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Annotated Further Readings
The author(s) of each entry have furnished a list of works that, if consulted, will further illuminate the topic of interest.
Each recommended reading is annotated so that its relevance is clarified. Importantly, the Annotated Further Readings
section is organized to correspond with the format used in the Reader’s Guide: by the 21 schools of thought and
then by topic within each school. In this way, these materials provide an easily accessible and invaluable resource for
readers inspired to delve more deeply into any specific theory or broader way of thinking within criminology.
1. The Classical School of Criminology
Beccaria, Cesare: Classical School
Davis, D. (1957). The movement to abolish capital
punishment in America, 1787–1861. The American
Historical Review, 63, 23–46.
Beccaria, C. (1995). On crimes and punishments and
other writings (R. Bellamy, Ed., & R. Davies, Trans.).
New York: Cambridge University Press. (Original work
published 1764)
The text of On Crimes and Punishments plus
selections from Beccaria’s academic lectures,
economic writings, and intellectual correspondence.
Includes a useful bibliographical sketch, chronology,
bibliographical glossary, and explanatory footnotes.
This is the most useful English edition for students
reading Beccaria for the first time.
A historical account of capital punishment reform in
America that includes an extensive discussion of
Beccaria’s influence in the United States. This
scholarly article also relates Beccaria’s ideas to those
of political philosopher John Locke and addresses the
use of Beccaria’s secular arguments by members of
American religious communities that advocated the
abolition of capital punishment.
Maestro, M. (1973). Cesare Beccaria and the origins of
penal reform. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
The only book-length biography of Beccaria
published in English. Maestro provides much useful
information about Beccaria’s life, work, and relations
with European intellectuals and statesmen, but his
assessment of Beccaria’s ideas is unsophisticated and
his narrative tends toward hagiography.
Beccaria, C. (2008). On crimes and punishments and
other writings (A. Thomas, Ed., & A. Thomas &
J. Parzen, Trans.). Toronto, ON: University of Toronto
Press. (Original work published 1764)
The text includes On Crimes and Punishments plus
three significant contemporary scholarly reactions by
Ferdinando Facchinei (1765), Pietro and Allessandro
Verri (1765), and Voltaire (1766). The book also
includes a text related to Beccaria’s political work
reforming the death penalty in Lombardy and
contains an extensive introduction to Beccaria’s life
and ideas by the prominent Italian scholar Alberto
Burgio. This translation has greater literary elegance
than the Cambridge edition.
Bentham, Jeremy: Classical School
Becker, G. S. (1968). Crime and punishment: An economic
approach. Journal of Political Economy, 76, 169–217. This classic article is an excellent example of a
modern attempt to provide an economic analysis of
crime on the basis of Bentham’s theory of deterrence
and for the illustration of the logical development of
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Annotated Further Readings
Bentham’s theories, which recognized the importance
of economic factors in explaining crime.
Harrison, R. (1983). Bentham. London: Routledge &
Kegan Paul.
A useful introduction, focusing on Bentham’s
semantics and account of meaning, his views on the
relation of fact and value, and the sphere of public
and private ethics. The account of Bentham’s
psychology is weak, perhaps because his views have
been superseded by subsequent discoveries.
Schofield, P. (2006). Utility and democracy: The political
thought of Jeremy Bentham. Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press.
Arguing that the key to Bentham’s political thought
lies in his semantics and in his theory “fictions,”
Schofield shows its implications for Bentham’s moral
theory, the account of natural law and natural rights,
constitutional law and the problem of codification,
and issues related to legal reform.
Schofield, P. (2009). Bentham: A guide for the perplexed.
London: Continuum.
A short, general introduction to Bentham, with chapters
devoted to his moral theory, the Panopticon, and
torture. The author shows the relation of these issues to
Bentham’s account of language and “fallacies.”
Semple, J. (1993). Bentham’s prison: A study of the
panopticon penitentiary. Oxford, UK: Clarendon
Press. A sympathetic study of Bentham’s plan of the
Panopticon, providing an alternative to Foucault’s
rather foreboding analysis of the institution. Semple
generalizes the “inspection principle,” suggesting that
the Panopticon provides a standard of visibility and
transparency that can be applied to public institutions
and government.
2. The Positivist School of Criminology
Aschaffenburg, Gustav: German Criminology
Becker, P., & Wetzell, R. F. (Eds.). (2006). Criminals and
their scientists: The history of criminology in
international perspective. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Comprehensive international history of criminology
from the 19th to the mid-20th century. Contains
several essays on the German and international
reception of Lombroso as well the further
development of criminology in the 20th century that
allow the reader to place Aschaffenburg in a broader
context.
Busse, F. (1991). Gustav Aschaffenburg (1866–1944):
Leben und Werk. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
A biographical dissertation on Aschaffenburg that
provides a fair amount of detail about his life and
work.
Galassi, S. (2004). Kriminologie im deutschen kaiserreich:
Geschichte einer gebrochenen Verwissenschaftlichung
[Criminology in Imperial Germany: History of a partial
scientization]. Stuttgart, Germany: Steiner.
A history-of-science study of the development of
criminology in Imperial Germany (1871–1918) that
discusses Aschaffenburg as the most important
exponent of a criminological “Vereinigungstheorie”—
that is, a theory combining environmental and
biological explanations of criminal behavior.
Wetzell, R. F. (2000). Inventing the criminal: A history of
German criminology, 1880–1945. Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press.
Shows that German biomedical research on crime
predominated over sociological research and thus
contributed to the rise of eugenics and the
targeting of criminals for sterilization under the
Nazi regime. But Wetzell also argues that German
criminology was characterized by a continuing
tension between the criminologists’ hereditarian
inclinations and an increasing methodological
sophistication that demonstrated the complexity
of the interaction of heredity and milieu.
Important study for placing Aschaffenburg in
larger context.
Ferri, Enrico: Positivist School
Beck, N. (2005). Enrico Ferri’s scientific socialism:
A Marxist interpretation of Herbert Spencer’s organic
analogy. Journal of the History of Biology, 38,
301–325.
This article analyzes Ferri’s position on Marxian
Socialism and discusses Spencer’s influence on Ferri.
Both Spencer’s and Ferri’s positions and work are
discussed in depth.
Ferri, E. (1900). Socialism and modern science: Darwin,
Spencer, Marx (R. R. La Monte, Trans.). New York:
New York International Library. (Original work
published 1894)
This work makes comparisons between socialism and
modern science. Ferri believed that Marxian socialism
was a product of Darwin’s and Spencer’s work.
According to Ferri, Marxian socialism had the most
scientific value.
Annotated Further Readings
Garofalo, Raffaele: Positivist School
Allen, F. A. (1960). Raffaele Garofalo. In H. Mannheim
(Ed.), Pioneers of criminology (pp. 254–276). London:
Stevens and Sons.
This essay by Francis A. Allen is one of the few
in-depth studies dealing with Garofalo’s ideas. Allen’s
analysis, which was carried out from a juridical point
of view, looks at Garofalo’s theories, their influence
on later juridical thought, and the coexistence of
Classical School elements in his ideas.
Gibson, M. (2002). Born to crime. Cesare Lombroso and
the origins of biological criminology. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Mary Gibson’s book provides a useful tool for
examining Garofalo’s ideas in more depth and, above
all, for contextualizing his figure and works within
the cultural scene of the second half of the 19th
century and the first decade of the 20th century.
Goring, Charles: The English Convict
Driver, E. (1972). Charles Buckman Goring. In
H. Mannheim (Ed.), Pioneers in criminology
(pp. 429–442). Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
This work provides an interesting summary of Goring’s
work. It is within the academic reach of any student.
Goring, C. (1972). The English convict: A statistical
study. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith. (Original work
published 1913)
The original work, available in reprinted form,
consists of extensive presentations of the statistical
data and the calculations conducted by Goring. It is
not an easy book to read without some knowledge of
statistics, although it is logically presented.
Jones, D. A. (1986). History of criminology: A
philosophical perspective. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
This work is a valuable presentation of the history of
criminology, although it is dated.
Kretschmer, Ernst: Physique and Character
Enke, W. (1968). Ernst Kretschmer. In D. Sills (Ed.),
International encyclopedia of the social sciences
(pp. 450–452). New York: Macmillan/Free Press.
This entry provides a valuable chronology and
overview of Kretschmer’s life and work. It provides
the necessary background to understanding
Kretschmer and his ideas.
Kretschmer, E. (1970). Physique and character. New
York: Cooper Square. (Original work published 1921)
This edition of Kretschmer’s work is very readable.
Its presentation is clear and, although its conclusions
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are out of date, its presentation is easily understood
by non-scientists.
Roebuck, J. (1967). Criminal typology: The legalistic,
physical-constitutional-hereditary, psychologicalpsychiatric, and sociological approaches. Springfield, IL:
Charles C Thomas.
This work provides a thorough comparison of the
different ways criminal behavior is generally
classified. Although the work is dated, its explanation
of the different classifications is still valuable.
Lombroso, Cesare: The Criminal Man
Becker, P., & Wetzell, R. F. (2006). Criminals and their
scientists: The history of criminology in international
perspective. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
While exploring the historical developments of
criminology, this work provides an account of how
scientists from different countries reacted to and were
influenced by the publication of Cesare Lombroso’s
L’uomo delinquente.
Horn, D. G. (2003). The criminal body. Lombroso and
the anatomy of deviance. New York: Routledge.
This work shows how the construction of the born
criminal as an atavistic being was dependent on new
practices of measuring and documenting that sought
to differentiate deviant bodies from normal bodies.
Lombroso, C. (2006). Criminal man (M. Gibson &
N. H. Rafter, Eds.). Durham, NC: Duke University
Press.
This book makes available key excerpts in English from
all five editions of Lombroso’s L’uomo delinquente and
summarizes some of the main developments of
Lombroso’s theories within the different editions.
Pick, D. (1989). Faces of degeneration: A European
disorder, c. 1848–c. 1918. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
This is an excellent work on how degeneration
theories developed in France, Italy, and England. The
second part of the book focuses on Lombroso, and
explains the specific Italian historical context of
Lombroso’s criminal anthropology.
Phrenology
Rafter, N. H. (2008). The criminal brain: Understanding
biological theories of crime. New York: New York
University Press.
Nicole Rafter, a Senior Research Fellow in the
College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern
University, provides a historical context of how
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Annotated Further Readings
biological theories of crime emerged and implications
of those theories on biosocial criminology today.
Van Wyhe, J. (2004). Phrenology and the origins of
Victorian scientific naturalism. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
John van Wyhe of the Department of History and
Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University wrote
Phrenology and the Origins of Victorian Scientific
Naturalism as an extension of his dissertation work.
Van Wyhe provides an in-depth analysis of the roots
of British phrenology during the early to mid-1800s
in this five-part book.
Quetelet, Adolphe: Explaining Crime Through
Statistical and Cartographic Techniques
Beirne, P. (1987). Adolphe Quetelet and the origins of
positivist criminology. American Journal of Sociology,
92(5), 1140–1169.
Beirne gives readers an in-depth overview of
Quetelet’s life within the context of his time.
Quetelet’s contributions to the development of
positivist criminology are clearly outlined as well as
those of his contemporaries.
Quetelet, A. J. (1984). Research on the propensity for
crime at different ages (S. F. Test Sylvester, Trans.).
Cincinnati, OH: Anderson. (Original work published
1831)
The introduction to the English translation of
Quetelet’s classic work offers a nice contextual
background on the man. Quetelet outlines his theories
here and presents the classic statistical tables and map
examples.
Weisburd, D. L., Bruinsma, G., & Bernasco, W. (2008).
Units of analysis in geographic criminology: Historical
development, critical issues and open questions. In
D. Weisburd, W. Bernasco, & G. Bruinsma (Eds.),
Putting crime in its place: Units of analysis in spatial
crime research (pp. 3–31). New York: Springer-Verlag.
The introduction to this book offers a comprehensive
history of crime and place research. It will be
informative for anyone seeking a good overview of
the subject.
3. Early American Theories of Crime
Aichhorn, August: Wayward Youth
Freud, S. (1962). The ego and the id. New York: W. W.
Norton. (Original work published 1923)
This work provides the reader with an overview of
psychoanalytical principles. Although Freud discussed
how delinquency and personality are connected, he
did not apply his work in practice.
Wulach, J. S. (1983). August Aichhorn’s legacy: The
treatment of narcissism in criminals. International
Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative
Criminology, 27, 226–234
Wulach provides an overview of the instrumental
work of Aichhorn in addressing narcissistic youths in
an institutional setting. His pioneering work set the
stage for future psychoanalysts.
Alexander, Franz, and William Healy:
Roots of Crime
Alexander, F., & French, T. M. (1946). Psychoanalytic
therapy: Principles and application. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press.
This text provides an overview of the many
techniques used in psychoanalytic therapy with
particular focus on decreasing the time traditional
therapy requires. Traditional psychoanalytic therapy
was quite lengthy, and Alexander and French
recognized the need to employ brief techniques. These
techniques are introduced and explained in the
context of proper psychoanalysis.
Healy, W. (1915). The individual delinquent: A text-book
of diagnosis and prognosis for all concerned in
understanding offenders. Boston: Little, Brown.
This textbook focuses on early childhood
psychological development in the context of later
delinquency. Healy places particular emphasis on
temperament development and environmental
influences on development.
Dugdale, Richard L.: The Jukes
Carlson, E. A. (2001). The unfit: A history of a bad idea.
Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory Press.
Carlson provides a careful examination of the notion
that those deemed “unfit” due to weak minds, weak
physical constitutions, or weak moral standards were
problems within society. He fits the research in the
late 19th century within traditional thinking dating
back to biblical times. He then describes the eugenics
movement and the role that eugenics played in the
Holocaust atrocities.
Degler, C. N. (1991). In search of human nature: The
decline and revival of Darwinism in American social
thought. New York: Oxford University Press.
Annotated Further Readings
Degler traces the development of early criminological
research that grew from the work of Charles Darwin.
The eugenics movement peaked during the period
from the late 1800s through the early decades of the
1900s. This author examines the heredityenvironment debate, while chronicling the influence
of scholars that emphasized the role of the
environment and then the later works provided more
support for biological/hereditary interpretations of the
research findings.
Rafter, N. H. (1988). White trash: The eugenic family
studies, 1877–1919. Boston: Northeastern University
Press.
Rafter reviews 15 studies that fit her conception of
“eugenic family studies.” She also reprints 11 of the
original works in this volume. As such, this is a great
source for finding many of these works. Rafter offers
an insightful analysis of this body of research.
Eugenics and Crime: Early American Positivism
Bruinius, H. (2006). Better for all the world: The secret
history of forced sterilization and America’s quest for
racial purity. New York: Knopf.
This book is an introduction to the eugenics movement
and its major actors, presented in a narrative fashion
and explaining each individual’s personal background as
well as probable motives for their involvement. Bruinius
traces the movement from its earliest beginnings with
Francis Galton to its height in the 1930s.
Pickens, D. (1968). Eugenics and the progressives.
Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
This is a solid introduction to the eugenics movement
in the United States, especially for those individuals
who are not familiar with it. Each chapter of the
book is dedicated to a particular time frame. Within
each section, Pickens explains the key actors of the
time and the movement’s current status of
development and power.
Goddard, Henry H.: Feeblemindedness and
Delinquency
Black, E. (2003). The war against the weak: Eugenics and
America’s campaign to create a master race. New York:
Four Walls Eight Windows.
A historical review of the eugenic movement in the
United States.
Smith, J. D. (1985). Minds made feeble: The myth and
the legacy of the Kallikaks. Rockville, MD: Aspen.
An assessment of the impact of the Kallikak study in
the contemporary eugenic movement.
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Zenderland, L. (2001). Measuring minds: Henry Herbert
Goddard and the origin of American intelligence testing.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
An account of Goddard’s role in the popularization
of intelligence testing in the United States.
Hooton, Earnest A.: The American Criminal
Barkan, E. (1993). The retreat of scientific racism: The
changing concept of race in Britain and the United States
between the World Wars. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
A study of the debates regarding race in early
20th century American anthropology that includes
substantial references to Hooton’s work.
Rafter, N. H. (1997). Creating born criminals. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press.
A historical overview of biological and psychological
theories in early American criminology.
Rafter, N. H. (2004). Earnest A. Hooton and the
biological tradition in American criminology.
Criminology, 42, 735–771.
An assessment of Hooton’s place in the history of
American criminology.
Insanity and Crime: Early American Positivism
Dain, N., & Carlson, E. T. (1962). Moral insanity in the
United States 1835–1866. American Journal of
Psychiatry, 118, 795–801.
Norman Dain and Eric Carlson trace the evolution of
the concept of moral insanity during the middle part
of the 1800s. Dain and Carlson delineate the
arguments of both the psychiatrists who were
influenced by the positivist movement, as well as
those who favored moralist explanations of insanity.
Rafter, N. H. (2008). The criminal brain: Understanding
biological theories of crime. New York: New York
University Press.
Nicole Rafter thoroughly elucidates the emergence
and evolution of biological theories of criminology.
From the 19th-century notion of moral derangement
to the 21st-century study of neurotransmitters, Rafter
offers a fascinating account of the development of
criminological theory.
Parmelee, Maurice
Craig, C. (Ed.). (2007). Sociology in America: A history.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
A volume that brings together several articles on the
origin and early history of American sociology.
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Annotated Further Readings
Sheldon, William H.: Somatotypes and Delinquency
Rafter, N. H. (2007). Somatotyping, antimodernism, and
the production of criminological knowledge.
Criminology, 45, 805–834.
Rafter’s work examines archival documents to
explore Sheldon’s personal views on his somatotype
research. Couched within this discussion of Sheldon’s
personal views about his work is an exploration of
the ambivalence with which somatotyping is treated
in introductory textbooks and classes.
4. Biological and Biosocial Theories of Crime
Alcohol and Violence
Babor, T., Caetano, R., Casswell, S., Edwards, G.,
Giesbrecht, N., Graham, K., et al. (2003). Alcohol: No
ordinary commodity: Research and public policy. New
York: Oxford University Press.
This is a comprehensive volume to which several
leading alcohol epidemiologists and others have
contributed. The book first establishes the need for
alcohol policy via a discussion of alcohol-related
harm, then highlights several different strategies and
interventions for reducing these harms, and finally
outlines how effective alcohol policy can be
formulated. The focus of this book is not on violence,
but the topics it covers are essential to those interested
in alcohol and violence.
Parker, R. N. (1995). Bringing “booze” back in: The
relationship between alcohol and homicide. Journal of
Research in Crime and Delinquency, 32, 3–38.
This article details one of the first structural-level
analyses that helped reintegrate alcohol back into the
study of serious interpersonal violence in the United
States. The study tests hypotheses derived from
several theoretical perspectives as they relate to
different types of homicides, revealing that the effects
of other common correlates of homicide rates may be
dependent upon levels of alcohol consumption.
Parker, R. N., & Rebhun, L.-A. (1995). Alcohol and
homicide: A deadly combination of two American
traditions. Albany: SUNY Press.
This book is unique in several respects. It first
outlines historical features associated with alcohol
and violence in America. It then discusses several
theoretical reasons for why we might expect alcohol
to be related to violence. This is accompanied by a
description of the authors’ own theoretical
explanation of the alcohol-violence association, which
they label selective disinhibition. Given these
theoretical underpinnings, it then reports the results
of two empirical tests, one that examines the impact
of alcohol availability on homicide in more than 250
American cities and the other that gauges the effects
of increasing the drinking age to 21 on youth
homicides in the United States.
Pernanen, K. (1991). Alcohol in human violence. New
York: Guilford Press.
A classic work in research on alcohol and violence.
This comprehensive book employs both official and
observational data to describe the role of alcohol in
everyday violent events such as barroom encounters
and fights. It carefully weaves quantitative and
qualitative data into a cohesive story that reveals the
importance of social, psychological, and situational
factors in explaining the alcohol-violence association.
Pridemore, W. A., & Eckhardt, K. (2008). A comparison
of victim, offender, and event characteristics of alcoholand non-alcohol-related homicides. Journal of Research
in Crime and Delinquency, 45, 227–255.
