indicated whether or not conflict was likely to emerge. Quinney 2001 offers a theory stating that crime is a social construct, subject to interpretation and reinterpretation depending on the interests of the dominant class. Finally, Taylor, et al. 2013 promotes a critique of criminology as too subservient to state interests. The three authors recommend building a new research agenda informed by a sociological appreciation for how power influences legal responses to crime.

Bernard, Thomas J., Jeffery B. Snipes, and Alexander L. Gerould. 2010. Vold’s theoretical criminology. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
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George Vold’s textbook, originally published in 1958, was a perennial bestseller for generations. Cultural conflict is defined as a process whereby groups organized to advance interests in dominating more resources via the state. Law remains the same on the books but its application is manipulated, reflecting differing cultural values.
Bernard, Thomas J., Jeffery B. Snipes, and Alexander L. Gerould. 2010. Vold’s theoretical criminology. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Bonger, William. 1916. Crime and economic conditions. Boston: Little, Brown.
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Extension of Marx and Engels’s insights on crime. Bonger’s theory dismissed individual-level assumptions. There are structural forces at play, the most important being inequalities in wealth distribution. Crime is caused by the egoism fostered by capitalism. These norms corrupt mankind’s innate altruism.
Bonger, William. 1916. Crime and economic conditions. Boston: Little, Brown.
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Chambliss, William J., and Robert B. Seidman. 1971. Law, order, and power. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
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Neo-Marxist analysis of law. Chambliss, a criminologist, working with a law professor finds that the law has become detached from democratic control. Capitalist interests instead manipulate the legal order on behalf of organized interest groups. The legal order affects material consequences and, on occasion, vice versa. In short, a dialectic account.
Chambliss, William J., and Robert B. Seidman. 1971. Law, order, and power. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
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Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. Edited and translated by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. New York: International.
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The volume distills his reflections on Marxist social order appearing in thirty notebooks that were eventually published in three volumes. These are primary documents produced during his incarceration in fascist Italy. Several important ideas introduced, including “cultural hegemony” and promoting the spread of revolutionary ideas to the working class. (Originally published as Quaderni del carcere [Turin, Italy: G. Einaudi, 1975]).
Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. Edited and translated by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. New York: International.
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Mills, C. Wright. 1999. The power elite. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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More a popular than an intellectual work from the dean of critical criminology. The work elaborates on elite connections among military, corporate, and political power players. The concentration of power in the hands of a few hundred agencies and entities has resulted in a ruling class.
Mills, C. Wright. 1999. The power elite. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Quinney, Richard. 2001. The social reality of crime. Rev. ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Originally published in 1970. The legal process and the interests that direct it can adjust the system to meet emerging demands to suppress behavior. What defines crime is not the act in and of itself; rather, it is the reaction it engenders that determines whether resources will be dispatched to suppress the behavior.
Quinney, Richard. 2001. The social reality of crime. Rev. ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Taylor, Ian, Paul Walton, and Jock Young. 2013. The new criminology. New York: Routledge.
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Originally published in 1973. A lament of the divorce between criminology and sociology theory. It attempts to reconcile this divide through directing criminology to appreciate the political/legal apparatus. Seven points are offered to help construct a more productive criminological debate, one that links the political economy to state responses to deviance.
Taylor, Ian, Paul Walton, and Jock Young. 2013. The new criminology. New York: Routledge.
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Turk, Austin T. 1969. Criminality and legal order. Chicago: Rand McNally.
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Turks employs more a legalistic theory than Marxist analysis per se. The degree of separation between authority/subject on cultural and social norms determines the use of force. The greater the divide, the more likely the odds of conflict resulting. The organization and sophistication of opposing forces also predicts conflict.
Turk, Austin T. 1969. Criminality and legal order. Chicago: Rand McNally.
