NCJ Number
5267
Date Published
1970
Length
578 pages
Annotation
TEXTBOOK ON CRIMINOLOGY WHICH SUMMARIZES MODERN RESEARCH ON CRIME AND THE LAW, CRIME MEASUREMENT, CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR SYSTEMS, AND JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION.
Abstract
THE VIEW STRESSED IN THIS BOOK, THAT CRIME CONSTITUTES SPECIAL FORMS OF ADAPTATION TO THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE, REPRESENTS A NEWLY EMERGENT SCIENTIFIC INTEREST IN THE FIELD OF CRIMINOLOGY. UNLIKE THE OLDER VIEWS OF LOMBROSO AND HIS IMMEDIATE FOLLOWERS, WHICH SOUGHT STATISTICAL PROOF IN THE MEASURABLE AND, PARTICULARLY, THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF CRIME, THIS MORE RECENT VIEW SEEKS EMPIRICAL AND MEASURABLE DATA IN TERMS OF THE CHARACTER OF THE ADAPTATION ITSELF. IT WELCOMES EVIDENCE IN RELATION TO THE SPECIFICALLY FORMULATED CONDITIONS DETERMINING A PARTICULAR TYPE OF CRIME. TO FIND SUCH EVIDENCE AT THIS STAGE FOR ALL TYPES AND MANIFESTATIONS OF CRIME IS IMPOSSIBLE. ALSO TO SEE ALL FORMS OF CRIME AS SEPARABLE AND SELF-ENCLOSED SYSTEMS OF BEHAVIOR IS NOT YET QUITE POSSIBLE IN THE LIGHT OF THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR KNOWLEDGE. NEVERTHELESS, THE EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE IN THIS VOLUME TO VIEW CRIME WHENEVER POSSIBLE IN THIS LIGHT AND TO FORMULATE THE BROAD CATEGORIES UNDER WHICH SIMILAR FORMS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR SHOULD FALL.