One way to illuminate the role of alcohol in violence
is to delineate how alcohol-related violent events are
different from non-alcohol-related violent events. In
this article, the authors reveal several distinguishing
victim, offender, and event characteristics of alcohol-related homicides. The authors also provide a
new grounded typology of homicide events based
upon alcohol use by homicide offenders and victims.
Brain Abnormalities and Crime
Blair, R. J., Mitchell, D., & Blair, K. (2005). The
psychopath: Emotion and the brain. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley-Blackwell.
James Blair has influenced the field of neurobiology
and criminal behavior with his proposed models on
aggression and moral development. In this book,
Blair provides a summary of neurobiological findings
on psychopathic, criminal behavior and a modified
Integrated Emotion Systems Model, which further his
proposed Violent Inhibition Mechanism Model.
Damasio, A. R. (1996). The somatic marker hypothesis
and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex.
Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 351,
1413–1420.
Antonio Damasio provides further discussion on his
somatic marker hypothesis and applies it to human
reasoning and decision-making processes. Damasio
also clarifies in this article the neural system
underlying his hypothesis.
Annotated Further Readings
Yang, Y., Glenn, A. L., & Raine, A. (2008). Brain
abnormalities in antisocial individuals: Implications for
the law. Behavioral Science and the Law, 26, 65–83.
In this review article, Yaling Yang and her colleagues
provide an overview on the up-to-date findings on
structural and functional brain abnormalities on
violent and criminal offenders. A discussion also is
presented on implications of these findings in the
legal system.
Ellis, Lee: Evolutionary Neuroandrogenic Theory
Ellis, L. (2000). Theories of criminal/antisocial behavior.
In L. Ellis & A. Walsh (Eds.), Criminology: A global
perspective (Part III). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Ellis proposes his evolutionary neuroandrogenic
theory in this book chapter. This chapter provides the
initial framework underlying the theory by describing
the two components to the theory, which are
evolution and neuroandrogens.
Ellis, L. (2003). Biosocial theorizing and criminal justice
policy. In A. Somit & S. A. Peterson (Eds.), Human
nature and public policy: An evolutionary approach
(pp. 97–120). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
This book chapter presents a detailed overview of
Ellis’s evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory and
proposes several hypotheses derived from the theory.
It also highlights hypotheses that are specifically
relevant to the criminal justice system.
Ellis, L. (2003). Genes, criminality, and the evolutionary
neuroandrogenic theory. In A. Walsh & L. Ellis (Eds.),
Biosocial criminology: Challenging environmentalism’s
supremacy (pp. 13–34). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.
This book chapter presents a review of Ellis’s
evolutionary neuroandrogenic in the context of
biosocial criminology.
Ellis, L. (2005). A theory explaining biological correlates of
criminality. European Journal of Criminology, 2, 287–315.
This journal article provides a detailed description of
Ellis’s evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory. It also
discusses 12 biological correlates of crime that are
relevant to evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory.
Ellis, L., Das, S., & Buker, H. (2008). Androgenpromoted physiological traits and criminality: A test of
the evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory. Personality and
Individual Differences, 44, 699–709.
This study is the first empirical test of three
hypotheses derived from evolutionary
neuroandrogenic theory: (1) do males commit more
crimes than females; (2) are physiological traits
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associated with higher levels of androgens associated
with criminal behaviors, especially violent behaviors;
and (3) are sex differences in levels of crime explained
by androgen-promoted physiological traits. Overall,
the findings from this study provide general support
for evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory.
Environmental Toxins Theory
Carson, R. (1962). Silent spring. Cambridge, MA:
Houghton Mifflin.
Silent Spring is a classic work that documents the
harm that pesticides can cause and challenges the
chemical industry for misleading the public about
pesticide production. The book is often credited as
the reason that the pesticide DDT was banned. It is
also referenced as the turning point in the modern
environmental movement and widespread concern
about environmental toxins.
Colborn, T., Dumanoski, D., & Myers, J. P. (1997). Our
stolen future: Are we threatening our fertility,
intelligence, and survival? A scientific detective story.
New York: Dutton.
Our Stolen Future examines the relationship between
synthetic chemicals known as endocrine disrupters
and birth defects, sexual abnormalities, and
reproductive failures among animals. The book is
credited for advancing the public policy debate about
the role of endocrine disruptors. This work provides a
nice introduction about the potential problematic
effects of environmental toxins.
Needleman, H. (1990). The future challenge of lead
toxicity. Environmental Health Perspectives, 89, 85–89.
This article examines the history and development of
understanding of the harmful effects of lead.
Needleman uses research on the effects of lead to
point out the potential for lead exposure to lead to
anti-social behavior and crime.
Zakrewski, S. (2002). Environmental toxicology. New
York: Oxford University Press.
This is an introductory textbook that provides the
reader with a basic understanding of the impact of
various toxic chemicals on the human body; details
environmental problems such as air and water
pollution; and examines how society controls and
regulates environmental toxins.
Eysenck, Hans J.: Crime and Personality
Eysenck, H. J. (1996). Personality and crime: Where do
we stand. Psychology, Crime and Law, 2, 143–152.
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Annotated Further Readings
This is Eysenck’s last work on crime and personality.
It provides an up-to-date account of his final thinking
on the subject matter. In the article, he argues that
personality plays a central role in mediating between
genetic and environmental forces in explaining the
causes of criminality.
Gudjonsson, G. H. (1997). Crime and personality. In
H. Nyborg (Ed.), The scientific study of human nature.
Tribute to Hans J. Eysenck at eighty (pp. 142–164).
Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science.
This paper provides a detailed reivew of Eysenck’s
theory of crime and personality, reviews the empricial
evidence for the therory, and shows how the theory
has changed over time. The main conclusion is that
Eysenck’s work has been more influenctial in terms of
stimulating resarch into the causes of crime than into
its prevention and control.
Fishbein, Diana H.: Biosocial Theory
Beaver, K. M. (2009). Biosocial criminology: A primer.
Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
This book provides an overview of biosocial
criminology. It explains the biological concepts and it
also provides a detailed overview of the biosocial
research bearing on the etiology of crime and
delinquency.
Walsh, A. (2002). Biosocial criminology: Introduction
and integration. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson.
This book introduces the reader to the biosocial
perspective. It places particular emphasis on showing
how biological concepts can be integrated into
existing criminological theories.
Walsh, A., & Beaver, K. M. (Eds.). (2009). Biosocial
criminology: New directions in theory and research. New
York: Routledge.
This edited book contains a series of original essays
written by some of the leading biosocial experts, each
of which tackles a different issue related to the
biosocial perspective.
Wright, J. P., Tibbetts, S. G., & Daigle, L. E. (2008).
Criminals in the making: Criminality across the life
course. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
This book provides an in-depth examination of the
causes to criminality. In doing so, it injects biosocial
research into the life-course perspective to show how
biology and the environment work together in the
creation of criminals.
Harris, Judith Rich: Why Parents Do Not Matter
Galton, F. (1973). Inquiries into human faculty and its
development. New York: AMS Press. (Original work
published 1883)
This book provides insight into the early thoughts of
Galton on the importance of heredity and human
social behavior.
Harris, J. R. (2006). No two alike: Human nature and
human individuality. New York: W. W. Norton.
Judith Rich Harris provides a coherent review of the
literature dealing with twin studies, an elaboration of
group socialization theory, and an explanation for
personality differences.
Wasserman, D., & Wachbroit, R. (Eds.). (2001). Genetics
and criminal behavior. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
The authors of this edited book provide an
excellent review of a literature that substantiates that
genetic factors are important to understanding the
development of some forms of criminal
activity.
Herrnstein, Richard J., and Charles Murray:
Crime and the Bell Curve
Ellis, L., & Walsh, A. (2003). Crime, delinquency and
intelligence: A review of the worldwide literature. In H.
Nyborg (Ed.), The scientific study of general intelligence:
A tribute to Arthur Jensen (pp. 343–365). Oxford, UK:
Elsevier Science.
This book chapter surveyed the worldwide literature
on delinquency and crime up to 2001. Data from
many countries indicate that low IQ places
individuals at risk for a variety of antisocial
behaviors. The relationship between IQ and crime/
delinquency is always stronger in official statistics
than in self-reports due to the fact that very few
serious offenders are ever represented in self-report
studies.
Flynn, J. (2007). What is intelligence: Beyond the Flynn
effect. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
This book is the culmination of the author’s 20-year
examination of the so-called Flynn effect, which is the
documentation of secular gains in IQ over 70 years.
The gain is not in question, but what caused it is.
This book is Flynn’s efforts to answer the question
from a much different point of view than Herrnstein
and Murray.
Annotated Further Readings
Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T., Boykin, A.,
Brody, N., Ceci, S., et al. (1995). Intelligence: Knowns
and unknowns: Report of a task force established by the
board of scientific affairs of the American Psychological
Association. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
This is the report of the American Psychological
Association’s task force that was formed specifically to
address many of the points made by Herrnstein and
Murray. The task force basically supported almost all of
the scientific points made by Herrnstein and Murray,
such as the lack of class or race bias in IQ tests, the
considerable genetic contribution to intelligence, and the
fact that IQ predicts so many life outcomes more
strongly than any other factor. They also affirmed the
large IQ gap between black and whites, but tip-toed
around the possibility that this could be partially genetic.
Mednick, Sarnoff A.: Autonomic Nervous System
(ANS) Theory
Mednick, S. A. (1977). A biosocial theory of the learning
of law-abiding behavior. In S. A. Mednick & K. O.
Christiansen (Eds.), Biosocial bases of criminal behavior
(pp. 1–8). New York: Gardner.
In the unveiling of ANS theory, Mednick becomes
one of the first modern biosocial criminology
proponents. This theory proposal chapter covers the
essentials of the construct, including hypotheses and
measurement.
Mednick, S. A., Gabrielli, W. F., Jr., & Hutchings,
B. (1987). Genetic factors in the etiology of criminal
behavior. In S. A. Mednick, T. E. Moffitt, & S. A. Stack
(Eds.), The causes of crime: New biological approaches
(pp. 74–91). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Following up an article in the journal Science several
years earlier, this adoption study finds that the
delinquency of adopted children is very similar to
their biological parent’s criminality. This finding is
especially strong in terms of chronic recidivism.
Mednick, S. A., Kirkegaard-Sorensen, L., Hutchings, B.,
Knop, J., Rosenberg, R., & Schulsinger, F. (1977). An
example of biosocial interaction research: The interplay
of socioenvironmental and individual factors in the
etiology of criminal behavior. In S. A. Mednick & K. O.
Christiansen (Eds.), Biosocial bases of criminal behavior
(pp. 9–23). New York: Gardner.
In the initial test of ANS theory, Mednick and his
colleagues find that EDRec is only related to criminal
1051
behavior in the lower-middle and middle classes. This
study serves as a pilot study for the larger, nationally
representative sample in Denmark.
Neurology and Crime
Damasio, A. R. (1996). The somatic marker hypothesis
and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex.
Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 351,
1413–1420.
Antonio Damasio provides further discussion on his
somatic marker hypothesis and applies it to human
reasoning and decision-making processes. Damasio
also clarifies in this article the neural system
underlying his hypothesis.
Yang, Y., Glenn, A. L., & Raine, A. (2008). Brain
abnormalities in antisocial individuals: Implications for
the law. Behavioral Science and the Law, 26, 65–83.
In this review article, Yaling Yang and her colleagues
provide an overview on the up-to-date findings on
structural and functional brain abnormalities on
violent and criminal offenders. A discussion is also
provided on the implications of these findings in the
legal system.
Nutrition and Crime
Benton, D. (2007). The impact of diet in anti-social,
violent, and criminal behavior. Neuroscience and
Behavioral Reviews, 31, 752–774.
David Benton is a psychology professor at University
of Wales, Swansea. He provides a general, extensive
overview of nutrition and its possible link to
antisocial and criminal behavior.
Hibbeln, J. R., Davis, J. M., Steer, C., Emmett, P.,
Rogers, I., Williams, C., et al. (2007). Maternal
seafood consumption in pregnancy and
neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood (ALSPAC
study): An observational cohort study. The Lancet,
369, 578–585.
This study explores the possible effects lack of
omega-3 consumption by pregnant mothers on
children’s later neurodevelopment and behavior.
Prenatal Influences and Crime
Raine, A. (2002). Biosocial studies of antisocial and
violent behavior in children and adults: A review. Journal
of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 311–326.
1052
Annotated Further Readings
In this article, Adrian Raine provides an overview of
the data linking prenatal risk factors to antisocial
behavior, focusing in particular on biosocial
interactions. He also summarizes research on
biosocial interactions within a host of other domains
related to violence.
Raine, A., Brennan, P., & Mednick, S. A. (1997).
Interaction between birth complications and early
maternal rejection in predisposing individuals to adult
violence: Specificity to serious, early-onset violence.
American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1265–1271.
The authors follow up on data from a previous study
they conducted to report on the interaction between
birth complications and maternal rejection in
predisposing to violent behavior.
Raine, A., Mellingen, K, Liu, J. H., Venables, P. H., &
Mednick, S. A. (2003). Effects of environmental
enrichment at 3–5 years on schizotypal personality and
antisocial behavior at ages 17 and 23 years. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1627–1635.
This study offers an example of the type of
intervention that may prove beneficial in future
efforts to prevent antisocial behavior.
Wakschlag, L. S., Pickett, K. E., Cook, E. C., Benowitz,
N. L., & Leventhal, B. L. (2002). Maternal smoking
during pregnancy and severe antisocial behavior in
offspring: A review. American Journal of Public Health,
92, 966–974.
The authors review the evidence linking prenatal
nicotine exposure to later antisocial behavior.
Psychophysiology and Crime
Lorber, M. F. (2004). Psychophysiology of aggression,
psychopathy, and conduct problems: A meta-analysis.
Psychological Bulletin, 130, 531–552.
In this meta-analysis of 95 studies the relationships
between three measures of heart rate and skin
conductance activity—resting, task, and reactivity—
and three types of antisocial spectrum behavior—
aggression, psychopathy, and conduct problems—
were examined. Results provide important empirical
and clinical implications and suggest that age and
stimulus valence may moderate the
psychophysiology–behavior relationships.
Raine, A., Brennan, P. A., Farrington, D. P., & Mednick,
S. A. (1996). Biosocial bases of violence. New York:
Plenum Press.
This book provides an overview of research that
integrates biological and psychosocial processes in
attempts to explain violence. Biosocial theories of
aggression and violence in children and adults are
discussed, and directions for future studies are provided.
Schizophrenia and Crime
Raine, A. (2006). Pursuing a second generation of
research on crime and schizophrenia. In A. Raine (Ed.),
Crime and schizophrenia: Causes and cures (pp. 3–12).
New York: Nova Science.
This chapter discusses the co-occurrence of schizophrenia
and crime, the issue of stigmatization, applications of
schizophrenia-crime research, and the need for a second
generation of research that breaks into new territory.
Schug, R. A., & Raine, A. (2009). Comparative metaanalyses of neuropsychological functioning in antisocial
schizophrenic persons. Clinical Psychology Review, 29,
230–242.
In this article, evidence for a biologically distinct
subgroup of antisocial individuals with schizophrenia
is reviewed, and results from preliminary metaanalyses of studies of cognitive performance in
antisocial schizophrenic persons compared to their
non-schizophrenic and non-antisocial counterparts,
which suggest specific patterns of brain dysfunction,
are reported.
Vila, Brian J., Lawrence E. Cohen, and Richard S.
Machalek: Evolutionary Expropriative Theory
Cohen, L. E., & Machalek, R. (1988). A general theory
of expropriative crime: An evolutionary ecological
approach. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 465–501.
This article presents the original version of the
ecological expropriative theory. One of the major foci
is on behavioral strategies that are propagated
throughout the population and are related to forms of
expropriative crime. These behavioral strategies are
learned via cultural transmission.
Vila, B. J. (1994). A general paradigm for understanding
criminal behavior: Extending evolutionary ecological
theory. Criminology, 32, 311–359.
This article argues for a revision of the original
theory and extension to all forms of crime. One of
the major refinements is the inclusion of biological
evolutionary content to augment cultural
evolutionary content described in the original
theory. A wide variety of interdisciplinary concepts
Annotated Further Readings
are interwoven in order to derive this general
paradigm of crime.
Wilson, James Q., and Richard J. Herrnstein:
Crime and Human Nature
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general
theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and lifecourse-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental
taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.
In the wake of James Q. Wilson and Richard J.
Herrnstein’s Crime and Human Nature, a series of
works appeared that embraced the use of individuallevel constructs from a range of academic disciplines,
including sociology, psychology, biology, genetics, and
neuroscience, to explain involvement in antisocial
behaviors. Two of these works, Gottfredson and
Hirschi’s self-control theory and Moffitt’s developmental
taxonomy, are even more influential than Wilson and
Herrnstein’s work based on the number of citations
and empirical tests of these theories. More broadly,
these works show that the use of individual-level
variables from across disciplines is now common­place,
and contemporary research that does so is well received
and not criticized as with Wilson and Herrnstein.
Raine, A. (1993). The psychopathology of crime:
Criminal behavior as a clinical disorder. San Diego, CA:
Academic Press.
Another important work by Adrian Raine explores
the biopsychological correlates and bases of antisocial
behavior from a more clinical perspective. Raine’s
work summarizes scholarship from fields removed
from mainstream criminology and can be seen as an
update of Wilson and Herrnstein.
XYY Aggression Theory
Rutter, M. (2006). Genes and behaviour: Nature-nurture
interplay explained. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
This book summarizes genetics in relation to mental
disorders and normal psychological characteristics, as
well as environmental determinants. It covers causes
and risks, nature and nurture, heritability of different
mental disorders and traits, patterns of inheritance
including XYY, environmentally mediated risks, and
gene-environment interaction.
Rutter, M., Giller, H., & Hagell, A. (1998). Antisocial
behavior by young people. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
1053
This is a comprehensive review of international
research evidence on antisocial behavior. The book
covers many different aspects of the field, including
different types of delinquent behavior, time trends,
heritable and environmental risk factors, and theories,
including XYY.
Witkin, H. A., Mednick, S. A., Schulsinger F.,
Bakkestrom, E., Christiansen, K. O., Goodenough, D. R.,
et al. (1976). Criminality in XYY and XXY men. Science,
193, 547–555.
This is an important paper in the field. Based on a
large Danish sample, the authors showed that the
association between XYY and violent behavior was
confounded by cognitive dysfunction.
5. Psychological Theories of Crime
Andrews, D. A., and James Bonta: A Personal,
Interpersonal, and Community-Reinforcement (PIC-R)
Perspective on Criminal Conduct
Andrews, D. A., Bonta, J., & Hoge, R. D. (1990).
Classification for effective rehabilitation: Rediscovering
psychology. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 17, 19–52.
This article outlines the importance of assessment
tools in guiding treatment delivery. It provides a good
grounding for Andrews and Bonta’s arguments
regarding their theory’s clinical relevance.
Gendreau, P. T., Little, T., & Goggin, C. (1996). A metaanalysis of the predictors of adult offender recidivism:
What works! Criminology, 34, 575–607.
This article examines the research on factors
associated with criminal behavior. The factors
identified mirror those discussed by Andrews and
Bonta and provide a meaningful framework for the
principles of effective intervention.
Lowenkamp, C. T., Latessa, E. J., & Holsinger, A. M.
(2006). The risk principle in action: What we have
learned from 13,676 offenders and 97 correctional
programs? Crime and Delinquency, 52, 77–93.
This article reviews the risk principle and the importance
of reserving intensive services for higher risk clients. In
particular, the study reviews programs providing services
for offenders. Those programs that provided intensive
services for lower risk clients had higher recidivism rates.
Pratt, T. C., & Cullen, F. T. (2000). The empirical status
of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime: A
meta-analysis. Criminology, 38, 931–964.
1054
Annotated Further Readings
This article discusses Gottfredson and Hirschi’s selfcontrol theory. However, Pratt and Cullen also note
that while self-control theory is predictive of crime, it
is the addition of other risk factors, such as attitudes
and peers, that provide a fuller understanding of
criminal behavior.
Bandura, Albert: Social Learning Theory
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bandura formally presents social learning theory in
this work. It is a must-read to gain a comprehensive
understanding of the theory. Specifically, he presents
how behavior begins and how the anticipation of
consequences and actual consequences of behavior
moderates further similar behavior. He clarifies the
idea of the reciprocal relationship between the person,
the environment, and the behavior.