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Feminist Criminology and Extensions of Marxist Theory

The theoretical structure outlined in Marxist Criminology has been expanded by an agenda that works to draw attention to power disparities. The animating ideas have generated an empirical agenda, one aimed at finding evidence of the perverse influence of economic forces on select out-groups. Two of the major thrusts within the intellectual movement are toward explaining incarceration patterns and advancing a female-centered criminology. Garland 2014 is a survey of penal modalities in the contemporary era. The philosophical underpinnings accounting for a variety of punishment types are explained in depth and traced over time. In many ways the work follows in the footsteps of Rusche and Kirchheimer 2009. Employing a case-study format, the authors of this work offer historical examples of how formal reactions toward crime (and criminals) are shaped by labor market trends. The need for labor, or the lack thereof, has implications for how societies opt to treat offenders. Drawing our attention away from macro-historical trends is Irwin 1987. The author draws on his experience while incarcerated in Soledad prison to outline a few typologies of the convict. The work is regarded as a classic within the convict criminology genre, a growing sphere within the critical criminology orbit. Similarly, feminist criminology demonstrates an abiding criticism of the status quo as well. Smart 2013 builds an analysis on the remnants of a thorough criticism of the early depictions of female criminality authored by Lombroso, W. I. Thomas, Otto Pollak, and others. Freda Adler, a student of Pollak’s, reacts against his arguments (Adler 1975). Her work, together with that of Rita Simon (Simon 1975), has traditionally been grouped under the heading “liberation hypothesis.” Broadly, each argues that, with the rise of the women’s liberation movement, as opportunities opened for females in legitimate employment markets, society ought to anticipate similar growth in illegitimate enterprise as well. The hypothesis proved to be controversial. Adler 1975 is largely ethnographic in its tone, while Simon 1975 relies on an analysis of crime statistics to substantiate the author’s claims. Frances Heidensohn joins Carol Smart from the United Kingdom in advancing feminist claims (Smart 2013). Heidensohn 1968 advances an argument that the study of crime by females and societal responses to it is not merely an auxiliary to male-dominated criminology; it deserves an agenda in its own right. Many of the same themes are found in a contemporary classic in the feminist criminology literature, Daly and Chesney-Lind 1988. In this work the authors assert several fundamentally different aspects of female criminality, all rooted in the fact of a male-dominated social context.

Adler, Freda. 1975. Sisters in crime. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Coinciding with the women’s liberation movement the work introduced the female offender and sparked feminist criminology. The central thesis is that as legitimate opportunity was opening authorities should ready for illegitimate opportunity to open for women as well. Contentious debate ensued but the work endured as a classic.
Adler, Freda. 1975. Sisters in crime. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Daly, Kathleen, and Meda Chesney-Lind. 1988. Feminism and criminology. Justice Quarterly 5.4: 497–538.
DOI: 10.1080/07418828800089871Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Five themes are outlined that define the feminist criminology agenda against the larger body of the field’s work. Briefly, the points of emphasis are: gender is a social construct, gender relations order social life, male-dominated structure defines that structure, gendered production of knowledge, and women ought to be at the center of inquiry, not peripheral to it.
Daly, Kathleen, and Meda Chesney-Lind. 1988. Feminism and criminology. Justice Quarterly 5.4: 497–538.
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Garland, David. 2014. Punishment and modern society: A study in social theory. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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A sweeping survey of modern and postmodern developments in punishment in Western society, a quasi-textbook in terms of its approach. The book includes reflections on all the major theorists in the sociology of punishment, including Foucault, Durkheim, Marx, and Rusche and Kirchheimer. The case is made to make punishment the core issue in social theory.
Garland, David. 2014. Punishment and modern society: A study in social theory. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Heidensohn, Frances. 1968. The deviance of women: A critique and an enquiry. British Journal of Sociology 19:160–175.
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One of the first articles to call attention to the need for a research agenda focused on women, deviance, and efforts to control female behavior. Heidensohn observes that the sex differential drives the question of crime and deviance.
Heidensohn, Frances. 1968. The deviance of women: A critique and an enquiry. British Journal of Sociology 19:160–175.
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Irwin, John. 1987. The felon. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
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The work is based on two years of participant observation and dozens of interviews. The author outlines a typology of those serving prison time, such as the thief, junkie, hustler, and square-john. Each type is explained in relation to their identity as it connects to criminal activity.
