Second Code - Toward (or Away from) an Empiric Theory of Crime and Delinquency

• NCJ Number: 6125
• Journal: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (JULY 1968) Pages: 189-197
• Author(s): Macnaughton-Smith
• Date Published: 1968
• Length: 9 pages
• Corporate Author: National Council on Crime and Delinquency
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

An alternative explanation of crime focusing upon those combinations of events and circumstances which result in a person being labeled a criminal or delinquent.

Abstract

This approach assumes that law is made by society through its actions and not just through its legal enactments. Methodological implications of such an approach to crime are discussed. Author states that failure to provide meaningful predictors of crime or delinquency arises largely from the failure to define what is being predicted.