Bandura, A. (1979). The social learning perspective:
Mechanisms of aggression. In H. Toch (Ed.), Psychology
of crime and criminal justice (pp. 198–236). New York:
Holt, Reinhart, and Winston.
Social learning theory is formally applied to
aggressive behavior by Bandura in this work. While
still theoretical, the systematic and detailed
application of the theory to aggression provides a
useful look at the practical application of the theory
to criminal behavior.
Bandura, A. (2007). Albert Bandura. In G. Lindzey &
W. M. Runyan (Eds.), A history of psychology in
autobiography (Vol. 9, pp. 43–75). Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
This work provides the reader an entertaining memoir
of Albert Bandura. In his own words, Bandura
describes his early life in rural Alberta to his eventual
appointment at Stanford University. He narrates a
story that engagingly contextualizes his academic
pursuits over half a century.
Cognitive Theories of Crime
Berkowitz, L. (1989). Frustration-aggression hypothesis:
Examination and reformulation. Psychological Bulletin,
106(1), 59–73.
This work describes Berkowitz’s extension and
reformulation of Dollard et al.’s original frustrationaggression hypothesis.
Dodge, K. A., & Coie, J. D. (1987). Social information
processing factors in reactive and proactive aggression in
children’s peer groups. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 53, 1146–1158.
This work explains Dodge’s hostile attribution model
in relation to aggression among children.
Dollard, J., Doob, L. W., Miller, N. E., Mowrer, O. H.,
& Sears, R. R. (1970). Frustration and aggression. In
E. Megargee & J. Hokanson (Eds.), The dynamics of
aggression (pp. 22–32). New York: Harper & Row.
This work explains the frustration-aggression
hypothesis as it relates to criminal and delinquent
behavior.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological
theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
This work elaborates upon Kohlberg’s moral
development theory, and identifies the moral
development of women.
Huesmann, L. R., & Eron, L. D. (1984). Cognitive
processes and the persistence of aggressive behavior.
Aggressive Behavior, 10(3), 243–251.
This work outlines Huesmann and Eron’s cognitive
scripts model.
Kohlberg, L. (1976). Moral stages and moralization:
The cognitive developmental approach. In T. Lickona
(Ed.), Moral development and behavior: Theory,
research and social issues (pp. 31–52). New York: Holt,
Rinehart, and Winston.
This work provides an overview of moral
development theory, summarizes the state of the
research, and elaborates on its applicability to
juvenile offending.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1958). The growth of logical
thinking from childhood to adolescence. New York:
Basic.
This work includes the first statements of Piaget’s
cognitive development theory among children and
adolescents.
Samenow, S. E. (2004). Inside the criminal mind. New
York: Crown.
This work describes Yochelson and Samenow’s
updated theory on criminal thinking errors.
Yochelson, S., & Samenow, S. E. (1976). The criminal
personality: Vol. 1. A profile for change. New York:
Jason Aronson.
This work describes Yochelson and Samenow’s
original theory on criminal thinking errors.
Annotated Further Readings
Dodge, Kenneth A.: Aggression and a Hostile
Attribution Style
Dodge, K. A., & Somberg, D. R. (1987). Hostile
attributional biases among aggressive boys are
exacerbated under conditions of threats to the self. Child
Development, 58, 213–224.
In this essay, Dodge and Somberg detail more specific
situations that highlight the differences between
aggressive and nonaggressive boys. They report that
under conditions of threat, aggressive boys are more
likely to make hostile attributions in ambiguous
circumstances.
Unnever, J. D. (2005). Bullies, aggressive victims, and
victims: Are they distinct groups? Aggressive Behavior, 3,
153–171.
In this essay, Unnever examines whether there are three
distinct types of behaviors that are associated with
bullies, aggressive victims (those who bullied but are
themselves bullied), and victims and whether proactive
and reactive aggression predict their bullying behaviors.
Freudian Theory
Eysenck, H. (1987). The rise and fall of the Freudian
empire. New York: Plenum.
The criticisms of Freudian theory are many. This text
provides excellent insights into the weakness of this
most influential yet consistently controversial,
theoretical perspective.
Freud, S. (1953). A general introduction to
psychoanalysis. New York: Permabooks.
There is no better route to understanding the
Freudian perspective on criminal behavior than from
the theorist himself. His writings are highly accessible
to the reader and intuitively applicable to the
understanding of deviance and criminality.
Glueck, S., & Glueck, E. (1950). Unraveling juvenile
delinquency. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
A classic study in the field of criminology, Glueck and
Glueck root many of their theoretical assumptions in
psychoanalytic thought. Their empirical evaluation of
their theoretical propositions is an excellent example
of cross-sectional research and data interpretation.
Glueck, Sheldon, and Eleanor Glueck:
The Origins of Crime
Blokland, A. (2005). Crime over the life span:
Trajectories of criminal behaviour in Dutch offenders.
Leiden, Netherlands: NSCR.
1055
This study exemplifies the benefits of a large sample
followed over a long span of years facilitating the
study of hitherto neglected latecomers to crime and
older offenders. The results point to the existence of a
group of very persistent offenders to a late age who
tend to specialize in property offenses, different from
the commoner trajectory of recidivists who desist
earlier. There are policy implications for the use of
incapacitating sentences that are apt to be applied at
a point when criminal careers are anyway
commencing desistence or to offenders who are not
dangerously violent. Given a large sample, it becomes
possible to study subgroups, for example to
differentiate the careers of female offenders who
appear half as numerous as men, have more
intermittent offending careers, and may respond
differently to marriage and the arrival of children.
Farrington, D. P., & Welsh, B. C. (2007). Saving children
from a life of crime: Early risk factors and effective
intervention. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Theories of causation of delinquency derived from
longitudinal studies of offending have had much
influence on the design of delinquency prevention
projects targeting young children and their families.
Some of these—like the well-known Perry Project of
pre-school intellectual enrichment, outstanding for its
control group and long follow-up—have been shown
to produce significant reduction of delinquency
potential, both short and long term. Family-based
interventions, particularly schemes of education in
parenting, have also proved beneficial. These successes
go some way to validate and justify longitudinal career
analysis. The authors believe that a government-based
national strategy is needed to promote community
projects baaed on methods that have been shown to
work.
Hawkins, J. D., & Herrenkohl, T. I. (2007). Prevention
in the school years. In D. P. Farrington & J. W. Coid
(Eds.), Early prevention of adult antisocial behaviour
(pp. 265–291). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press.
The enormous contrasts in the delinquency potential of
leavers or dropouts from different schools have been
shown to be largely due to differences at intake. This
might seem to indicate, as early studies such as the
Gluecks suggested, that delinquency potential is
irrevocably fixed in the pre-school years. This review
points to a more optimistic conclusion. Techniques of
classroom management, the application of consistent
carrot-and-stick measures to the control of aggression
and bullying, the inclusion of social skills training in
1056
Annotated Further Readings
the curriculum, the enlistment of pupils in cooperative
tasks, attention to individual pupils’ problems of
comprehension, and the application of appropriate
cognitive behavior modification methods have all been
found to have some effect. This is important because
longitudinal studies show that school leaving age can
be a critical turning point in delinquency careers, when
those lacking the practical or social skills needed in the
job market encounter special stress. Unfortunately,
small demonstration projects in schools are indicators
of what is possible, but in a less-than-ideal world,
implementation on a national scale is problematic.
Thornberry, T. P., & Krohn, M. D. (Eds.). (2003).
Taking stock of delinquency: An overview of findings
from contemporary longitudinal studies. New York:
Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
As criminal career data from diverse samples have
accumulated, it is instructive to note how the same
basic patterns re-emerge, notably the link between
early onset of offending and the likelihood of
continuing recidivism and the close association
among adverse features of family backgrounds, poor
parenting, poor performance and behavior at school,
and subsequent delinquency. As data for later years
of the life span have become available, it has become
increasingly evident that static models of career
progression do not explain the measurable
delinquency-inhibiting effects of events such as
marriage or the exacerbating effects of, for example,
maltreatment during adolescence or substance abuse.
The serious collateral damage of delinquency in its
impact on chances of establishing stable relationships,
preserving a family, or achieving economic security
has also become clearer.
Hare, Robert D.: Psychopathy and Crime
Blair, J., Mitchell, D., & Blair, K. (2005). The
psychopath: Emotion and brain. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Blair et al. provide one of the most current theoretical
perspectives on the etiology of psychopathy. They
also discuss key empirical findings that have been
advanced in recent years. The book is written to
appeal to experts, graduate students, and advanced
undergraduate students.
Hare, R. D. (1993). Without conscience: The disturbing
world of the psychopaths among us. New York: Pocket.
This book is a very readable explanation that is
accessible to students and laypersons alike. Hare
discusses some of the possible causes of psychopathy,
and provides clear descriptions of the disorder. The
existence and nature of white-collar psychopaths is
discussed as well.
Millon, T., Simonsen, E., Birket-Smith, M., & Davis,
R. D. (Eds.). (1998). Psychopathy: Antisocial, criminal,
and violent behavior. New York: Guilford.
Patrick, C. J. (Ed.). (2006). Handbook of psychopathy.
New York: Guilford.
Both of these edited volumes provide comprehensive
overviews of psychopathy. The leading experts in the
field cover such topics as the etiology of this disorder;
the biological, psychological, and social correlates of
psychopathy; clinical and practical implications; and
current directions and dilemmas facing the field.
Kohlberg, Lawrence: Moral Development Theory
Gilligan, C. (1986). In a different voice: Psychological
theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Carol Gilligan challenges Kohlberg’s theory of moral
development for its lack of attention to the moral
development of girls. It affords a feminist perspective
on identity development in girls and is considered a
classic work in feminist thought. Gilligan’s
reformulation of the stages of moral development for
women is based on interviews with college women
around their views toward abortion.
Killen, M., & Smetana, J. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of
moral development. Hillsdale, NJ: Psychology Press.
A more recent edited volume, the 26 chapters discuss
reformulations of Kohlberg’s perspective and provide
a number of chapters on culture and diversity.
Descriptions of new educational approaches to moral
and character development are also presented. One
section of five chapters addresses moral development
and aggressive behavior in children.
Laufer, J., & Day, M. (Ed.). (1983). Personality theory,
moral development and criminal behavior. Lexington,
MA: Lexington Books.
This is an edited volume that provides several chapters
on moral development, including a thorough review
of the theory’s applicability to offenders by Jennings,
Kilkenny, and Kohlberg. The chapter also discusses
early Just Community interventions. Additional
chapters assess the theories relevance to psychopathy
and offenders court-ordered to restitution.
Annotated Further Readings
Lahey, Benjamin B., and Irwin D. Waldman:
Developmental Propensity Model
Eisenberg, N., & Mussen, P. H. (1991). The roots of
prosocial behavior in children. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
This book discusses the biological, psychological, and
environmental factors that contribute to healthy child
development. The authors also introduce the concept
of dispositional sympathy, which is a protective factor
against conduct problems.
Farrington, D. P., & West, D. J. (1993). Criminal, penal
and life histories of chronic offenders: Risk and protective
factors and early identification. Criminal Behaviour and
Mental Health, 3, 492–523.
This article discusses the protective and risk factors
for antisocial behaviors. The authors identify four
important risk factors for chronic offending:
troublesomeness, delinquent sibling, convicted parent,
and—important to Lahey and Waldman’s model—
daring.
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Snidman, N. (1988).
Biological bases of childhood shyness. Science, 240,
167–171.
This journal article assesses variation in shyness in
children from a biological perspective. The authors
discuss how behaviorally disinhibition children would
spontaneously react in novel situations. These
children grew up to become more talkative and
interactive with unfamiliar children and adults.
Lahey, B. B., & Waldman, I. D. (2003). A developmental
propensity model of the origins of conduct problems
during childhood and adolescence. In B. B. Lahey,
T. E. Moffitt, & A. Caspi (Eds.), Causes of conduct
disorder and juvenile delinquency (pp. 76–117). New
York: Guilford Press.
Lahey and Waldman propose their developmental
propensity model of the origins of conduct problems
in this book chapter. This chapter provides a detailed
account of the development and components of their
model.
Lahey, B. B., & Waldman, I. D. (2005). A developmental
model of the propensity to offend during childhood and
adolescence. In D. P. Farrington (Ed.), Integrated
developmental and life-course theories of offending
(Advances in Criminological Theory: Vol. 14, pp. 15–50).
New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Lahey and Waldman describe their developmental
propensity model of the origins of conduct problems
1057
in this book chapter. They place a particular emphasis
on applying their model to the developmental
trajectories of juvenile delinquency.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescent-limited and life-coursepersistent antisocial behavior: A developmental
taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.
Moffitt presents her dual taxonomy theory in this
journal article by discussing two distinct groups of
offenders (i.e., adolescent-limited and life-coursepersistent). She also describes the unique causal
processes underlying each trajectory.
Media Violence Effects
Freedman, J. L. (2002). Media violence and its effect on
aggression: Assessing the scientific evidence. Toronto,
ON: University of Toronto Press.
In this book, University of Toronto psychology
professor Jonathan Freedman argued that the available
scientific evidence suggests that there is no causal link
between exposure to violence in media and aggressive
or criminal behavior. He presented explanations
concerning why, in his view, the alleged link between
media violence and aggression has become so widely
accepted in the absence of credible evidence
establishing such a link. He also provided reasons why
media violence may not have impacts on aggression.
Grossman, D., & DeGaetano, G. (1999). Stop teaching
our kids to kill: A call to action against TV, movie, and
video game violence. New York: Crown.
West Point psychology and military science professor
Dave Grossman and media violence expert Gloria
DeGaetano argue in their book that there is
incontrovertible evidence of a causal link between
violent media content and criminal aggression.
Additionally, they issue a call to action and provide
recommendations to address youth violence.
Potter, W. J. (2003). The 11 myths of media violence.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
In this book, University of California, Santa Barbara
communications professor W. James Potter identifies
11 different media violence myths that, in his view,
facilitated the creation of violent media productions.
Among other things, he challenges the notion that
media violence primarily only impacts children and
that the First Amendment provides protection to those
who produce violent media content. He also advances
a public health approach to regulating media content.
1058
Annotated Further Readings
Mental Illness and Crime
Hails, J., & Borum, R. (2003). Police training and
specialized approaches to respond to people with mental
illness. Crime and Delinquency, 49, 52–61.
This article examines some of the various approaches
that police forces have begun to use to deal with
mentally ill offenders. It explores how mentally ill
offenders affect the police force and various
techniques that police officers can use to manage
mentally ill offenders in a more effective manner.
James, D. J., & Glaze, L. E. (2006). Mental health
problems of prison and jail inmates. Washington, DC:
Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
This report examines the percentages of individuals
who are mentally ill in prison and jail populations. It
provides statistics for the various backgrounds of
these individuals and how they differ from nonmentally ill individuals.
Moore, M. E., & Hiday, V. A. (2006). Mental health
court outcomes: A comparison of re-arrest and re-arrest
severity between mental health court and traditional
court participants. Law and Human Behavior, 30,
659–674.
This article is one of the first studies to examine the
effectiveness of mental health courts. Because mental
health courts are relatively new in their inception,
there have been very few studies that have examined
the effectiveness of these courts in terms of recidivism.
Silver, E. (2006). Understanding the relationship between
mental disorder and violence: The need for a
criminological perspective. Law and Human Behavior,
30, 685–706.
This article examines the potential theoretical
relationships between mental illness and crime. Silver
articulates that this relationship may be able to be
explained through current criminological theories. He
then elaborates on how social learning theory, general
strain theory, social bond theory, the age-graded
theory of crime, rational choice theory, and social
disorganization theory may apply to mental illness.
Patterson, Gerald R.: Social Learning, the Family,
and Crime
Granic, I., & Patterson, G. R. (2006). Toward a
comprehensive model of antisocial development: A
dynamic systems approach. Psychological Review, 113,
101–131.
This article attempts to merge Patterson’s coercion
theory with a dynamic systems approach, providing a
more nuanced and advanced model of the theory.
This is recommended to readers who are interested in
following the latest development of coercion theory.
Reid, J. B., Patterson, G. R., & Snyder, J. (Eds.). (2002).
Antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A
developmental analysis and model for intervention.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
This edited book is a compilation of Patterson and
colleagues’ research spanning the last 30 years. It
provides a historical perspective on the development
of the Oregon delinquency model, chapter
summaries of research testing various constructs of
coercion theory, and intervention strategies for
preventing and disrupting child and adolescent
antisocial behavior.
Raine, Adrian: Crime as a Disorder
Raine, A. (1997). The psychopathology of crime:
Criminal behavior as a clinical disorder. New York:
Academic Press.
This is the premier text for anyone interested in research
by Adrian Raine. This text is grounded in experimental
research and empirical approaches to explaining
potential causes of criminality. Raine provides a very
good argument for biological causes as well as
environmental factors related to criminal behavior.
Raine, A. (2006). Crime and schizophrenia: Causes and
cures. New York: Nova Science.
This is a very unique book that squarely addresses an
issue that is often avoided: the crime and
schizophrenia association. In most of the
contemporary criminological literature, there is a
tendency to dismiss this association and/or to resist its
possibility. Raine provides a scientific demonstration
of the association as a means of generating new
research on the crime-schizophrenia relationship to
benefit offenders who are so afflicted, the victims of
their crimes, and society as a whole.
Raine, A., & Sanmartin, J. (Eds.). (2007). Violence and
psychopathy. New York: Springer.
This book presents some of the key contributions
made at the Fourth International Meeting on the
Biology and Sociology of Violence held in November
1999. One primary point throughout this book is
the notion that violence and psychopathy simply
cannot be understood solely in terms of social and
environmental forces and influences.
Walters, Glenn D.: Lifestyle Theory
Katz, J. (1988). Seductions of crime: Moral and sensual
attraction of doing evil. New York: Perseus.
Annotated Further Readings
Katz employs a comprehensive qualitative theoretical
framework for exploring the common-sense attitude
violent criminal offenders adopt in their accounts of
past criminal acts. Through a qualitative lens, Katz
provides a conceptual scheme for coming to terms
with the mundane as well as the horrific aspects of
violent crime.
Walters, G. D. (2000). Beyond behavior: Construction of
an overarching psychological theory of lifestyles.
Westport, CT: Praeger.
This is one of two volumes reflecting Walters’s most
current research. This first volume offers a
contemporary assessment of lifestyle theory by
focusing on an integrative-interaction approach to
understanding and explaining criminality. It presents
an expansive yet readable theoretical treatise on
lifestyle theory.
Walters, G. D. (2000). The self-altering process:
Exploring the dynamic nature of lifestyle development
and change. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Walters, in this second volume, outlines the change
process that retains its developmental characteristics
as those found in criminal belief system(s). Its
coverage of desistance theory and “natural” recovery,
as fundamental principles in understanding the
change process via a lifestyle theory framework is
comprehensive and provides a “blueprint” for those
wishing to continue the work.
Yochelson, Samuel, and Stanton E. Samenow:
The Criminal Personality
Elliott, B., & Verdeyen, V. (2002). Game over! Strategies
for redirecting inmate deception. Lanham, MD: American
Correctional Association.
Elliott and Verdeyen modified the model proposed by
Walters in order to make it easier to use by
correctional counselors. They transformed the criminal
“thinking patterns,” into what they called “cognitive
distortions.” By working on changing these distortions,
the counselors seek to change how criminals think.
Walters, G. (1990). The criminal lifestyle: Patterns of
serious criminal conduct. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
The work of Yochelson and Samenow and the
principles of cognitive-behavioral strategies that they
developed have been widely used in the treatment of
offenders in correctional facilities. Their strategies in
correcting the 52 “thinking errors” that criminals
employ to justify their actions have gained popularity
among many correctional counselors. Their work was
further expanded and modified by Walters, who
1059
consolidated these thinking errors into eight criminal
thinking patterns.
6. The Chicago School of Criminology
Burgess, Robert L., and Ronald L. Akers:
Differential Association-Reinforcement Theory
Akers, R. L. (1973). Deviant behavior: A social learning
approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
This book provides a summary of his social learning
theory, which constitutes the most current and
complete presentation of a social learning theory of
criminal behavior. Importantly, Akers’s book is written
in a style that is easily grasped by most readers.