Irwin, John. 1987. The felon. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
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Rusche, Georg, and Otto Kirchheimer. 2009. Punishment and social structure. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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An explanation of punishment types and trends in the premodern era is given. The account revolves around economic forces resulting in various modes of forced labor or adjustments in capital punishment. The chapters outline historical examples, such as ancient Greece and the Enlightenment era, among others.
Rusche, Georg, and Otto Kirchheimer. 2009. Punishment and social structure. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Simon, Rita. 1975. Women and crime. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
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The book relied on an examination of official crime statistics. The trends that emerged from the analysis indicated growing female participation in criminal pursuits. A direct result was that women were gaining greater attention from criminal justice authorities, although they tended to be treated in a paternalistic manner.
Simon, Rita. 1975. Women and crime. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
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Smart, Carol. 2013. Women, crime and criminology: A feminist critique. New York: Routledge.
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Beginning with an overview of the existing literature on female criminality, Smart offers a critique. The author uses this as a platform to both advocate for a more female-focused inquiry and to dismiss the popular theories explaining female criminality. Three topics covered in detail are prostitution/rape, treatment of female offenders, and mental illness.
Smart, Carol. 2013. Women, crime and criminology: A feminist critique. New York: Routledge.
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Critical Criminology

In the wake of the reaction to the labeling/societal perspective appeared an elaboration of Marxist-inspired thinking operating under the heading of critical criminology. It is also referred to under a number of other monikers, including radical, left, conflict, socialist, Marxist, and new criminology. Each of these represents some nuance on a tradition that shares a few core components. The critical approach is connected with the larger themes of Marxist political economy through linking inequalities in income distribution with crime rates. Reiman and Leighton 2013 illustrates how street crimes consistently generate more rigid responses from criminal justice authorities than do crimes in office suites. Law is differentially enforced based on the socioeconomic status of those that the law tends to target. Richard Quinney, arguably the perspective’s foremost spokesmen, argues in Critique of the Legal Order: Crime Control in Capitalist Society (Quinney 2002, originally published in 1973) that the explanation for these patterns can be found in the fact that the justice system works on behalf of the capitalist order. Quinney 1977 advances this line of thinking yet further in stating that capitalist means of production invariably leave a surplus population of unemployed labor. To alleviate bourgeois anxieties the justice system is mobilized to suppress any emerging threats from this potentially problematic class. The impetus to create formalized means of social control and to activate them to ensure that the status quo is maintained has deep roots. Platt 2009 (originally published in 1969) offers a skeptical—some might state a cynical—evaluation of the motives of progressive reformers who first organized to establish a separate juvenile justice system in 1899. Another mainstay of critical/radical/conflict theory is a firm rejection of the positivist acceptance of a consistent and objective definition of “crime” and, by extension, “criminal.” Schwendinger and Schwendinger 1970 exhorts those in the field of criminology to cast off legalistically defined criminality as it constrains inquiry. After all, the theory posits that the state creates crime through electing to criminalize and punish some actions over others; it is by definition circular reasoning. The authors assembled by Pepinsky and Quinney 1991 have similarly pushed criminology toward more creative frontiers. Peacemaking criminology is rooted in a vision of utopia much like the thinking of Marx. The aim of both Marxism and that of Pepinsky and Quinney 1991 is to find ways in which to relieve the state from having to apply coercion to eliminate crime. Their brand of criminology gives rise to ideas of how society might be reordered to work toward peacemaking, as opposed to the traditional approach of applying force to harm criminal wrongdoers. As the 1970s drew to a close the theory would cede ground to control theory, which dominated the 1980s. The February 1979 installment of the field’s flagship journal Criminology (Volume 16, number 4) showcased a vigorous exchange between several leading theorists both pro and con. The journal’s editor, James Inciardi, arranged to have several of those contributions reprised. He invited input from several more contributors, and Inciardi 1980, an edited volume, captures the debate, a fitting coda to the role played by the theory during that decade.

Inciardi, James A., ed. 1980. Radical criminology: The coming crises. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE.
