Criminology Commons^™

Theories Of Crime : A Reader, Claire Renzetti, Daniel Curran, Patrick Carr

Daniel J. Curran

This reader contains excerpts from criminologists' writings on many of the most recent sociological, biological, and psychological theories of crime.

Editors Renzetti, Curran, and Carr have compiled one of the most thorough books on the market in terms of presenting diverse theoretical perspectives. They offer introductions to each theory, briefly outlining the theory's strengths and weaknesses, and provide a set of discussion questions at the end of each theory. Excerpted readings were chosen for their accessibility to all students.

(Description from Google Books)

Your Friends And Neighbors: Localized Economic Development And Criminal Activity, Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens

Matthew Freedman

We exploit a sudden shock to demand for a subset of low-wage workers generated by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program in San Antonio, Texas to identify the effects of localized economic development on crime. We use a difference-in-difference methodology that takes advantage of variation in BRAC’s impact over time and across neighborhoods. We find that appropriative criminal behavior increases in neighborhoods where a fraction of residents experienced increases in earnings. This effect is driven by residents who were unlikely to be BRAC beneficiaries, implying that criminal opportunities are important in explaining patterns of crime.

Forthcoming in the …

Metacognition In Criminal Profiling, Barry Woodhouse, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

Extract:
As with many professions, one of the more serious problems that confronts the profiling community is that of the inept examiner. Deliberately unethical behavior is one thing, but ongoing incompetence because of profiler ignorance is something else entirely. In some instances, ignorance is the result of a metacognitive deficit caused by a lack of study, a lack of training, or a general lack of mental dexterity. In such instances, the profiler will continually do the wrong thing, such as using flawed methods and erroneous logic, because he lacks the ability to recognize his own ineptitude; the profiler cannot perceive …

An Introduction To Crime And Deviance, Wayne Petherick, Claire Ferguson

Wayne Petherick

Extract: Criminological knowledge as it relates to concepts of deviance have been stagnating. Historically, new texts contain very little new knowledge. They have tended towards the recycled rather than the original. Old theories are posited over and over again, with little consideration or regard to whether they even apply in the current universe of criminal behavior. New editions rarely contain little more than new case studies as if this somehow keeps them contemporary. At best, many works offer a different spin on old approaches or theories. It is for these reasons that we have endeavoured to make this book a …

Behavioral Consistency, The Homology Assumption And The Problems Of Induction, Wayne Petherick, Claire Ferguson

Wayne Petherick

Extract: The ultimate goal of profiling is to identify the major behavioral and personality characteristics to narrow the suspect pool. Inferences about offender characteristics can be accomplished deductively, based on the analysis of discrete offender behaviors established within a particular case. They can also be accomplished inductively, involving prediction based on abstract offender averages from group data (these methods were detailed extensively in Chapter 2; see also Petherick & Turvey, 2008a). As discussed, these two approaches are by no means equal.

Alcohol, Drugs And Crime, Wayne Petherick, Nila Myers

Wayne Petherick

Extract:
There are a great many factors that contribute to criminality. These include, but are not limited to poverty, mental disorder, personality disorder, sub-cultures (such as gangs), personality differences, and socialization. One of the more prevalent though would be the use of alcohol and other drugs. This applies to both the offender and the victim. That is, many offenders are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time of their offense, and so are victims. In fact, victim use of drugs parallels that of offenders in many offense types.

Cults, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

Extract: Cults are a universal phenomenon, and can likely be found in some form in every country around the world. Haworth (1997) suggests that there are 500 cult groups operating in the UK and other parts of Europe, meaning that on a per capita basis, the problem is the same as in the USA. Langone (undated) suggests that cult educational organizations have compiled lists of more than 2,000 groups with perhaps 1,000 of these groups actually meeting the criteria of cults, Furthermore, as an indication of their global nature, he suggests that grassroots cult educational organizations exist in more than …

School Shootings And Guns, Wayne Petherick, Brent Turvey, Jared Kreeger

Wayne Petherick

Extract: School shootings are a global phenomenon, as they occur in almost every country around the world. However, the United States ranks number one in terms of the total number of school shooters and total number of victims in a single incident. Despite the media attention such incidents receive, they are uncommon and as such are deviant both statistically and ideologically as an extreme form of anti-social (and homicidal) behavior.

Choosing Crime: The Criminal Calculus Of Property Offenders, Kenneth Tunnell

Kenneth Tunnell

How people make decisions to commit criminal acts is a growing area of research and theory. This area of criminology is usually labeled "rational choice".