Burgess, R. L., & Akers, R. L. (1966). A differential
association-reinforcement theory of criminal behavior.
Social Problems, 14, 128–147.
This article is Burgess and Akers’s response to
Sutherland’s theory of differential association.
Sutherland, E. H. (1947). Principles of criminology (4th
ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.
This book contains the most complete statement of
his theory of differential association and is the version
of differential association theory to which Burgess
and Akers are responding.
De Fleur, Melvin L., and Richard Quinney:
A Reformulation of Sutherland’s Differential
Association Theory
Burgess, R. L., & Akers, R. L. (1966). A differential
association-reinforcement theory of criminal behavior,
Social Problems, 14, 128–147.
Here, Burgess and Akers develop social learning
theory, which adapted Sutherland’s original theory of
differential association theory in an attempt to
account for a wider variety of criminal behavior.
Gaylord, M., & Galliher, J. (1988). The criminology of
Edwin Sutherland. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
This book is a very thorough and detailed resource on
the life and work of Sutherland. Gaylord and
Galliher examine the development of differential
association theory as well as Sutherland’s other
important contributions to criminology.
Kobrin, Solomon: Neighborhoods and Crime
Kobrin, S. (1951). The conflict of values in delinquency
areas. American Sociological Review, 16, 653–661.
This article lays out Kobrin’s major theoretical
contributions to social disorganization theory,
describing continuums between delinquents and
1060
Annotated Further Readings
non-delinquents and differential neighborhood
organization.
Kobrin, S. (1959). The Chicago Area Project: A 25-year
assessment. Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science, 322, 19–29.
Here, Kobrin summarizes the theory and practice of
the Chicago Area Project under his direction.
Kornhauser, Ruth Rosner: Social Sources of
Delinquency
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
The first chapter of this classic book contains the
classification (strain, social control, cultural deviance)
still used by many theorists. Kornhauser’s thenunpublished manuscript is cited heavily, suggesting
that her writing influenced Hirschi’s theoretical
organization.
Messner, S. F., & Rosenfeld, R. (2007). Crime and the
American dream (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.
Messner and Rosenfeld update Merton’s theory of
anomie at the macro level. Although the authors do
not agree completely with Kornhauser’s insights and
theoretical critiques, the fact that they explicitly
address her criticisms indicates the important place
that Social Sources of Delinquency maintains in
criminology.
Sampson, Robert J.: Collective Efficacy Theory
Kirk, D. S. (2009). Unraveling the contextual effects on
student suspension and juvenile arrest: The independent
and interdependent influences of school, neighborhood,
and family social controls. Criminology, 47, 479–520.
David Kirk was Robert Sampson’s doctoral student at
the University of Chicago. In this article, Kirk
extends the conception of collective efficacy to
understand school environments. Just as
neighborhood collective efficacy reveals how social
ties in the neighborhood community can be activated
in order to promote social control, collective efficacy
within the domain of schools is a mechanism that
activates the communal organization within a school
in order to control student behavior.
Pratt, T. C., & Cullen, F. T. (2005). Assessing macrolevel predictors and theories of crime: a meta-analysis. In
M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research
(Vol. 32, pp. 373–450). Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Pratt and Cullen provide a comprehensive metaanalysis of the empirical literature on the ecological
predictors of crime, including collective efficacy.
Sampson, R. J. (2006). Collective efficacy theory: Lessons
learned and directions for future inquiry. In F. T. Cullen,
J. P. Wright, & K. R. Blevins (Eds.), Taking stock: The
status of criminological theory (Advances in
Criminological Theory: Vol. 15, pp. 149–167). New
Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Sampson, R. J. (2006). How does community context
matter? Social mechanisms and the explanation of crime.
In P.-O. Wikström & R. J. Sampson (Eds.), The
explanation of crime: Context, mechanisms, and
development (pp. 31–60). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
These two chapters by Robert Sampson provide
discussions of the intellectual legacy of collective
efficacy theory, a description of empirical evidence in
support of the theory, and an overview of future
directions in the theoretical development of collective
efficacy.
Shaw, Clifford R.: The Jack-Roller
Becker, H. S. (1966). Introduction. In C. R. Shaw, The
jack-roller: A delinquent boy’s own story (pp. v–xviii).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This introduction to the 1966 reissue of The JackRoller makes the case for the value of life histories of
delinquents.
Maruna, S., & Matravers, A. (2008). N = 1: Criminology
and the person. Theoretical Criminology, 11, 427–442.
This paper examines the uses, advantages, and
shortcomings of life histories for understanding and
answering larger questions about crime, punishment,
and criminal careers.
Shover, N. (1996). Great pretenders: Pursuits and careers
of persistent thieves. Boulder, CO: Westview.
This study of the lives and careers of street-level
thieves draws heavily from dozens of life histories and
shows their value as sources of generalizations about
offenders.
Snodgrass, J. (1976). Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D.
McKay: Chicago criminologists. British Journal of
Criminology, 16, 1–19.
This article describes and interprets the social,
intellectual and personal context in which Clifford R.
Shaw and his colleagues worked.
Annotated Further Readings
Snodgrass, J. (Ed.). (1982). The jack-roller at seventy: A
fifty year follow-up. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
This sequel to The Jack-Roller makes clear that in
later life, as in his early years, there was much about
Stanley that is typical of street-level thieves.
Shaw, Clifford R., and Henry D. McKay:
Social Disorganization Theory
Kubrin, C. E., & Weitzer, R. (2003). New directions in
social disorganization theory. Journal of Research in
Crime and Delinquency, 40, 374–402.
This article addresses current problems, both substantive
and methodological, and charts some promising new
directions in social disorganization theory.
Sampson, R. J., & Groves, W. B. (1989). Community
structure and crime: Testing social-disorganization
theory. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 774–802.
This study constitutes the first empirical analysis of
the mediating factors of social disorganization theory
using survey data from communities in Britain.
Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1942). Juvenile
delinquency and urban areas. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
A classic text that provides the foundation of social
disorganization theory. Shaw and McKay
convincingly demonstrate the spatial relationship
between social conditions of neighborhoods and rates
of delinquency in Chicago communities over time.
Stark, R. (1987). Deviant places: A theory of the ecology
of crime. Criminology, 25, 893–909.
In this article, Stark calls for the resurrection of social
disorganization theory reminding readers that along
with “kinds of persons” theories of crime, we also
need “kinds of places” theories. Using basic
assumptions of social disorganization theory, Stark
creates a set of propositions to be tested by
disorganization theorists.
Spergel, Irving: Neighborhoods and Delinquent
Subcultures
Agnew, R. (2006). Pressured into crime: An overview of
general strain theory. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
In this book, Agnew provides a contemporary
summary and updating of strain theory. As such,
Agnew revitalized the work of Robert Merton, Albert
Cohen, Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, and Irving
Spergel.
1061
Cullen, F. T. (1988). Were Cloward and Ohlin strain
theorists? Delinquency and opportunity revisited.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 25,
214–241.
In this essay, Francis Cullen highlights Cloward and
Ohlin’s emphasis on the role of illegitimate means in
channeling motivated offenders into one criminal role
rather than another.
Steffensmeier, Darrell J., and Jeffery T. Ulmer:
The Professional Fence
Bradley-Engen, M. S. (2009). Naked lives: Inside the
worlds of exotic dance. Albany: SUNY Press.
This work applies and expands key ideas from The
Fence and Confessions to describe the skills,
challenges, pitfalls, rewards, and rationales that shape
the lives and careers of exotic dancers.
Matsueda, R. L., Piliavin, I., Gartner, R., &
Polakowski, M. (1992). The prestige of criminal and
conventional occupations: A subcultural model of
criminal activity. American Sociological Review, 57,
752–770.
A key theme of this article concerns stratification in
the underworld and the prestige ranking of criminal
specialties and roles within it. It draws from The
Fence and was drawn upon in turn by Confessions.
Steffensmeier, D. J., & Ulmer, J. T. (2006). Black and
white control of numbers banking in black communities,
1970–2000. American Sociological Review, 71,
123–156.
Steffensmeier and Ulmer draw heavily from ideas in
Confessions to highlight the importance of cultural
and social capital in shaping success in a criminal
enterprise like numbers gambling; how “criminal
capital” and opportunities for success in the
underground economy are shaped by upperworld and
underworld racial and ethnic stratification; and how
the underground economy is affected by changes in
the legitimate market economy.
Ulmer, J. T. (2000). Commitment, deviance, and social
control. Sociological Quarterly, 41, 315–336.
The author describes continuity and change in
criminal careers in terms of changes in structural,
personal, and moral commitments, and also describes
commitment to crime and to conventional life as two
sides of the same coin. This commitment framework
is featured prominently in Confessions’ discussions of
the careers of skilled property offenders and criminal
entrepreneurs.
1062
Annotated Further Readings
Sutherland, Edwin H.: Differential Association Theory
and Differential Social Organization
Akers, R. L. (1998). Social learning and social structure:
A general theory of crime and deviance. Boston:
Northeastern University Press.
This book summarizes over 30 years of theoretical
and empirical work specifying and respecifying a
revision of differential association theory using
principles of social learning theory.
Matsueda, R. L. (1988). The current state of differential
association theory. Crime and Delinquency, 34,
277–306.
Matsueda was a doctoral student of Donald Cressey
who, in turn, was a doctoral student of Edwin
Sutherland. This article summarizes differential
association theory, finds the highly influential critique
of differential association by Ruth Kornhauser to be
misguided by creating a caricature of the theory, and
updates revisions and research on Sutherland’s theory.
Matsueda, R. L. (2006). Differential social organization,
collective action, and crime. Crime, Law, and Social
Change, 46, 3–33.
This article attempts to revitalize the concept of
differential social organization by drawing out the
dynamic collective action implications of the theory,
and by specifying causal mechanisms from
sociological theory, including social networks and
social capital, weak ties, collective action frames,
collective action thresholds, symbolic interaction, and
stages of moral reasoning.
Sutherland, E. H. (1947). Principles of criminology
(4th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.
The fourth edition of Sutherland’s classic textbook
dominated the field for over half a century and
presents the final version of his theory of differential
association.
Sutherland, E. H. (1973). Wartime crime. In K.
Schuessler (Ed.), Edwin H. Sutherland on analyzing
crime (pp. 120–128). Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
This volume brings together a number of unpublished
papers by Sutherland, including his account of the
development of differential association, his critique of
his own theory, and his overlooked essay on
differential group organization and wartime crime.
Sutherland, E. H., Cressey, D. R., & Luckenbill, D. F.
(1992). Principles of criminology (11th ed.). Lanham,
MD: AltaMira Press.
The final edition of Sutherland’s textbook, which
spanned over 60 years, with Cressey and Luckenbill
as co-authors.
Sutherland, Edwin H.: The Professional Thief
Letkemann, P. (1973). Crime as work. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall.
In this book, Peter Letkemann draws heavily on the
writings of Sutherland and Everett Hughes’s sociology
of occupations to present an occupational perspective
on crime as “work,” with special focus on the
practices and skill of burglars and robbers.
Prus, R., & Sharper, C. R. D. (1977). Road hustler: The
career contingencies of professional card and dice
hustlers. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
This work applies Sutherland’s notion of
“professional thief” to card and dice hustlers (via
“C.R.D. Sharper” and hustlers he knew). Prus
expands on Sutherland’s theory of differential
association by incorporating key ideas from symbolic
interactionism to better explain the processes by
which criminal careers stabilize.
Steffensmeier, D. J., & Ulmer, J. (2005). Confessions of a
dying thief: Understanding criminal careers and criminal
enterprise. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction.
Along with the companion work The Fence (authored
by Steffensmeier), Confessions applies and expands
key ideas of Sutherland to theft and fencing
specifically as well as to theories of crime and
deviance generally. In so doing, both works elucidate
the how, when, and why of criminal involvements
(including how they stabilize); the organization of
crime and criminal enterprise; the role of
opportunities in shaping criminal involvement,
including their range and variability across individuals
and groups; and how these opportunities have
changed in recent decades.
Thrasher, Frederick M.: The Gang
Clark, K. B. (1965). Dark ghetto: Dilemmas of social
power. New York: Harper & Row.
The classic work on the “invisible walls” that shape
the ghetto. Unlike the Chicago School, Clark applies
the historical concept of the ghetto to the African
American experience.
Giordano, P. C. (1978). Girls, guys and gangs: The
changing social context of female delinquency. Journal of
Criminal Law and Criminology, 69, 126–132.
Annotated Further Readings
A sound scientific work establishing the female peer
groups as a major influence in the lives of girls.
Thrasher failed to give adequate attention to the
realities of girls’ lives.
Kornhauser, R. (1978). Social sources of delinquency:
An appraisal of analytic models. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
This essential work examines the adequacy of
theoretical explanations for delinquency.
Short, J. F., Jr., & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1965). Group process
and gang delinquency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This work is a thorough comparison of the adequacy
of completing sociological perspectives on gangs,
based on careful empirical research in Chicago in the
1950s and early 1960s.
Turner, Ralph H.: Deviant Roles and the Social
Construction of Behavior
Turner, R. H. (1954). Self and other in moral judgment.
American Sociological Review, 19, 249–259.
This article describes the interrelationship between
role-specific expectations for one’s own behavior and
expectations for the behavior or reactions of others
when judging morally questionable activities.
Turner, R. H. (1969). The public perception of protest.
American Sociological Review, 34, 815–831.
This article describes the social construction of
deviance by exploring the how violent collective
disturbances are defined as either protest or crime.
Turner, R. H. (1972). Deviance avowal as neutralization
of commitment. Social Problems, 19, 308–321.
This article builds on labeling theory to understand
when and under what conditions individuals accept a
deviant label.
Turner, R. H. (2002). Role theory. In J. H. Turner (Ed.),
Handbook of sociological theory (pp. 233–254). New
York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
This chapter summarizes Turner’s role theory with
particular attention to the interactive nature of rolemaking and the resolution of role conflict.
Whyte, William Foote: Street Corner Society
Adler, P. A., Adler, P., & Johnson, J. M. (Eds.). (1992).
Street corner revisited [Special issue]. Journal of
Contemporary Ethnography, 21.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the
publication of Street Corner Society, the Journal of
1063
Contemporary Ethnography dedicated a special issue
to contemporary issues surrounding the book,
particularly the debate surrounding the postmodernist
critique of probing into the implicit authority of
ethnographic analysis and writing.
Brotherton, D., & Barrios, L. (2004). The almighty Latin
king and queen nation: Street politics and the
transformation of a New York City street gang. New
York: Columbia University Press.
Brotherton and Barrios provide a detailed analysis of
the rise and fall of the Almighty Latin King and
Queen Nation’s reform process. It pays attention to
history, social context, and patterns of social change
within gangs over time.
Hagedorn, J. (1998). People and folks: Gangs, crime and
the underclass in a rustbelt city (2nd ed.). Chicago:
Lakeview Press.
Hagedorn interviewed gang members in Milwaukee
about their participation in drug trafficking. The
results show a wide range in duration and consistency
among drug-selling gang members. Hagedorn
attributes the inconsistent pattern of gang drug
trafficking to the effects of economic restructuring in
inner-city America.
7. Cultural and Learning Theories of Crime
Akers, Ronald L.: Social Learning Theory
Akers, R. L. (1985). Deviant behavior: A social learning
approach (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Ronald Akers demonstrates how social learning
theory can be applied to the explanation of a wide
variety of deviant behaviors.
Akers, R. L. (2009). Social learning and social structure:
A general theory of crime and deviance. New Brunswick,
NJ: Transaction.
In this reissued version of the 1998 book of the same
title, Ronald Akers details social learning theory’s
origins and theoretical statement, reviews the empirical
research he has conducted to test the theory, and adds
a social structural component to the theoretical model
to enhance the theory’s ability to account for crime
and deviance. This book contains a new introduction
by Akers that updates the theory’s status.
Anderson, Elijah: Code of the Street
Anderson, E. (1990). Streetwise: Race, class, and change
in an urban community. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
1064
Annotated Further Readings
In this ethnographic work, Anderson addresses the
issue of how a black and impoverished community
and a racially mixed middle-class and upper-class
community are able to co-exist in the same public
spaces. The work in Code of the Street developed
from this book.
Wilson, W. J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner
city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
William Julius Wilson provides an in-depth discussion
of the social pathologies of inner-city communities and
an explanation for these social ills. Similar to Anderson
(1999), Wilson identifies the devastating implication
isolation from mainstream society has on communities.
Bennett, William J., John J. DiIulio, Jr., and
John P. Walters: Moral Poverty Theory
Bennett, W. J., DiIulio, J. J., Jr., & Walters, J. P. (1996).
Body count: Moral poverty . . . and how to win
America’s war against crime and drugs. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
In this book, William Bennett, John DiIulio, and
John Walters introduce their moral poverty theory.
The authors define moral poverty, discuss its
influence on violent crime and drugs in America, and
offer solutions to the problem of moral poverty.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general
theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Gottfredson and Hirschi offer a theory about selfcontrol and crime. This theory includes the
characteristics that Bennett et al. attribute to moral
poverty but offers a different way to view their
connection to crime.
Matza, David, and Gresham M. Sykes:
Subterranean Values and Delinquency
Inglehart, R., Basanez, M., Dietz-Medrano, J.,
Halman, L., & Luijkz, R. (2004). Human beliefs and
values: A cross cultural sourcebook on the 1999–2002
value surveys. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo XXI
Editores.
This work demonstrates support for the cognitive
process intuited by Sykes and Matza.
Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New
York: Free Press.
Provides a summary of the developments of the social
psychology of values that took place after Sykes and
Matza published the idea of subterranean values.
Schwartz, S. H. (2006). A theory of cultural value
orientations: Explication and applications. Comparative
Sociology, 5, 137–182.
While, Schwartz (2006) does not use the term
“subterranean,” this work conceives of values—
similar to Sykes and Matza—as existing in a
hierarchical cognitive system that directs behavior
through our preferences and attitudes.
Miller, Walter B.: Lower-Class Culture Theory of
Delinquency
Brownfield, D. (1986). A reassessment of cultural
deviance theory. Deviant Behavior, 8, 343–359.
In this article, the contributions of subcultural theories
of crime and delinquency are re-examined. If social
class is measured in terms of unemployment status and
receipt of welfare benefits, then there is more support
for the subcultural theory (regarding predictions such as
the positive correlations between class and measures of
subcultural values and between class and crime itself).
Brownfield, D. (1996). Subcultural theories of crime and
delinquency. In J. Hagan, A. R. Gills, & D. Brownfield
(Eds.), Criminological controversies (pp. 99–123).
Boulder, CO: Westview.
In this chapter, the emphasis on culture and on
structure in criminological theories is reviewed. An
innovative way to conceive of “subcultures” in terms
of gender differences in criminal behavior is considered.
Jensen, G., & Rojek, D. (1998). Delinquency and youth
crime (3rd ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
In this text, the authors provide a very useful
comparison of the three major theories in criminology
(social control, subcultural or cultural deviance, and
anomie perspectives). Jensen and Rojek discuss central
assumptions of all three theories. For example, what
do subcultural theorists assume about human nature
and conflict or consensus about social rules, in
comparison to the assumptions made by social control
theorists regarding human nature and social rules?
Peers and Delinquency
Akers, R. L. (1998). Social learning and social structure:
A general theory of crime and deviance. Boston:
Northeastern University Press.
In this important work, Ronald Akers carefully
delineates the principles of social learning theory,
reviews the state of evidence and applies the theory to
specific behaviors such as rape and drug abuse.
Annotated Further Readings
Matsueda, R. L., & Anderson, K. (1998). The dynamics
of delinquent peers and delinquent behavior.
Criminology, 36, 269–308.
This article offers a useful survey of the literature on
delinquent peers and a thoughtful treatment of issues
surrounding their measurement and effects.
Reiss, A. J., Jr. (1986). Co-offender influences on
criminal careers. In A. Blumstein, J. Cohen, J. Roth, &
C. Visher (Eds.), Criminal careers and “career criminals”
(pp. 121–160). Washington, DC: National Academy
Press.
Perhaps the best treatment of co-offending ever
published, this report helped revitalize research on the
topic.
Warr, M. (2002). Companions in crime. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
This book summarizes decades of research on
co-offending and peer influence and sets forth a
variety of possible mechanisms of peer influence.