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A collection of essays from leading advocates of the critical perspective and opponents alike. The book offers a survey of the dispute over the relevance and value of the approach in four sections: the state of paradigm, debate and controversy, the coming crises, and future concerns and directions.
Inciardi, James A., ed. 1980. Radical criminology: The coming crises. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE.
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Pepinsky, Harold E., and Richard Quinney, eds. 1991. Criminology as peacemaking. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press.
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An attempt to upend the conceptualization of waging a “war” against crime via control and repression. Four points are highlighted: first, raising awareness of human suffering; second, establishing right understanding; third, instilling a sense of service and compassion; and fourth, pointing the way to peace and social justice.
Pepinsky, Harold E., and Richard Quinney, eds. 1991. Criminology as peacemaking. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press.
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Platt, Anthony M. 2009. The Child savers: The invention of delinquency. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.
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Originally published in 1969. A revisionist history of the establishment of the first juvenile justice system in Chicago (1899). The book challenged the primacy of benevolence as the motivating force behind the reforms as was then commonly assumed. Rather, fears over controlling the inflow of hordes of immigrants are given as the driving explanation.
Platt, Anthony M. 2009. The Child savers: The invention of delinquency. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.
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Quinney, Richard. 1977. Class, state, and crime: On the theory and practice of criminal justice. New York: D. McKay.
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The author identifies a fundamental problem produced by capitalism, namely its “surplus” population. The failure of the welfare state to satisfactorily address the disenfranchised (i.e., unemployed) results in unsettling disorder. The criminal justice system is therefore dispatched to suppress any wayward tendencies that would threaten the existing economic order.
Quinney, Richard. 1977. Class, state, and crime: On the theory and practice of criminal justice. New York: D. McKay.
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Quinney, Richard. 2002. Critique of the legal order: Crime control in capitalist society. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Originally published in 1973. The justice system is indicted as being an instrument of the capitalist order. The “crimes” of the working class are characterized as resulting from either accommodation or resistance. The book is divided into three basic themes: a critique of standard notions of crime, an account of the class connection of American crime, and a postulation of alternatives.
Quinney, Richard. 2002. Critique of the legal order: Crime control in capitalist society. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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Reiman, Jeffrey, and Paul Leighton. 2013. The rich get richer and the poor get prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice. 10th ed. Boston: Pearson.
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Enormously popular book. Originally published in 1979 and reissued several times. Thesis cites evidence that white-collar crimes are largely committed by affluent offenders. These offenders receive light sanctions from the criminal justice system. The poor, who commit drug offenses and victimless crimes, are treated much more punitively.
Reiman, Jeffrey, and Paul Leighton. 2013. The rich get richer and the poor get prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice. 10th ed. Boston: Pearson.
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Schwendinger, Herman, and Julia Schwendinger. 1970. Defenders of order or guardians of human rights. Issues Criminology 5.2: 123–157.
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Review of contending opinions advanced over thirty years on what the definition of crime is or ought to be. In sum, the state has successfully imposed its definition on the field of criminology. Objections are raised, on scientific grounds, to the utility of using a legalistic approach to exploring the subject of crime.
Schwendinger, Herman, and Julia Schwendinger. 1970. Defenders of order or guardians of human rights. Issues Criminology 5.2: 123–157.
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Miscellaneous Seminal Works

Certain works either fail to fit neatly within any of the previous classifications of theory or they gave rise to theory developed later than 1980, the approximate date at which this article on the history of criminology ends. Two neighborhood studies failed to cohere to the Chicago School model for a few minor reasons but were influential nonetheless. Du Bois 1996 mixes ethnography and quantitative data in a book that was ahead of its time. Jacobs 2011 (originally published in 1961) gave pause to the urban renewal program driving housing policy in many urban centers in the 1960s. The author looks below the surface of city life to reveal an in-depth social life beneath a veneer of social disorder. Newman 1972 is a critique advanced in the aftermath of urban renewal. Packing the poor into high rise developments built under Great Society programs concentrated crime in a way unforeseen by the rational planners. The author’s analysis of architectural planning led to designs aimed at increasing surveillance and territoriality to inhibit crime. Several other offerings proved a catalyst for later research in other ways. Two pieces of writing, in particular, fed later theoretical developments. Cohen and Felson 1979 introduced the routine activities framework. The approach is different from criminology in that its focus is on dissecting the event of crime and crime alone. The framework has served as a useful heuristic for generating practical solutions and preventions. It is often paired with control friendly theory, such as social control and social disorganization, because all three assume that criminal motivation is ubiquitous. Black 2010 also proved instrumental in promoting research. Introducing the paradigm of “pure sociology,” the author affirms that law exhibits a behavior outside of the motivation of any of the individual actors. This legalistically focused and anthropologically informed approach has served as the basis for dozens of works written by those who have trained under the author’s direction. Cleckley 1982 has also proved indirectly influential in contributing the concept of psychopathy. The notion has appeared most recently with the rise of biosocial criminology, employed in the examination of brain scans of offenders. Lastly, Glueck and Glueck 1930 followed a multifactor approach that has contributed to developmental criminology largely through a contemporary analysis of the authors’ data from Boston in the 1920s.

Black, Donald. 2010. The behavior of law. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
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Originally published in 1976. Black introduces the paradigm of “pure sociology.” Law (“governmental social control”) varies according to one’s status. Status is determined along a few dimensions, referred to as “social geometry.” Chapters address stratification, differentiation, social distance, location in reference to center/periphery of social life, symbolic culture, organization, and nonlegal social control.
Black, Donald. 2010. The behavior of law. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
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Cleckley, Hervey Milton. 1982. The mask of sanity. New York: New American Library.
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Psychopathy is the term that the work introduced into the criminological lexicon. The diagnosis has been altered to “anti-social personality disorder.” Individuals can don a mask of superficial charm. Yet underneath the person unable to genuinely appreciate emotion. These attributes are the key to successful manipulation.
Cleckley, Hervey Milton. 1982. The mask of sanity. New York: New American Library.
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Cohen, Lawrence E., and Marcus Felson. 1979. Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review 44.4: 588–608.
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The congruence of a motivated offender, suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian account for the criminal event. Changes in routine activities, such as leisure time, more women in the workforce, and more economic output, have opened up greater opportunity for crime.
Cohen, Lawrence E., and Marcus Felson. 1979. Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review 44.4: 588–608.
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Du Bois, W. E. B. 1996. The Philadelphia Negro. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.
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A study undertaken in 1899 that relied on door-to-door polling of black citizens to gather data. It was one of the first works of sociology to utilize quantitative analysis to show various dimensions of the social life of neighborhoods as well as other social pathologies, including crime.
Du Bois, W. E. B. 1996. The Philadelphia Negro. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.
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Glueck, Sheldon, and Eleanor Glueck. 1930. 500 criminal careers. New York: A. A. Knopf.
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The authors used a multifactor approach to gather dozens of variables. Five hundred delinquents were matched with five hundred nondelinquents on a few characteristics to isolate for the influence of others. Data were later recovered and reexamined in a contemporary classic, Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub, Crime in the Making (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995).
Glueck, Sheldon, and Eleanor Glueck. 1930. 500 criminal careers. New York: A. A. Knopf.
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Jacobs, Jane. 2011. The death and life of great American cities. Reprint. New York: Vintage.
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Originally published in 1961. In-depth critique of the rationalist urban planning of the 1960s, which involved slum renewal. Jacobs finds order where others see chaos in urban neighborhoods. She highlights four generators of diversity to reduce disorder and crime: mixed primary uses, short blocks, buildings of various ages, and population density.
Jacobs, Jane. 2011. The death and life of great American cities. Reprint. New York: Vintage.
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Newman, Oscar. 1972. Defensible space: Crime prevention through urban design. New York: Macmillan.
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The focus of the work produced an approach labeled “crime prevention through environmental design” (CPTED). The aim is for architectural design to create living spaces that thwart crime based on four key principles: territoriality, surveillance, image, and milieu. The work grew from a criticism of public housing designs of the era.
Newman, Oscar. 1972. Defensible space: Crime prevention through urban design. New York: Macmillan.
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