Sellin, Thorsten: Culture Conflict and Crime
Lejins, P. P. (1987). Review essay. Criminology, 25,
975–988.
In this essay, Peter Lejins gives an excellent overview
of the biography of Thorsten Sellin as well as his
intellectual career. Of particular importance is the
coverage of the diversity of the career of Sellin.
Lilly, J. R., Cullen, F. T., & Ball, R. A. (2007).
Criminological theory: Context and consequences
(4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lilly, Cullen, and Ball present a number of
informative chapters where they overview the type of
work being conducted by sociologists during the era in
which Sellin was writing Culture Conflict and Crime.
Wolfgang, M. E. (Ed.). (1968). Crime and culture: Essays
in honor of Thorsten Sellin. New York: Wiley.
This volume contains 21 articles focusing upon various
aspects of the academic career of Sellin. The articles are
written by former students, colleagues, and academics
who knew Sellin during various stages of his career.
Southern Subculture of Violence Theory
Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street: Decency,
violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York:
W. W. Norton.
Though not about southern violence per se, this
award-winning urban ethnographic essay is the most
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widely acknowledged, contemporary theoretical
treatment of subcultural deviance and crime. The book
details the reality and life challenges specific to inner-city
life (e.g., fear of crime and violence, teen pregnancy, drug
use, and gangs) and how the urban underclass has
developed a “streetcode” as a means of survival and
interaction. Inner-city residents are dichotomized as
“decent” or “street,” with the latter category displaying
and intergenerationally transferring a criminal subculture.
Nisbett, R. E., & Cohen, D. (1996). Culture of honor:
The psychology of violence in the South. Boulder, CO:
Westview.
The disproportionate amount of violence in the
American South is thoroughly examined in this brief
book that makes a strong case indicting the South’s
distinctive regional attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
concerning honor. Situating southern values in
the historical context of immigrant Scots-Irish
herding economies to the southern highlands, this
social-psychological/subcultural theory makes a
compelling case for a southern subculture of violence
based on geographical, historical, and social scientific
evidence. In so doing, a thorough review and critical
critique of alternative explanations for southern
violence are provided.
Webb, J. (2004). Born fighting: How the Scots-Irish
shaped America. New York: Broadway Books.
In as much as the Scots-Irish have been identified as
the primary offending and victimization group in the
extant southern subculture of violence literature, this
part historical and part descriptive book traces the
migration of the Scots-Irish to the United States and
illustrates a tough and independent-minded Celtic
people whose historical struggles against Rome and
Britain have resulted in generational transference of a
value system placing a premium on the use of violence
and self-rule, as indicated by the legalism of states
rights—a rallying point of southern cultural affirmation
during military reconstruction after the war. The
historical complexity and cultural fusion on a regional
level concerning an insider-outsider social outlook
attributed to southerners is discussed and informs
understanding of high levels of violence in the region,
generally, and why the Scots-Irish are such a fighting
folk.
Wolfgang, Marvin E., and Franco Ferracuti:
Subculture of Violence Theory
Borg, M. J. (1997). The Southern subculture of
punitiveness? Regional variation in support for capital
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Annotated Further Readings
punishment. Journal of Research in Crime and
Delinquency, 34, 25–45.
This study is an interesting application of the
subculture of violence theory. The southern region of
the United States has been hypothesized to have a
penchant for violence. This article follows with that
line of thought and asks the question: If southerners
are more aggressive in their interpersonal
relationships, then to what degree do cultural factors
affect their punishment decisions?
Cao, L., Adams, A., & Jensen, V. J. (1997). A test of the
black subculture of violence thesis: A research note.
Criminology, 35, 367–379.
This study is also an innovative application of the
subculture of violence theory. In this article, the
researchers test the theory’s relevance to determining if
violent values are widespread among African Americans.
Wolfgang, M. E., & Ferracuti, F. (1967). The subculture
of violence: Towards an integrated theory in criminology.
London: Tavistock.
This is the original work from which this entry is
derived. A full account of the research behind the
theory is included, and readers will gain a more
in-depth understanding of the perspective from which
the theory was generated.
8. Anomie and Strain Theories
of Crime and Deviance
Agnew, Robert: General Strain Theory
Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory
of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30, 47–87.
In this seminal piece, Robert Agnew outlined the key
theoretical assumptions underlying his revision of strain
theory. He also distinguished general strain theory from
other theoretical approaches. The article paved the way
for empirical tests as well as future theorizing.
Agnew, R. (1995). Controlling delinquency:
Recommendations from general strain theory. In H.
Barlow (Ed.), Crime and public policy (pp. 43–70).
Boulder, CO: Westview.
General strain theory has unique implications for the
control of crime and delinquency. In this chapter,
Agnew shows how his theory can be applied to
problems in the prevention and control of crime and,
ultimately, how it can guide us toward a safer
society.
Agnew, R. (2001). Building on the foundation of general
strain theory: Specifying the types of strain most likely to
lead to crime and delinquency. Journal of Research in
Crime and Delinquency, 38, 319–361.
Robert Agnew offered his initial statement of general
strain theory as a starting point and as a framework
for future development. This article illustrates the
development of the theory over time. Here, Agnew
discusses the possibility that some strains may be
more criminogenic than others, thereby adding
precision and specificity to the theory.
Agnew, R. (2006). Pressured into crime: An overview of
general strain theory. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of
general strain theory, discusses the relevance of the
theory to key problems in criminology and criminal
justice, and examines the existing body of evidence
as it relates to the theory’s validity. For students
who wish to learn more about general strain
theory, this short but engaging book provides an
ideal resource.
Cloward, Richard A.: The Theory of Illegitimate
Means
Cloward, R. A., & Ohlin, L. E. (1960). Delinquency and
opportunity: A theory of delinquent gangs. New York:
Free Press.
In this work, Richard Cloward applied his theory of
illegitimate means to explain gang delinquency in the
United States. It is considered one of the most
important theoretical statements in the strain theory
tradition.
Cloward, R. A., & Piven, F. F. (1979). Hidden protest:
The channeling of female innovation and resistance.
Signs, 4, 651–669.
Twenty years after publishing his theory of
illegitimate means, Richard Cloward joined with
Francis Fox Piven to use this theory to explain how
gender-related experiences and opportunities shaped
the nature of female deviance.
Cullen, F. T. (1984). Rethinking crime and deviance
theory: The emergence of a structuring tradition. Totowa,
NJ: Rowman and Allenheld.
Francis Cullen was Richard Cloward’s doctoral
student at Columbia University. For his dissertation,
later published as this book, Cullen took Cloward’s
ideas and applied them to theories of crime and
deviance generally.
Annotated Further Readings
Cloward, Richard A., and Lloyd E. Ohlin:
Delinquency and Opportunity
Agnew, R. (2006). Pressured into crime: An overview of
general strain theory. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
With his general strain theory, Robert Agnew
revitalized the work of Robert Merton, Albert Cohen,
and Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin. In this book,
Agnew provides an up-to-date and readable summary
of contemporary strain theory.
Cullen, F. T. (1984). Rethinking crime and deviance
theory: The emergence of a structuring tradition. Totowa,
NJ: Rowman and Allenhend.
Francis Cullen was Richard Cloward’s doctoral
student at Columbia University. For his dissertation,
later published as this book, Cullen took Cloward’s
ideas and applied them to theories of crime and
deviance generally.
Cullen, F. T. (1988). Were Cloward and Ohlin strain
theorists? Delinquency and opportunity revisited. Journal
of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 25, 214–241.
In this essay, Francis Cullen shows that many scholars
have assumed that Cloward and Ohlin are merely strain
theorists. In so doing, they neglect the most innovative
thesis at the core of Delinquency and Opportunity: the
role of illegitimate means in channeling motivated
offenders into one criminal role rather than another.
Cohen, Albert K.: Delinquent Boys
Cohen, A. K. (1955). Delinquent boys: The culture of the
gang. New York: Free Press.
This is the original treatise that presents the theory
discussed herein.
Lilly, J. R., Cullen, F. T., & Ball, R. A. (2007).
Criminological theory: Context and consequence (4th
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
This book offers an overview of theoretical
criminology, including those from Cohen’s era as well
as more recent theoretical explanations of crime.
Messerschmidt, J. (2000). Nine lives: Adolescent
masculinities, the body, and violence. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Using more contemporary theories of gender, the
author analyzes the relationship between different
forms of masculinity and violent delinquent behavior.
Durkheim, Émile: Anomie and Suicide
Adler, F., Laufer, W. S., & Merton, R. K. (Eds.).
(1999). The legacy of anomie theory (Advances in
1067
Criminological Theory: Vol. 6). New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction.
This book provides a detailed examination of anomie,
including the changes in its development and
application in criminology.
Emirbayer, M. (1996). Durkheim’s contribution to the
sociological analysis of history. Sociological Forum, 11,
263–284.
This article provides a good discussion Durkheim’s
works and his contributions to the field of sociology.
Pope, W. (1976). Durkheim’s “Suicide”: A classic
analyzed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This book provides a useful assessment of Durkheim’s
findings and discussion in Suicide (1897), which is
somewhat easier to comprehend than the original work.
Puffer, P. (2009). Durkheim did not say “normlessness”:
The concept of anomic suicide for introductory sociology
courses. Southern Rural Sociology, 24, 200–222.
Centered on the variation in defining anomie by
introduction to sociology textbooks, this article
provides a clear discussion of the concept of anomie
that is easy for younger academics to understand.
Hagan, John, and Bill McCarthy:
Mean Streets and Delinquency
Hagan, J., & McCarthy, B. (1997). Mean streets: Youth
crime and homelessness. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
This book outlines in detail the development and testing
of the theoretical model. The combination of qualitative/
quantitative data sources in multiple locations,
longitudinal panel design, and the comparative street/
school samples makes this work one of the most
methodologically comprehensive in criminology. Its
movement between theoretical integration, generation,
and testing provides an exemplary model for research.
McCarthy, B., & Hagan, J. (1998). Uncertainty,
cooperation, and crime: Understanding the decision to
co-offend. Social Forces, 77, 155–176.
In this article, Hagan and McCarthy extend their work by
exploring how adversity on the street and connections
with potential co-offenders influences street youths’
readiness to trust others. This trust, in turn, influences
street youths’ willingness to collaborate and cooperate
with others that increases participation in criminal activity.
McCarthy, B., & Hagan, J. (2001). When crime pays:
Capital, competence, and criminal success. Social Forces,
79, 1035–1060.
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Annotated Further Readings
Hagan and McCarthy build further on their work by
examining the roles of human capital, social capital,
and personal capital, factors associated with
conventional economic success, contribute to the illegal
earnings of youth on the street. Here they discover that
criminal economic success is more likely for youths who
desire wealth (personal capital) and for those with the
personal capital characteristic of competence when they
are willing to collaborate with others (personal capital),
specialize in certain offenses (criminal human and social
capital), and enjoy risk taking (personal capital).
Merton, Robert K.: Social Structure and Anomie
Agnew, R. (2006). Pressured into crime: An overview of
general strain theory. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
Robert Agnew has developed an important extension
of social structure and anomie by detailing the diverse
strains that may lead individuals into crime. This
book provides an introduction to and a summary of
the evidence on Agnew’s “general strain theory.”
Merton, R. K. (1938). Social structure and anomie.
American Sociological Review, 3, 672–682.
In this classic essay, Robert K. Merton first outlined
his theory of social structure and anomie. Those
interested in Merton’s “classic” anomie theory should
start their inquiry with this article.
Messner, S. F., & Rosenfeld, R. (2007). Crime and the
American dream (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson
Wadsworth.
In this book, Steven F. Messner and Richard
Rosenfeld present an important extension of Merton’s
anomie theory. The authors formulate an
“institutional-anomie” theory of crime that explains
how the functioning of the major social institutions in
society generates and reinforces the anomic features
of the “American Dream.”
Messner, Steven F., and Richard Rosenfeld:
Institutional-Anomie Theory
Merton, R. K. (1938). Social structure and anomie.
American Sociological Review, 3, 672–682.
Seminal article in which Robert K. Merton first
outlined his anomie theory, upon which institutionalanomie theory is built heavily. A must read for those
interested in anomie theory.
Messner, S. F., & Rosenfeld, R. (2007). Crime and the
American dream (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson
Wadsworth.
A highly accessible and relatively short book suitable
for those interested in anomie theory and those
interested generally in geographic variation in crime
or specifically why America exhibits particularly high
levels of violence.
Parsons, Talcott: Aggression in the Western World
Cohen, A. K. (1955). Delinquent boys: The culture of the
gang. New York: Free Press.
Cohen expands on Parsons’s 1947 paradigm with his
evaluation of the delinquent subculture. This
extrapolation is particularly relevant to criminologists
because it is considered the first in-depth attempt to
explain this phenomenon.
Weber, M. (1905). The protestant ethic and the spirit of
capitalism. New York: Scribner’s.
In this famous text, Weber discusses the evolution
and spirit of the capitalist system. While in graduate
school in Europe, Parsons translated this text into
English. His experience performing this task had a
tremendous influence on the way he viewed social
processes. Particularly, Weber’s concept of
“rationalization” continued to exert an influence on
Parson’s work throughout his adult life.
Stinchcombe, Arthur L.: Rebellion in a High School
Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a General Strain Theory
of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30, 47–87.
Departing from strain theorists Merton, Cohen, and
Cloward and Ohlin, Robert Agnew provides a
general overview of strain theory, focusing on the
emotional and environmental causes.
Cohen, A. K. (1955). Delinquent boys: The culture of the
gang. New York: Free Press.
A classic for anyone interested in criminology, youths,
and delinquency, Delinquent Boys develops a theory
of subculture that ties together an analysis of social
class to micro and macro determinants of
delinquency, from individual personality to social
structure. Subcultural delinquency simultaneously
achieves status among peers while protesting adult
systems of authority.
Merton, R. K. (1938). Social structure and anomie.
American Sociological Review, 3, 672–682.
Following Durkheim, and arguably the first
articulation of strain theory, Robert Merton addresses
the impact of social structures on determining deviant
and conforming behavior. Merton focuses primarily
Annotated Further Readings
on culturally defined goals and the structural modes
by which those goals are achieved.
Thio, Alex: Relative Deprivation and Deviance
Rushing, W. A. (1972). Class, culture, and alienation.
Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
This book provides data to support the difference
between relative deprivation and absolute
deprivation.
Thio, A. (1973). Class bias in the sociology of deviance.
The American Sociologist, 8, 1–12.
This is the original article that discusses the
relationship between class bias and deviant behavior.
Thio, A. (1975). A critical look at Merton’s anomie
theory. Pacific Sociological Review, 18, 139–158.
This article critiques Merton’s premise that lowerclass members of society are more likely to participate
in deviant behaviors due to the greater disjunction
between their aspirations and opportunities. It also
describes the differences between relative and absolute
deprivation and the association between deprivation,
social class, and deviance.
9. Control Theories of Crime
Briar, Scott, and Irving Piliavin: Delinquency,
Commitment, and Stake in Conformity
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Hirschi provides the most widely cited version of
control theory. He further defines Briar and Piliavin’s
concept of commitment and adds the remaining three
bonds of attachment, control, and belief.
Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings,
divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
The authors examine the Gluecks’ data, and apply
concepts of control over the life course. We see
control theory being integrated into new and exciting
theories such as this life-course perspective.
Matza, D. (1964). Delinquency and drift. New York:
Wiley.
In this classic piece, Matza examines how individuals
are typically not “all bad.” For many, participation in
crime it is not a way of life; rather they drift in and
out of this behavior. His study sets the tone for
situational inducements into crime.
1069
Gottfredson, Michael R., and Travis Hirschi:
Self-Control Theory
Geis, G. (2000). On the absence of self-control for the
basis of a general theory of crime: A critique. Theoretical
Criminology, 4, 35–53.
In this essay, Gilbert Geis offers a critique of
Gottfredson and Hirschi self-control theory as it
relates to scientific standards. More specifically, he
addresses issues of child-rearing and self-control,
tautology, opportunity as a concept in self-control
theory, how self-control theory deals with whitecollar crime, and age and crime, to name only a few.
Goode, E. (Ed.). (2008). Out of control: Assessing the
general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press.
This book is a recent edited volume of original essays
summarizing Gottfredson and Hirschi’s contributions
to criminological theory. Specifically, this volume
provides a thorough summary of debates and
criticisms regarding self-control theory from experts
that often have very different opinions.
Marcus, B. (2004). Self-control in the general theory of
crime: Theoretical implications of a measurement
problem. Theoretical Criminology, 8, 33–55.
In this essay, Bernd Marcus suggests that many of the
studies testing self-control are seriously flawed and
misleading. He argues that the reason for this is due
to how self-control has been measured. After
reviewing previous measures of self-control, Marcus
put forth criteria that must be met for a valid measure
of self-control.
Hagan, John: Power-Control Theory
Hagan, J. (1989). Structural criminology. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
This work provides a thorough overview of powercontrol model, and references many of the early articles
that produced the original framework. It also provides
other insights into the roles that the social structure
and class play in generating criminal outcomes.
Hirschi, Travis: Social Control Theory
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general
theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
This work provides a later version of control theory,
which shows how Hirschi’s thinking evolved later in
his career. Gottfredson and Hirschi acknowledge the
stability of offending over time and explain that
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Annotated Further Readings
stability with reference to self-control, which the
authors argue is formed in early childhood.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
This was the original presentation of Hirschi’s social
control theory.
Hirschi, T. (2002). The craft of criminology: Selected
papers. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
This book provides an overview of the work of
Hirschi’s career and provides further context for
social control theory.
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1993). Crime in the
making: Pathways and turning points through life.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Sampson and Laub’s theory draws on both social
control theory and self-control theory to explain changes
in the likelihood of offending over the life course.
Matza, David: Delinquency and Drift
Currie, E. (2004). The road to whatever: Middle-class
culture and the crisis of adolescence. New York:
Metropolitan Books.
A study of delinquency among middle-class youth
influenced by Matza’s conception of “drift.”
Matza, D. (1969). Becoming deviant. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall.
Further development and elaboration of the author’s
critical perspective on contemporary theories of
deviant behavior.
Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of
neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American
Sociological Review, 22, 664–670.
An early, influential discussion of the key concept of
neutralization and its significance for theories of
delinquency.
Nye, F. Ivan: Family Controls and Delinquency
Britt, C. L., & Gottfredson, M. R. (Eds.). (2003). Control
theories of crime and delinquency. New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction.
This collection of papers on social control theory by
many different scholars provides a more up-to-date
and more diverse view of the theoretical perspective
45 years after Nye’s initial explication. It shows how
the theory has been developed and applied to
different research questions.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Published a decade after Nye’s book, Hirschi’s book
provided a more focused analysis of indirect social
controls over juvenile delinquency and extends the
analysis of social control beyond the family to the
influence of peers, schools, and other outside settings.
Hirschi’s description is widely regarded as the
definitive discussion of indirect social control.
Vold, G. B., Bernard, T. J., & Snipes, J. B. (2002).
Theoretical criminology (5th ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press.
This criminological theory text provides a very
succinct yet comprehensive overview of social control
theory and the criminological research by which it
has been developed and tested. Chapter 10 describes
a number of the original contributors to the historical
development of social control theory (including Ivan
Nye) and evaluates their contributions to the theory.
Reckless, Walter C.: Containment Theory
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
In much the same fashion of Reckless, Hirschi devises
a control theory promoted as being a general theory
of crime. Some scholars have noted that Reckless’s
containment theory laid the foundation for Hirschi’s
more contemporary, but seminal work.
Martin, R., Mutchnick, R. J., & Austin, W. T. (1990).
Criminological thought: Pioneers past and present. New
York: Macmillan.
In this work, the authors provide very detailed
biographical information on Walter C. Reckless from
various sources including personal discussions with
Dr. Simon Dinitz and Mrs. Martha Reckless.
Reiss, Albert J., Jr.: Personal and Social Controls and
Delinquency
Farrington, D. P. (Ed.). (2008). Integrated developmental
and life course theories of offending (Advances in
Criminological Theory: Vol. 14). New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction.
In this book, David Farrington has compiled a
number of works that integrate perspectives
explaining deviance from the individual, family, peer,
school, neighborhood, and community perspectives.
Many of the included works suggest that controls at
both the personal and societal levels are important in
Annotated Further Readings
explaining deviance at various phases throughout
one’s life course.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
In this book, Travis Hirschi articulates what later
became known as social bond theory. Many of his
ideas about the elements of the social bond can be
traced (both directly and indirectly) to the personal and
social control elements articulated by Reiss in 1951.
McCord, J. (Ed.). (1995). Coercion and punishment in longterm perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Joan McCord has compiled a number of works that
examine, longitudinally, the impact of various forms of
personal and social controls on delinquency. The
impact of both parental and social sanctions, and their
effectiveness in reducing delinquency, is examined from
a wide variety of theoretical perspectives.
Reiss, A. J., Jr. (1951). Delinquency as the failure of
personal and social controls. American Sociological
Review, 16, 196–207.
In this article, Reiss articulates his ideas about both
personal and social controls. This article serves as
the foundation of his theoretical perspective
articulated here.
Sykes, Gresham M., and David Matza:
Techniques of Neutralization
Agnew, R. (1994). The techniques of neutralization and
violence. Criminology, 32, 555–580.
Agnew’s paper is perhaps the most methodologically
sound longitudinal study of neutralizations. Using the
National Youth Survey (NYS), Agnew showed a
significant relation between neutralization and future
violent behaviors.
Maruna, S., & Copes, H. (2005). What have we learned
from fifty years of neutralization research? In M. Tonry
(Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 32,
pp. 221–320). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Maruna and Copes provide the most comprehensive
overview and summary of the theory. In addition
they propose a modification of the theory by arguing
that neutralization theory is best understood as an
explanation of criminal persistence or desistance,
rather than initiation.
Maruna, S., & Mann, R. (2006). Fundamental
attribution errors? Re-thinking cognitive distortions.
Legal and Criminological Psychology, 11, 155–177.
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Maruna and Mann discuss the policy implications of
neutralization theory. In particular, they argue that
the world of cognitive-based offender treatment has
misunderstood and misapplied the research on
offender neutralizations. They suggest a new way
forward that is more in line with both the original
theory and the latest research in this regard.
Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of
neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American
Sociological Review, 22, 664–670.
This article is the original formulation of the theory. It
is the article that all research on neutralizations is based.
Topalli, V. (2005). When being good is bad: An
expansion of neutralization theory. Criminology, 43,
797–835.
Topalli expanded the theory to show that people use
neutralizations when they violate subcultural norms.
He showed that persistent street offenders did not
experience guilt when committing serious forms of
crime and thus did not neutralize their criminal
actions. They did, however, neutralize when they
snitched or failed to retaliate when wronged.
Tittle, Charles R., David A. Ward, and Harold G.
Grasmick: The Capacity and Desire for Self-Control
Hirschi, T. (2004). Self-control and crime. In R. F.
Baumester & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of selfregulation: Research, theory, and applications
(pp. 537–552). New York: Guilford Press.
In this essay, Travis Hirschi agrees that his use of
characteristics to describe self-control is incongruent
with many of his original arguments. He therefore
redefines low self-control as the tendency not to
consider the full range of potential costs of a particular
act. Although he uses items to measure his redefined
version of self-control that are similar to Tittle et al.’s
“desire to exercise self-control,” the fundamental
distinction between capability and desire still exists.
Reckless, W. C. (1967). The crime problem (4th ed.).
New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Reckless’s containment theory proposes that there are
two types of controls—inner and outer containment. By
focusing on the environmentally influenced desire to selfcontrol, Tittle et al.’s modification of self-control theory
is in the spirit of earlier control theories that examined
both the importance of inner and outer constraints.
Tittle, C. R. (1995). Control balance: Toward a general
theory of deviance. Boulder, CO: Westview.
1072
Annotated Further Readings
Tittle, Ward, and Grasmick (2004) created the
concept “desire for self-restraint” by finding similar
themes throughout competing criminological theories.
This is a prime example of synthetic integration, a
key step for criminology to progress according to
Tittle in this book. In addition to providing a solid
discussion and defense of synthetic integration, he
critiques extant criminological theories, including selfcontrol theory.
Toby, Jackson: Stake in Conformity
Toby, J. (1971). Contemporary society: An introduction
to sociology (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
This was Toby’s introduction to sociology textbook.
He discusses his stake in conformity theory in the text
and further elaborates on the ideas and theories of
Talcott Parsons.
Toby, J. (1974). The socialization and control of deviant
motivation. In D. Glaser (Ed.), Handbook of criminology
(pp. 85–100). Chicago: Rand McNally.
In this article, Toby further discusses the role of
families as sources of social control and applies
Parsons’s theories to an understanding of delinquency.
Toby, J. (1979). Societal evolution and criminality: A
Parsonian view. Social Problems, 26, 386–391.
In this article, Toby argues that the work of his
mentor, Talcott Parsons, could be used to understand
variations in crime rates across jurisdictions. Parsons
was Toby’s mentor at Harvard University and wrote
many articles elaborating on Parsons’s ideas and
theories.
Toby, J. (2001). Let them drop out: A response to the
killings in suburban high schools. Weekly Standard,
6(29), 18–23.
In this article, Toby discusses the suburban school
shootings that occurred at Columbine, Santana, and
Granite Hills in the context of his stake in conformity
theory.
Wooldredge, J., & Thistlethwaite, A. (2002).
Reconsidering domestic violence recidivism: Conditioned
effects of legal controls by individual and aggregate levels
of stake in conformity. Journal of Quantitative
Criminology, 18, 45–70.
The authors explore the influence of both individual
and aggregate level measures of Toby’s stake in
conformity theory in determining the effectiveness of
court sanctions on domestic violence recidivism.
Wells, Edward L., and Joseph H. Rankin:
Direct Controls and Delinquency
Rankin, J. H., & Wells, L. E. (1990). The effect of
parental attachments and direct controls on delinquency.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 27,
140–165.
The authors re-examine the impact of direct parental
controls, indirect parental controls, and the
relationship to delinquency. An analysis of the Youth
in Transition data finds that while each control is
important, the interactions between the variables are
weaker than previous studies found.
Rankin, J. H., & Wells, L. E. (2006). Social control
theory and direct parental controls. In S. Henry &
M. M. Lanier (Eds.), Essential criminology reader
(pp. 119–128). Boulder, CO: Westview.
This essay chronicles the development of social bond
theory, discusses the effectiveness of direct and
indirect controls, and focuses on the effects of family
controls and policy considerations.
Seydlitz, R. (1993). Complexity in the relationships
among direct and indirect parental controls and
delinquency. Youth and Society, 24, 243–275.
This study tests the linearity of direct and indirect
controls of parental attachment on delinquency.
Seydlitz discusses the specifics of parental attachment,
monitoring, and discipline. The findings conclude that
interactions between the variables are gender and agespecific and depend on the type and intensity of direct
control utilized.
Wells, L. E., & Rankin, J. H. (1988). Direct parental
controls and delinquency. Criminology, 26, 263–285.
Rankin and Well propose a new view of direct controls.
By reconceptualizing the concept to include regulation,
monitoring and punishment, they find a stronger
relationship to delinquency than previous studies.
10. Labeling and Interactionist Theories of Crime
Athens, Lonnie: Interaction and Violence
Athens, L. (2003). Violentization in larger social
context. In J. T. Ulmer (Ed.), Violent acts and
violentization: Assessing, applying, and developing
Lonnie Athens’ theories (pp. 1–42). Oxford, UK:
Elsevier Science.
In this article, Athens intended to extend his
violentization theory toward the macro-social
Annotated Further Readings
perspective. Efforts were made to establish the
linkage between the micro-level theory and macrolevel social characteristics, such as social structure
and community culture. With the newly amended
theory, Athens expected to counter the criticism that
violentization theory fails to see the larger social
context underlying violent conduct.
Ulmer, J. T. (Ed.). (2003). Violent acts and violentization:
Assessing, applying, and developing Lonnie Athens’
theories. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science.
Articles with in-depth discussions of Athens’s arguments
about the decision process, self-image, and interpreting
social experience of violent criminals are gathered in
this edited book. The contributors’ works enhance
Athens’s violentization theory and also provide insights
on linking Athens’s theory to social learning theory
and labeling theory in a comparative manner.
Becker, Howard S.: Labeling and Deviant Careers
Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology
of deviance. New York: Free Press.
This is Howard S. Becker’s primary work on deviance
and, according to his website, is all he has to say on
the topic to date.
Bernberg, J. G., Krohn, M. D., & Rivera, C. J. (2006).
Official labeling, criminal embeddedness, and subsequent
delinquency: A longitudinal test of labeling theory. Journal
of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 43, 67–88.
This work is a current reexamination of labeling
theory as is applies today. The article also references
the work of Becker and others that may enhance
understanding of labeling theoretical perspective.
Cole, S. (1975). The growth of scientific knowledge:
Theories of deviance as a case study. In L. A. Coser
(Ed.), The idea of social structure: Papers in honor of
Robert K. Merton (pp. 175–220). New York: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich.
This article was cited by Howard S. Becker on his
website and provides another perspective on the
theoretical approach to deviance.
Lemert, E. M. (1951). Social pathology: A systematic
approach to the theory of sociopathic behavior. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
In Social Pathology, Edwin Lemert developed the
concepts of primary and secondary deviance. This
distinction was an early statement of how societal
1073
reaction can stabilize individuals in deviant or criminal
careers that otherwise might have been transitory.
Tannenbaum, F. (1938). Crime and the community.
Boston: Ginn.
This work is considered to have great impact and
influence in the formation of labeling theory and thus
is essential in the creation of this perspective. In order
to more fully understand the concepts that Becker
discusses in his work and later studies in which
empirical observations and findings are framed under
labeling theory, an understanding of the historical
foundation of the theory could be useful.
Chambliss, William J.: The Saints and the Roughnecks
Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of
deviance. London: Free Press.
Becker’s classic book explains why some people are
labeled as deviant and some are not, even for the
same acts. The process and outcomes of labeling are
explained by Becker.
Macleod, J. (2008). Ain’t no makin’ it: Aspirations and
attainment in a low-income neighborhood (3rd ed.).
Boulder, CO: Westview.
Originally published in 1987, this is the third
installment of Macleod’s book that follows white and
black adolescents from public housing over a period
of 25 years. He explains how both class and race
combine to determine one’s future.
Reiman, J. (1998). The rich get richer and the poor get
prison: Ideology, class and criminal justice (5th ed.).
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Reiman’s classic work explains how having money
and influence may actually decrease the chances of
being arrested, prosecuted, or convicted of a crime.
He details how white-collar crime is not taken as
seriously as street crime by the criminal justice
system.
Cohen, Albert K.: Deviance and Control
Cohen, A. K. (1955). Delinquent boys: The culture of the
gang. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
This is Cohen’s classic text that established the
fundamental elements of strain theory. By building on
Merton’s theory of anomie and crime, Cohen created
a theory of subcultural deviance and also explored
the role masculinity plays in delinquency.
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Annotated Further Readings
Cohen, A. K. (1966). Deviance and control. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Deviance and Control provided an overview of
deviance theories and allowed Cohen to refine his
strain theory. Cohen suggested an integration of role
theory, anomie theory, and cultural transmission
theory in this text.
Cohen, A. K. (1997). An elaboration of anomie theory. In
N. Passas & R. Agnew (Eds.), The future of anomie
theory (pp. 54–64). Boston: Northeastern University Press.
Cohen’s chapter in this book presented an
opportunity for him to reflect on the impact of his
theoretical work. Cohen also suggested that the
choices made by both collectivities and individuals be
studied to understand how both become involved in
deviant behavior.
Erikson, Kai T.: Wayward Puritans
Durkheim, É. (1981). Rules of the sociological method.
New York: Free Press.
In this text, Durkheim laid out the thesis that
deviance and criminality are an inevitable part of all
societies. He stated that not only is deviance
ubiquitous, but also it is necessary, within certain
tolerance levels, for a healthy society.
Merton, R. K. (1938). Social structure and anomie.
American Sociological Review, 3(5), 672–682.
This contribution to the sociology of deviance
contravened Durkheim and Freud, theorizing that
society actually contributed to the deviance of
individuals rather than serving to minimize it. This
revolutionary theory provided the foundation for a
generation of social researchers on deviance and
social control.
Grounded Theory
Bryant, A., & Charmaz, K. (Eds.). (2007). The SAGE
handbook of grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
A collection of papers on the history, methods, and
ongoing debates of the grounded theory approach by
some of the preeminent scholars working within the
grounded theory tradition today.
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Informed by the interactionist tradition, Charmaz
offers a reflective and constructionist approach to
grounded theory methodology that is very much in
line with Glaser and Strauss’s early work, as well as
Strauss’s (1993) Continual Permutations of Action.
This methodological guide further refines and
demystifies the grounded theory method from an
interactionist perspective for another generation of
qualitative researchers.
Prus, R., & Grills, S. (2003). The deviant mystique.
Westport, CT: Praeger.
Many of those interested in the implications of
grounded theory for the study of crime, deviance,
and regulation are likely to find that this text is of
particular value. Prus and Grills address the
matters of people defining deviance and deviants,
people’s involvements and careers in deviance, their
participation in subcultural deviance and solitary
deviance, as well as the informal and formal
regulation of deviance, the disinvolvement process,
and the problematics of studying deviance. Not
only do Prus and Grills take the deviance-making
process apart piece by piece, but as ethnographers
as well as social theorists who built directly on the
works of Herbert Blumer, Anselm Strauss, and
others in the Chicago tradition of symbolic
interaction, Prus and Grills also provide one of the
most sustained developments of grounded theory in
the literature.
Strauss, A. L. (1993). Continual permutations of action.
New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
This text stands as a particularly potent testimony
to the broader importance of grounded theory for
the study of human group life and people’s
involvements in the many life-words or subcultures
in which community life takes place. Strauss
attempts to translate the pragmatist philosophical
assumptions of Mead and other pragmatists into a
“theory of action” and a guide for sociological
(specifically interactionist) inquiry and analysis.
This text is of great value to those of the human
sciences and has much to offer to students of
crime, deviance, and regulation as a highly
instructive conceptual and methodological
resource.
Heimer, Karen, and Ross L. Matsueda:
A Theory of Differential Social Control
Heimer, K. (1995). Gender, race, and the pathways to
delinquency. In J. Hagan & R. D. Peterson (Eds.), Crime
Annotated Further Readings
and inequality (pp. 141–174). Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press.
In this book chapter, Karen Heimer examines the role
of race in the process leading to gender differences in
delinquency.
Heimer, K. (1996). Gender, interaction, and delinquency:
Testing a theory of differential social control. Social
Psychology Quarterly, 59, 39–61.
In this article, Karen Heimer employs differential
social control theory to generate and test predictions
about similarities and differences across gender in the
relationship between commitment to reference
groups, role-taking, and delinquency.
Matsueda, R. L. (1992). Reflected appraisals, parental
labeling, and delinquency: Specifying a symbolic
interactionist theory. American Journal of Sociology, 97,
1577–1611.
Karen Heimer and Ross Matsueda’s differential social
control theory is an extension of Ross Matsueda’s
earlier work, namely his symbolic interactionist
theory of the self and delinquency. In this article,
Matsueda outlined his symbolic interactionist theory
of the self and delinquency as well as subjected the
theory to empirical test.
Matsueda, R. L., & Heimer, K. (1997). A symbolic
interactionist theory of role-transitions, rolecommitments, and delinquency. In T. P. Thornberry
(Ed.), Developmental theories of crime and delinquency
(pp. 163–213). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
In this book chapter, Ross Matsueda and Karen
Heimer argue for the utilities of the symbolic
interactionist approach in general and their
differential social control theory in particular in the
study of crime and criminals over the life course.
Katz, Jack: Seductions of Crime
Cromwell, P. (Ed.). (2010). In their own words:
Criminals on crime (5th ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press.
Cromwell’s anthology provides an in-depth
examination of a broad range of criminal behavior.
Through field research that includes firsthand
accounts by offenders, the reader gains insight into
the motives, methods, and rationalization of criminal
behavior.
Presser, L. (2008). Been a heavy life: Stories of violent
men. Urbana: University of Illinois.
1075
In this book, Lois Presser provides a detailed
account of interviews she conducted with men who
commit violent crime. Presser’s work goes beyond
describing the stories of offenders to how these men
construct their narratives, how these change, and
what it means for our understanding of the people
we most fear.
LaFree, Gary D., and Christopher Birkbeck:
Situational Analysis of Crime
Clarke, R. V. (1980). “Situational” crime prevention:
Theory and practice. British Journal of Criminology, 20,
136–147.
Ronald Clarke provides an argument for the use of
situational measures of crime, as opposed to a
continued focus on dispositional theories of crime. In
doing so, he lays the foundation for the development
of situational crime prevention techniques.
Cohen, L. E, & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and
crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American
Sociological Review, 44, 588–608.
Cohen and Felson (1979) lay the groundwork for
future opportunity theories. In this work, they assess
how an aggregate level of opportunity affects the
aggregate crime rate. Later, this idea is taken to the
individual level. The theory posits that criminal
opportunity exists when motivated offenders and
suitable targets converge in time and space in the
absence of capable guardians.
Sutherland, E. H. (1947). Principles of criminology (4th
ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Making a distinction between dispositional theories of
crime/deviance and situational theories of crime/
deviance, Edwin Sutherland argues that theorists need
to address both. However, criminologists focused
mainly on dispositional theories until the 1980s.
Lemert, Edwin M.: Primary and Secondary Deviance
Braithwaite, J. (1989). Crime, shame and reintegration.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
In this book, Braithwaite presents one of the most
noted contemporary labeling theories: the theory of
reintegrative shaming. Of particular importance,
Braithwaite argues that societal reaction can lead to
either more or less offending, depending upon its
nature—whether it is “stigmatizing shaming” or
“reintegrative shaming.”
1076
Annotated Further Readings
Sherman, L. W. (1993). Defiance, deterrence, and
irrelevance: A theory of criminal sanction. Journal of
Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30, 445–473.
Like Braithwaite, Sherman also presents the idea that
societal reaction (i.e., intervention) can have negative
effects, but it can also have positive or null effects.
Intervention are most likely to produce negative
effects (i.e., defiance) if the person receiving the
intervention is weakly bonded to society and defines
the intervention as undeserved or unfair.
Luckenbill, David F.: Stages in Violence
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective
and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Blumer’s work provides a good jumping off point for
readers interested in a further discussion of symbolic
interactionism. This work will help readers struggling
with the concepts of microsociology.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-toface behavior. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Goffman’s essays provide a detailed description of his
theory of “face.” Luckenbill refers to this work
throughout his essay on the stages in violence.
Readers interested in learning more about Goffman’s
analysis of face-to-face interaction should find this
work useful.
Matsueda, Ross L.: Reflected Appraisals and
Delinquency
Heimer, K., & Matsueda, R. L. (1994). Role-taking,
role commitment, and delinquency: A theory of
differential social control. American Sociological
Review, 59, 39–61.
In this article, Heimer and Matsueda extend
Matsueda’s theory of reflected appraisals. In
particular, the authors address how social control—
also integral to understanding delinquency from an
interactionist perspective—is combined with reflected
appraisals of self. They also discuss more fully how
social interactions are organizationally structured.
Matsueda, R. L., & Heimer, K. (1997). A symbolic
interactionist theory of role transitions, role
commitments, and delinquency. In T. P. Thornberry
(Ed.), Developmental theories of crime and delinquency
(pp. 163–213). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
This book chapter builds upon both Matsueda (1992)
and Heimer and Matsueda (1994) by exploring how
reflected appraisals and differential social control can
be useful in understanding crime over the life course.
Matza, David: Becoming Deviant
Matza, D. (1964). Delinquency and drift. New York:
Wiley.
In his drift theory, Matza argues that adolescents are
neither committed nor compelled to delinquency and
that delinquents are not really different from lawabiding youths. Instead, youths drift between
conventional behavior and delinquency, often feeling
guilt as a result of their delinquent acts.
Matza, D., & Sykes, G. M. (1961). Juvenile delinquency
and subterranean values. American Sociological Review,
26, 712–719.
Building on their earlier discussion of neutralization
theory, Matza and Sykes provide an example of soft
determinism in which youths select from among
values available in their immediate environment.
Youths are exposed to both conventional and
subterranean (deviant) values that exist alongside one
another, and displays of deviant values often provide
greater status than conventional values.
Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of
neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American
Sociological Review, 22, 664–670.
This essay, published 12 years before Matza’s
Becoming Deviant, is considered one of the seminal
works in the interactionist perspective. The authors
argue that formal social controls, and the guilt that
often follows violations of law, are effectively
neutralized for delinquents through a variety of
justifications and rationalizations.
Schur, Edwin M.: Radical Non-Intervention and
Delinquency
Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders: Study in the sociology of
deviance. New York: Free Press.
Schur based a large portion of Radical NonIntervention on Becker’s labeling theory. In this book,
Becker introduced labeling theory and illustrated how
assigning negative labels to juveniles can result in
“secondary” delinquency.
Platt, A. (1969). The child savers: The invention of
delinquency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
The primary thesis in radical non-intervention theory
is that the juvenile justice system intrudes too far into
Annotated Further Readings
the lives of youths. In this book, Platt describes the
history of the juvenile justice system, including its
political and social origins.
Shelden, R. G. (n.d.). Resurrecting radical nonintervention: Stop the war on kids. Retrieved January 5,
2009, from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice:
http://www.cjcj.org/files/radical.pdf
It has been more than 30 years since Schur
published Radical Non-Intervention. In this essay,
Shelden gives an up-to-date synopsis of the theory
and argues that its core concepts remain applicable
today.
Spector, Malcolm, and John I. Kitsuse:
Constructing Social Problems
Best, J. (2008). Social problems. New York: W. W.
Norton.
Spector and Kitsuse sought to provide an introduction
to constructionist thinking about social problems.
Best has a similar goal but seeks to build on the
theoretical developments since Constructing Social
Problems appeared.
Holstein, J. A., & Gubrium, J. F. (Eds.). (2008).
Handbook of constructionist research. New York:
Guilford.
Constructionist thought has evolved in many
directions since Spector and Kitsuse wrote. This
collection surveys developments in the constructionist
approach across the social sciences.
Jenness, V., & Grattet, R. (2001). Making hate a crime:
From social movement to law enforcement. New York:
Russell Sage Foundation.
Spector and Kitsuse’s ideas have inspired hundreds of
case studies that extend the constructionist
perspective, including many concerned with crimes.
Jenness and Grattet’s monograph explores
constructionist processes in establishing and enforcing
hate crime laws.
Sudnow, David: Normal Crimes
Sudnow, D. (1967). Passing on: The social organization
of dying. New York: Prentice Hall.
Using similar methods, Sudnow takes his concept of
“normal” activities and applies it to a medical
context. In this book, he looks at how dying is
managed by various actors in an urban hospital. He
1077
is especially interested in the idea of a normal death,
which, like a normal crime, has a pattern to which
the actors fit the case, instead of fitting a pattern to
a case.
Tannenbaum, Frank: The Dramatization of Evil
Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology
of deviance. New York: Free Press.
In his book, Howard Becker provides an outline of
his social reaction theory that was one of the first
comprehensive labeling theories developed. Becker’s
piece focuses on the creation of deviance by social
groups and how rule-breakers view themselves
differently from the rest of society.
Chambliss, W. J. (1973). The saints and the roughnecks.
Society, 11, 24–31.
In his piece, William J. Chambliss provides an
examination of two groups of males from the same
high school who were both involved in delinquent
behavior. He examines how the community’s
perceptions of the groups helped influence the future
success of the Saints and the failure of the
Roughnecks.
11. Theories of the Criminal Sanction
Becker, Gary S.: Punishment, Human Capital, and
Crime
Ehrlich, I. (1974). The supply of illegitimate activities:
An economic approach. In G. S. Becker & W. M.
Landes (Eds.), Essays in the economics of crime and
punishment (pp. 68–134). New York: Columbia
University Press.
Isaac Ehrlich uses economic choice theory to
construct a model of decision-making between legal
and illegal behavior. Under the assumption that
human beings are rational, Ehrlich argues that
individuals compare alternatives on the basis of their
expected utility and seek to maximize welfare.
McCarthy, B. (2002). New economics of sociological
criminology. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 417–442.
In this essay, Bill McCarthy summarizes the rational
choice model and its relevance to the study of
criminal behavior. He argues that combining the
rational choice model with sociological perspectives
provides insight toward our understanding of, and
ability to predict, criminal behavior.
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Annotated Further Readings
Braithwaite, John: Reintegrative Shaming Theory
Ahmed, E., Harris, N., Braithwaite, J., & Braithwaite, V.
(2001). Shame management through reintegration.
Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.
This book offers a revision of the theory that
incorporates ideas form shame management,
procedural justice and defiance theory.
Braithwaite, J. (2002). Restorative justice and responsive
regulation. New York: Oxford University Press.
This book discusses the complementary relationship
between Ayres and Braithwaite’s (1992) theory of
responsive regulation, which had initially been applied
for business non-compliance, and restorative justice.
Braithwaite, J., & Pettit, P. (1990). Not just deserts: A
republican theory of criminal justice. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press.
This book, which followed closely on Crime, Shame
and Reintegration, presents a republican theory of
criminal justice, which argues against the normative
view of justice presented by just-deserts theory.
Gendreau, Paul, D. A. Andrews, and James Bonta:
The Theory of Effective Correctional Intervention
Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (2006). The psychology of
criminal conduct (4th ed.). Newark, NJ: Anderson.
This book can be used as a key reference for effective
correctional practices. It provides a foundation for
the theories and research that support the principles
of effective intervention.
Andrews, D. A., Zinger, I., Hoge, R., Bonta, J.,
Gendreau, P., & Cullen, F. T. (1990). Does correctional
treatment work? A clinically relevant and psychologically
informed meta-analysis. Criminology, 28, 369–404.
This is the first meta-analysis to test the principles of
effective intervention. It is also a classic study
providing early support for the principles of effective
intervention.
Gendreau, P. (1996). The principle of effective
intervention with offenders. In A. T. Harland (Ed.),
Choosing correctional options that work: Defining the
demand and evaluating the supply (pp. 117–130).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
This is a classic article providing an early description
of the principles of effective intervention. This article
also touches upon principles of ineffective
intervention, providing a framework for strategies
that have lacked effectiveness in corrections.
Gendreau, P., Smith, P., & Goggin, C. (2000).
Treatment programs in corrections. In J. Winterdyk
(Ed.), Corrections in Canada: Social reaction to crime
(pp. 238–263). Toronto, ON: Prentice Hall.
This book chapter provides a reader-friendly
description of the principles of effective intervention,
including empirical support for the principles.
General Deterrence Theory
Stack, S. (2001). Publicized executions and the incidence
of homicide: Methodological sources of inconsistent
findings. In M. A. DuPont-Morales, M. Hooper, & J. H.
Schmidt (Eds.), Handbook of criminal justice
administration (pp. 355–369). New York: Marcel
Dekker.
Provides the largest review of investigations (N=20)
that measure public awareness of executions (most of
the 104 investigations on executions and homicide do
not measure awareness). Methodological differences
among these studies are associated with the extent to
which they find any deterrent effect.
Yang, B., & Lester, D. (2008). The deterrent effect of
executions: A meta-analysis thirty years after Ehrlich.
Journal of Criminal Justice, 36, 453–460.
This is the first meta-analysis of the universe of
research on the impact of the death penalty on
homicide. It covers 95 studies with adequate data
published between 1975 and 2006. The average effect
size, while not large, is consistent with general
deterrence theory. Variation in the methodological
features of studies is associated with the effect size
reported.
Gibbs, Jack P.: Deterrence Theory
Pratt, T. C., Cullen, F. T., Blevins, K. R., Daigle, L. E., &
Madensen, T. D. (2006). The empirical status of
deterrence. In F. T. Cullen, J. P. Wright, & K. R. Blevins
(Eds.), Taking stock: The status of criminological theory
(Advances in Criminological Theory: Vol. 15,
pp. 367–395). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Pratt et al. (2006) reveal Gibbs’s continuing impact
on deterrence research.
Tittle, C. R. (1980). Sanctions and social deviance.
New York: Praeger.
Tittle (1980) was contemporaneous with Gibbs’s
deterrence publications and shows the breadth and
depth of deterrence scholarship during its heyday in
the 1970s and 1980s.
Annotated Further Readings
Tonry, M. (2008). Learning from the limitations of
deterrence research. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice:
A review of research (Vol. 37, pp. 279–312). Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Many deterrence researchers continue to address the
issues initially considered by Gibbs, bringing his goal
of a deterrence theory closer to fruition. Tonry (2008)
is a good example.
Zimring, F. E., & Hawkins, G. (1973). Deterrence: The
legal threat in crime control. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
This timely piece provided an illustration of the
importance of deterrence research.
Incarceration and Recidivism
Gendreau, P., Goggin, C., Cullen, F. T., & Andrews, D. A.
(2000, May). The effects of community sanctions and
incarceration on recidivism. Forum on Corrections
Research, 12, 10–13.
Gendreau et al. conducted a meta-analysis on the
impact of incarceration on recidivism. They not only
examined custodial versus non-custodial sanctions but
also investigated the impact that the length of time
served has on subsequent recidivism.
Maurer, M. (1999). Race to incarcerate. New York: New
Press.
Maurer attempts to explain the multitude of reasons
that have lead to the massive increase in the use of
incarceration. He discusses multiple sentencing policies,
the media, and the political advantage for politicians to
be “tough on crime.” He also addresses the substantial
number of minorities now incarcerated in U.S. prisons.
A discussion of the impact of this incarceration boom
on subsequent crime rates is also presented.
Nagin, D. S., Cullen, F. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2009).
Imprisonment and reoffending. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime
and justice: A review of research (Vol. 38, pp. 115–200).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Nagin and colleagues extend Villettaz et al.’s (2006)
systematic review of the research on incarceration and
crime. Not only do these authors examine custodial
versus non-custodial sanctions, but they also review
the research on the length of incarceration. Nagin et
al. take much care in ensuring that the findings are
sound and control for the various factors believed to
influence recidivism.
Smith, P., Goggin, C., & Gendreau, P. (2002). The
effects of prison sentences and intermediate sanctions on
1079
recidivism: General effects and individual differences
(User report 2002–01). Ottawa, ON: Solicitor General
Canada.
Smith and colleagues expand the 2000 meta-analysis
conducted by Gendreau et al. They examine the
impact of custodial versus non-custodial sanctions
and the length of time incarcerated on post-release
recidivism. This meta-analysis is unique as it
investigates the impact of multiple moderator
variables on the results, such as age, gender, race, risk
level, and quality of the research design.
Villettaz, P., Killias, M., & Zoder, I. (2006). The
effects of custodial vs. noncustodial sentences on
re-offending: A systematic review of the state of
knowledge. Philadelphia: Campbell Collaboration
Crime and Justice Group.
This article provides a systematic review of the current
literature on the effects of custodial and non-custodial
sanctions. It employs sound methodology so the
findings can be viewed with reliability. It also includes
studies both within and outside North America.
McCarthy, Bill, and John Hagan:
Danger and Deterrence
Jaeger, C. C., Ortwin, R., Rosa, E. A., & Webler, T.
(2001). Risk, uncertainty, and rational action. London:
Earthscan.
This book describes the Rational Actor Paradigm
(RAP) and how the principles of this paradigm have
been applied in economics, psychology, and
sociology. Emphasis on risk assessment in each of the
aforementioned disciplines is discussed.
Pratt, T. C., Cullen, F. T., Blevins, K. R., Daigle, L. E., &
Madensen, T. D. (2006). The empirical status of
deterrence. In F. T. Cullen, J. P. Wright, & K. R. Blevins
(Eds.), Taking stock: The status of criminological theory
(Advances in Criminological Theory: Vol. 15,
pp. 367–395). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
This essay traces the empirical history and highlights
recent theoretical advances in the area of deterrence.
The authors also present findings from a metaanalysis of 40 empirical studies of deterrence.
Nagin, Daniel S., and Raymond Paternoster:
Individual Differences and Deterrence
Nagin, D. S., & Paternoster, R. (1991). The preventive
effects of the perceived risk of arrest: Testing an
expanded conception of deterrence. Criminology, 29,
561–588.
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Annotated Further Readings
This article provides an early example of Nagin and
Paternoster’s thinking about the conditionally
deterrent effects of sanctions. In this article, the threat
of informal sanctions are considered in conjunction
with more traditional measures of sanction threats
typically examined in tests of deterrence theory.
Nagin, D. S., & Paternoster, R. (1993). Enduring
individual differences and rational choice theories of
crime. Law and Society Review, 27, 467–496.
This article focuses on the contributions of expected
probability of sanctions, stable individual differences
in the propensity to offend, and expected utility in the
explanation of offending intentions. It expands on
their earlier work by further elaborating the processes
by which sanction threats are most salient and how
sanction threats may fit into the entire offending
decision-making process.
Nagin, D. S., & Paternoster, R. (1994). Personal capital
and social control: The deterrence implications of a
theory of individual differences in criminal offending.
Criminology, 32, 581–606.
This article represents the most complete statement of
the Nagin and Paternoster theory. It expands on
previous work by fully elaborating a theory of offender
decision making including attending to sanction
threats, life-span developmental issues, and related
issues of utility, conscience, and personal and social
capital.
Perceptual Deterrence
Matsueda, R. L., Kreager, D. A., & Huizinga, D. (2006).
Deterring delinquents: A rational choice model of theft
and violence. American Sociological Review, 71, 95–122.
Using sophisticated empirical methods and panel data
from the Denver Youth Study, this article reports
evidence for the two linkages of perceptual
deterrence—that individuals who are punished elevate
their perceptions of sanction risk, and that offending
relates inversely to perceived sanction certainty.
Pogarsky, G. (2007). Deterrence and individual
differences among convicted offenders. Journal of
Quantitative Criminology, 23, 59–74.
This study tested how variation in criminal propensity
(operationalized as “self-control”) moderated
deterrent effects in a sample of convicted offenders in
New Jersey’s Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) in
1989 and 1990. Offenders’ perceptions of the risks
and consequences from violating ISP were associated
with whether they successfully completed ISP.
Moreover, lower self-control did not diminish and, if
anything, enhanced these deterrent effects.
Pogarsky, G. (in press). Deterrence and decision-making:
Research questions and theoretical refinements. In
M. D. Krohn, A. J. Lizotte, & G. P. Hall (Eds.),
Handbook on crime and deviance. New York: Springer.
This chapter comments on the current state of
criminological deterrence research. It identifies areas
of intersection between behavioral economics and
criminological deterrence and suggests avenues of
further investigation to improve our understanding of
crime decisions.
Pogarsky, Greg, and Alex R. Piquero:
The Resetting Effect
Clotfelter, C. T., & Cook, P. J. (1993). The “gambler’s
fallacy” in lottery play. Management Science, 39,
1521–1525.
In their article, Charles Clotfelter and Philip Cook
examine the gambler’s fallacy using a lottery
experiment. Their findings indicate that rare
occurrences are discounted immediately after they
occur.
Gibbs, J. P. (1975). Crime, punishment, and deterrence.
Amsterdam: Elsevier.
In his book, Jack Gibbs discusses the deterrence
doctrine, paying particular attention to the wide array
of legal and non-legal elements that may be
considered deterrents to law violation.
Jacobs, B. A. (1996). Crack dealers and restrictive
deterrence: Identifying narcs. Criminology, 34, 409–431.
In his article, Bruce Jacobs examines the processes
by which drug dealers legitimatize their customers.
He identifies restrictive deterrence as a process
whereby dealers reduce but do not completely
refrain from offending following punishment. One
type of restrictive deterrence is probabilistic—a
reduction of offense frequency based on a law of
averages.
Zimring, F. E., & Hawkins, G. J. (1973). Deterrence:
The legal threat in crime control. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
In their book, Franklin Zimring and Gordon
Hawkins focus on deterrence as the threat of legal
punishments. They discuss the background and
rationale of deterrence theory, distinguish general and
Annotated Further Readings
specific deterrence, examine problems with
measurement in deterrence research, and outline
numerous issues warranting future research.
Rose, Dina R., and Todd R. Clear:
Coerced Mobility Theory
Clear, T. R. (2007). Imprisoning communities: How mass
incarceration makes disadvantaged neighborhoods worse.
New York: Oxford University Press.
This book provides an in-depth theoretical foundation
for coerced mobility. Clear discusses in more detail
how concentrated incarceration undermines the
legitimate systems within which offenders are
embedded. It also provides a detailed description of
community justice.
Sherman, Lawrence W.: Defiance Theory
Bouffard, L. A., & Piquero, N. L. (2010). Defiance
theory and life course explanations of persistent
offending. Crime and Delinquency, 56, 227–252.
This article provides the most recent and most
complete test of defiance theory. It also includes a
discussion of the link between defiance, labeling, and
the life course perspective.
Sherman, L. W. (1993). Defiance, deterrence, and
irrelevance: A theory of the criminal sanction. Journal of
Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30, 445–473.
This article presents Sherman’s defiance theory in full
along with examples of defiant behavior and a review
of the literature on sanction effects.
Stafford, Mark C., and Mark Warr: Deterrence
Theory
Pogarsky, G., & Piquero, A. (2003). Can punishment
encourage offending? Investigating the “resetting” effect.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 40,
95–120.
This article investigates why punishment experiences
may increase the likelihood of offending. The first
hypothesis is that committed offenders are more likely
to be punished, which is known as the selection
account. The second hypothesis asserts that
punished offenders believe they would have to be
extremely unlucky to get caught again. The article
concludes with a discussion of challenges posed to
deterrence theory as a result of the “positive
punishment effect.”
1081
Tyler, Tom R.: Sanctions and Procedural Justice
Theory
Tyler, T. R. (1990). Why people obey the law. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
This book contrasts different perspectives on why
people obey the law, explores how people react to
their personal experiences with legal authorities, and
explains the meaning of procedural justice. It
provides a comprehensive analysis of the links among
procedural justice, legitimacy, and compliance with
the law and legal authorities.
Tyler, T. R. (2003). Procedural justice, legitimacy, and
the effective rule of law. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and
justice: A review of research (Vol. 30, pp. 283–357).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Based on Tyler’s theory of procedural justice, this
article analyzes the process-based model of regulation.
It also provides a comprehensive review of previous
empirical studies.
Tyler, T. R., & Huo, Y. J. (2002). Trust in the law. New
York: Russell Sage.
This book explores the deference to legal authorities
among minorities. Using empirical analyses, it
emphasizes the role of procedural justice and
legitimacy in shaping people’s willingness to consent
and cooperate with legal authorities.
Williams, Kirk R., and Richard Hawkins:
Deterrence Theory and Non-Legal Sanctions
Akers, R. L. (1990). Rational choice, deterrence, and
social learning theory in criminology. Journal of Criminal
Law and Criminology, 81, 653–676.
Akers points to the conceptual and theoretical links
between deterrence theory and rational choice theory
and argues that both are deducible from social
learning theory. He further argues that a social
learning approach to deterrence offers the greatest
promise for advancing an understanding of the
deterrence process.
Pratt, T. C., Cullen, F. T., Blevins, K. R., Daigle, L. E.,
& Madensen, T. D. (2006). The empirical status of
deterrence. In F. T. Cullen, J. P. Wright, & K. R. Blevins
(Eds.), Taking stock: The status of criminological theory
(Advances in Criminological Theory: Vol. 15,
pp. 367–395). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
This article offers a systematic review and assessment
of decades of deterrence studies and identifies
directions for further research.
1082
Annotated Further Readings
Stafford, M. C., & Warr, M. (1993). A
reconceptualization of general and specific deterrence.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30,
123–135.
Stafford and Warr propose a conceptualization of
general and specific deterrence that considers the
indirect and direct experiences of people with legal
punishment and the implications of this
conceptualization for such key deterrence issues as
“experiential effects.”
Tittle, C. R. (1980). Sanctions and social deviance. New
York: Praeger.
Tittle’s book represents one of the first attempts to
systematize deterrence theory. In the process, he
points to the complexity of the deterrence process,
including the possibility that a host of non-deterrence
variables may condition the deterrent effects of legal
punishment.
12. Conflict, Radical, and Critical
Theories of Crime
Abolitionism
Knopp, F. H., Boward, B., & Morris, M. O. (1976).
Instead of prisons: A handbook for abolitionists.
Syracuse, NY: Prison Research Education Action Project.
Knopp et al.’s text provides a description of the
practical application of abolitionist ideals. The text
details the application of abolitionist ideology to the
practice of eradicating prisons.
Mathiesen, T. (1974). The politics of abolition. London:
Martin Robertson.
Thomas Mathiesen’s text provides a strong basis on
the concept of abolitionism. Mathiesen, one of the
forefathers of abolitionist thought, details the
development of the penal reform movement in
Scandinavia, a movement that is strongly rooted in
abolitionist ideology.
Anarchist Criminology
Capouya, E., & Tompkins, K. (Eds.). (1975). The
essential Kropotkin. New York: Liveright.
This collection of essays by Peter Kropotkin offers an
accessible introduction to the work of one of the
founding figures in anarchist theory, and perhaps the
most important progenitor of anarchist criminology.
Especially notable are the essays “Law and Authority”
and “Prisons and Their Moral Influence on Prisoners.”
Ferrell, J. (2001). Tearing down the streets: Adventures in
urban anarchy. New York: Palgrave.
This book blends perspectives from anarchist
criminology with a wide-ranging account of
contemporary anarchist activism and anarchist social
movements, including homeless activists, micro-radio
operators, bicycle militants, and those working to
“reclaim the streets.” The anarchist critique of law is
here embodied in an analysis of legal enforcement
strategies that are designed to control marginal
groups and to protect private economic development
at the cost of urban community.
Bonger, Willem: Capitalism and Crime
Mike, B. (1976). Willem Adriaan Bonger’s “Criminality
and Economic Conditions”: A critical analysis.
International Journal of Criminology and Penology, 4,
211–238.
Mike takes a critical look at how Bonger’s
interpretation of Marx and the influence of Social
Darwinism on his theory, and he further clarifies
some of Bonger’s arguments through his discussion of
the difficulties with Bonger’s approach.
Van Bemmelen, J. M. (1955). Pioneers in criminology.
Willem Adriaan Bonger. Journal of Criminal Law,
Criminology, and Police Science, 46, 293–302.
Van Bemmelen discusses the life history of Bonger
and helps provide a social context to explain how and
why Bonger became a criminologist as well as what
influenced his perspective on crime causation.
Chambliss, William J.: Power, Conflict, and Crime
Chambliss, W. J. (with King, H.). (1972). Boxman: A
professional thief’s journal. New York: Harper & Row.
In Boxman, William Chambliss expanded Edwin
Sutherland’s pioneering research on professional
theft. Based on the diaries of a professional safe
cracker named Harry King, whom Chambliss
befriended during this research on organized crime in
Las Vegas, Boxman remains a classic text on
professional theft more than 30 years after its
publication.
Chambliss, W. J. (1978). On the take: From petty
criminals to presidents. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press.
On the Take constitutes a major contribution to the
organized crime literature. William Chambliss argued
that the Cosa Nostra or the Mafia was simply a
Annotated Further Readings
smokescreen for a more complex set of social
relations between financiers, businessmen, politicians,
policemen and organized crime figures. Chambliss
concluded that a symbiotic relationship between these
individuals is essential for organized crime to survive
in America.
Chambliss, W. J., & Seidman, R. B. (1971). Law, order,
and power. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Law, Order, and Power is a seminal textbook on
law and society. Chambliss and Seidman advanced
the conflict perspective beyond a Marxian
discussion of law formation to an examination of
the processes by which the interests of the rich and
powerful are actually translated into law and
administration.
Colvin, Mark: Coercion Theory
Alexander, A. D., & Bernard, T. J. (2002). A critique of
Mark Colvin’s, Crime and Coercion: An Integrated
Theory of Chronic Criminality. Crime, Law and Social
Change, 38, 389–398.
This essay criticized the differential coercion theory
for providing vague statements that are inappropriate
for empirically testing the propositions of the theory.
The authors proposed several statements that capture
at least a portion of the theory and more suitable for
empirical tests.
Colvin, M. (2000). Crime and coercion: An integrated
theory of chronic criminality. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Integrating several existing perspectives of
criminology, Colvin lays out his differential coercion
theory in this book with a great emphasis on the role
of coercive forces that create social and psychological
dynamics that lead to chronic criminality.
Colvin, M. (2003). Crime and coercion. In F. T. Cullen
& R. Agnew (Eds.), Criminological theory: Past to
present—essential readings (pp. 379–386). Los Angeles:
Roxbury.
This chapter provides a compact essay for a general
understanding of Colvin’s differential coercion theory.
Colvin, M. (2007). Applying differential coercion and
social support theory to prison organizations. Prison
Journal, 87, 367–387.
Colvin tested the general premises of the differential
coercion and social support theory using the levels of
social support in the Penitentiary of New Mexico and
coercion felt by the inmates thereof in different time
1083
periods. This study is important to observe how the
variables of the differential coercion theory were
included in an empirical theory testing.
Unnever, J. D., Colvin, M., & Cullen, F. T. (2004). Crime
and coercion: A test of core theoretical propositions.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 41,
244–268.
Using 2,472 middle-school students, this study tested
the core propositions of Colvin’s differential coercion
theory. Supporting the major arguments of the theory,
this empirical test reported that participants exposed
to coercion in their environments develop socialpsychological deficits that lead them to delinquent
behavior.
Colvin, Mark, and John Pauly: A Structural Marxist
Theory of Delinquency
Colvin, M., Cullen, F. T., & Vander Ven, T. (2002).
Coercion, social support and crime: An emerging
theoretical consensus. Criminology, 40, 19–42.
In this article, Mark Colvin, Francis Cullen, and
Thomas Vander Ven propose an integrated theory of
crime that addresses the causal role of coercion, a key
concept included in the integrated structural Marxist
theory of crime.
Simpson, S., & Elis, L. (1994). Is gender subordinate to
class? An empirical assessment of Colvin and Pauly’s
Structural Marxist Theory of Delinquency. Journal of
Criminal Law and Criminology, 85, 453–480.
This article presents an empirical test of Colvin and
Pauly’s integrated structural Marxist theory of crime.
In addition to testing the core propositions of the
theory, Simpson and Elis examine the gender
neutrality of the theory.
Convict Criminology
Irwin, J. (2005). The warehouse prison: Disposal of the
new dangerous class. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
A recent study of a modern prison in California. The
author uses the convict criminology perspective in
reporting qualitative interviews at length as support
for policy changes.
Irwin, J., & Austin, J. (1994). It’s about time: America’s
imprisonment binge. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
A book that recommends policy changes favored by
the Convict Criminology Group. The authors make a
strong case for immediate reductions in the nation’s
prison population.
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Annotated Further Readings
Newbold, G. (2007). The problem of prisons: Corrections
reform in New Zealand since 1840. Wellington, New
Zealand: Dunmore.
The book looks at prison conditions in New Zealand.
Special attention is paid to how the prisoners
experience different levels of security.
Ross, J. I., & Richards, S. C. (2002). Behind bars:
Surviving prison. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha/Penguin.
The book demonstrates how the convict criminology
perspective can be used to trace the life of an
anonymous defendant and convict. The everyman is
followed from arrest, through court, jail, prison, and
return home to the community.
Ross, J. I., & Richards, S. C. (Eds.). (2003). Convict
criminology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
This is the book that first defined convict criminology
as an emerging theoretical perspective and movement.
This co-edited text includes nine autobiographical
contributions of ex-convicts professors.
Terry, C. M. (2003). The fellas: Overcoming prison and
addiction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Convict criminology perspective used to examine lives
of heroin addicts. The ex-convict professor author
interviews prisoners he did time with in prison. The
book is an in-depth look at what happens to convict
heroin addicts in prison and on the street.
This innovative book mixes autobiography and
historical analysis with accounts of advertising,
music, and street crime in developing a cultural
criminology attuned to the dangerous dynamics of
carnival.
Currie, Elliott: The Market Society and Crime
Reiner, R. (2007). Law and order: An honest citizen’s
guide to crime and control. London: Cambridge
University Press.
Reiner analyzes the increase in crime in England
linking it to unregulated capitalism, which results in
higher poverty, unemployment, inequality, and
authoritarian criminal justice control.
Taylor, I. (1999). Crime in context: A critical criminology
of market societies. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Taylor looks at broad economic changes in Canada
and how they have influenced crime and the criminal
justice system. He specifically notes how the market
economy has negatively transformed contemporary
society.
Young, J. (1999). The exclusive society: Social exclusion,
crime and difference in late modernity. London: Sage.
Young looks at changes in society from being very
inclusive and homogenous to very exclusive. He
identifies three areas of exclusion: economic, social,
and the activities of the criminal justice system.
Cultural Criminology
Ferrell, J., Hayward, K., Morrison, W., & Presdee, M.
(Eds.). (2004). Cultural criminology unleashed. London:
Glasshouse/Routledge.
This collection of some 25 essays explores issues
ranging from domestic violence, virtual grief, and
urban symbolism to street fighting, the USA
PATRIOT Act, and the multicultural administration
of justice.
Ferrell, J., Hayward, K., & Young, J. (2008). Cultural
criminology: An invitation. London: Sage.
This book offers perhaps the best single overview of
cultural criminology as theory, method, and field of
study. It includes discussions of cultural criminology
in relation to stylistic innovation, media dynamics,
everyday experience, and existing criminological
theory.
Presdee, M. (2000). Cultural criminology and the carnival
of crime. London: Routledge.
Gordon, D. M.: Political Economy and Crime
Box, S. (1987). Recession, crime and punishment.
London: Macmillan.
Stephen Box adds human agency to these structural
explanations for the political economy shaping
society’s reaction to crime. He develops theoretical
explanations for why human actors respond more
aggressively during periods of economic stagnation.
Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., & Roberts,
B. (1978). Policing the crisis: Mugging, the state, and law
and order. London: Macmillan.
Hall et al. demonstrate how a moral panic can be
constructed and then impact crime control policy.
Reiman, J. (2004). The rich get richer and the poor get
prison: Ideology, crime, and criminal justice (7th ed.).
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Jeffrey Reiman provides extensive evidence for how
government crime control policy tends to support the
Annotated Further Readings
interest of the capitalist class while providing social
control over the poor.
Rusche, G., & Kirchheimer, O. (1968). Punishment and
social structure. New York: Russell and Russell. [Original
work published in 1939]
This is one of the first and more important works for
establishing the relationship between the political
economic structure and society’s response to criminal
behavior and deviance.
Greenberg, David F.: Age, Capitalism, and Crime
Ezell, M. E., & Cohen, L. E. (2005). Desisting from
crime: Continuity and change in long term crime patterns
of serious chronic offenders. New York: Oxford
University Press.
This statistical study uses three large samples of young
offenders tracked over the period of time to assess agecrime patterns and to answer questions about their
stability over time. Different theoretical perspectives
are tested using sophisticated statistical models and the
findings have serious implications for penal policies,
such as “three strikes and you’re out” convictions.
Pequero, A. R., & Mazerolle, P. (Eds.). (2001). Lifecourse criminology: Contemporary and classic readings.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
This reader consists of seminal articles written about
theories of crime as it relates to human development and
biological maturation. The life-course approach that is
being assessed builds on recent trends in psychology and
sociology answering the growing demand for integrated
theories of crime and age. The reader includes articles
by life-course scholars such as Robert Sampson and
John Laub, Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson,
and Alfred Blumstein, among others.
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (Eds.). (2005).
Developmental criminology and its discontents:
Trajectories of crime from childhood to old age [Special
issue]. Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science, 602.
This special issue provides critical debate on patterns
of age and crime across the life course. The debate
was inspired by 2003 American Society of
Criminology conference session titled “Age, Crime
and Human Development: The Future of Life-Course
Criminology,” chaired by the editors of this issue.
Criminal career topics such as onset, continuation,
termination and career length are also discussed,
along with questions about the suitability of existing
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data and prospects of integrating longitudinal and
experimental studies.
Left Realism Criminology
Currie, E. (1985). Confronting crime: An American
challenge. New York: Pantheon.
This book is the first major theoretical and political
statement on left realism in the United States. Currie’s
book is also deemed to be the definitive left-wing
response to James Q. Wilson’s 1985 right-wing book
Thinking About Crime.
Currie, E. (2004). The road to whatever: Middle-class
culture and the crisis of delinquency. New York:
Metropolitan Books.
Historically, left realists have focused mainly on
crimes committed by and against inner-city working
class people, as well as on the victimization of women
in intimate heterosexual relationships. This book
constitutes the first attempt to offer a left realist
understanding of troubled middle-class youths.
DeKeseredy, W. S., Alvi, S., & Schwartz, M. D. (2006).
Left realism revisited. In W. S. DeKeseredy & B. Perry
(Eds.), Advancing critical criminology: Theory and
application (pp. 19–42). Lanham, MD: Lexington.
Born during the years that Ronald Reagan and
Margaret Thatcher governed their respective
countries, left realism is now seen by many scholars
as a marginalized subdiscipline of critical criminology.
DeKeseredy, Alvi, and Schwartz show that nothing
can be further from the truth and demonstrate that
left realism is still important today.
DeKeseredy, W. S., Donnermeyer, J. F., Schwartz, M. D.,
Tunnell, K. D., & Hall, M. (2008). Thinking critically
about rural gender relations: Toward a rural masculinity
crisis/male peer support model of separation/divorce
sexual assault. Critical Criminology, 15, 295–311.
Thus far, there have been only a handful of attempts
to develop a critical criminological understanding of
violence against women in rural communities.
DeKeseredy and his colleagues help fill this gap by
offering an integrated theory heavily influenced by
left realist thought.
Donnermeyer, J. F., & DeKeseredy, W. S. (2008).
Toward a rural critical criminology. Southern Rural
Sociology, 23, 4–28.
The main objective of this article is twofold: (1) to
describe the key reasons for a more fully developed
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Annotated Further Readings
rural critical criminology and (2) to outline some of
its key elements. Donnermeyer and DeKeseredy also
assert that the left realist square of crime does not
have an intrinsic urban bias.
Lea, J., & Young, J. (1984). What is to be done about
law and order? New York: Penguin.
There are actually quite a few books that could be
read on left realism, most of which are edited works
by Jock Young, Roger Matthews, or both. However,
this co-authored book offers one of the best
theoretical statements of British left realism.
Young, J. (1999). The exclusive society. London: Sage.
Although he does not explicitly identify himself as a
left realist in this book, Jock Young offers a left
realist account of how major social and economic
transformations that occurred during the latter part
of the 20th century have shaped current patterns of
crime and highly punitive societal reactions to crime.
Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels:
Capitalism and Crime
Taylor, I., Walton, P., & Young, J. (1973). The new
criminology: For a social theory of deviance. New York:
Routledge.
This book is an important milestone in contemporary
Marxist criminology. The authors situate Marxist
criminology within the history of relevant social and
political thought and then provide a succinct
overview (in chapter 7) of Marx and Engels
perspectives on crime (as well as a critique of
Bonger’s interpretation of Marx).
Taylor, I., Walton, P., & Young, J. (Eds.). (1975).
Critical criminology. New York: Routledge.
The essays compiled in this book provide a number
of interpretations of Marx and Engels work, as well
as attempt to move beyond their work toward a
Marxist criminology. Contributions by the editors, as
well as Hirst, Quinney, Platt, and others.
Peacemaking Criminology
Pepinsky, H. E., & Quinney, R. (1991). Criminology as
peacemaking. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Harold Pepinski and Richard Quinney set forth this
volume of collected essays as one of the first clear
articulations of peacemaking criminology. Substantive
topics include homelessness, violence against women,
reconciliation, conflict resolution, education, and
human rights enforcement.
Wozniak, J. F., Braswell, M. C., Vogel, R. E., & Blevins,
K. R. (Eds.). (2008). Transformative justice: Critical and
peacemaking themes influenced by Richard Quinney.
Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Wozniak et al. have brought together a collection of
essays that celebrate the life and the work of
Richard Quinney, father of peacemaking
criminology. Topics examine both the critical
orientation in Quinney’s work as well as his
contributions to peacemaking.
Postmodern Theory
Arrigo, B. A., & Milovnaovic, D. (2009). Revolution in
penology: Rethinking the society of captives. Lanham,
MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
The development of postmodernism—including chaos
theory, continental philosophy, constitutive thought,
and psychoanalytic and cultural studies—is presented
as a more holistic assemblage of ideas. This synthesis
is then applied to penal philosophy and practice in
which the radicalized post-penological self/society
duality is described.
Arrigo, B. A., & Milovanovic, D. (Eds.). (2010).
Postmodernist and post-structuralist theories of crime.
Surrey, UK: Ashgate.
This edited volume includes previously published
articles by some of the leading international scholars
in the field of postmodernist and post-strucutralist
criminology. Collectively, the articles represent
important reflections on the current theoretical
landscape in criminology. For the contributors, this is
a landscape in which symbolic, linguistic, material,
and cultural realms of inquiry inform the analysis.
The volume’s substantive sections address: (1) major
theoretical developments and integrations (2) critical
applications; (3) transformational analyses and
attention to marginalized identities; (4) international,
transnational, and post-national directions; and
(5) postmodern and post-structural criminology’s
interlocutors. An original introductory chapter
situates the assembled articles within relevant
philosophical and social theoretical perspectives, and
proposes novel future directions in research,
practice, pedagogy, and activism.
Arrigo, B. A., Milovanovic, D., & Schehr, R. C. (2005).
The French connection in criminology: Rediscovering
crime, law, and social change. Albany: SUNY Press.
In this book, Bruce Arrigo, Dragan Milovanovic, and
Robert Carl Schehr present a thorough guide to
postmodernism and its contribution to criminology,
Annotated Further Readings
law, and social justice. Drawing on the thoughts
offered from the 11 most prominent French scholars
who have helped develop and advance postmodern
theory, the authors conceptualized these insights and
applied them to today’s most critical crime and justice
problems.
Best, S., & Kellner, D. (1991). Postmodern theory:
Critical interrogation. New York: Guilford Press.
Steven Best and Douglas Kellner methodically
analyze postmodern theory in order to assess the
strength of its influence and its limitations in
application, particularly in regard to social critical
theory and contemporary radical politics. A
comprehensive overview and critique of the works by
the foremost contributors to postmodern thought is
provided.
Henry, S., & Milovanovic, D. (1996). Constitutive
criminology: Beyond postmodernism. London: Sage.
Based on affirmative postmodernism, Stuart Henry
and Dragan Milovanovic offer a constitutive
approach to understanding criminal behavior. Rather
than determining what causes deviancy, the authors
are concerned with discerning how human subjects
and the social structures that they develop coproduce
crime. Topics discussed range from human nature and
behavior to justice policy and practice.
Quinney, Richard: Social Transformation and
Peacemaking Criminology
Pepinsky, H. E., & Quinney, R. (Eds.). (1991).
Criminology as peacemaking. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press.
This book presents chapters addressing concerns of
peacemaking criminology. Chapters are organized
into religious, feminist, and critical traditions of
peacemaking criminology.
Wozniak, J. F. (2008). Toward a theoretical model of
peacemaking criminology: An essay in honor of Richard
Quinney. In J. F. Wozniak, M. C. Braswell, R. E. Vogel,
& K. R. Blevins (Eds.), Transformative justice: Critical
and peacemaking themes influenced by Richard Quinney
(pp. 141–166). Lanham, MD: Lexington.
Upon review of research and a survey of
peacemaking authors, this article delineates elements
of a peace­making criminology theoretical model. The
analysis suggests ways this peacemaking theoretical
model can be adapted toward future crime research
and policies.
1087
Wozniak, J. F., Braswell, M. C., Vogel, R. E., & Blevins,
K. R. (Eds.). (2008). Transformative justice: Critical and
peacemaking themes influenced by Richard Quinney.
Lanham, MD: Lexington.
This book outlines the links between peacemaking
criminology, critical criminology, social
transformation, and transformative justice. Also, it
contains chapters on critical and peacemaking
criminology inspired by Richard Quinney.
Regoli, Robert M., and John D. Hewitt:
Differential Oppression Theory
Colvin, M. (2002). Crime and coercion. New York:
St. Martin’s Press.
Children who are exposed to coercive environments
are more likely to develop social-psychological
deficits that increase the possibility of their
committing crimes.
Hewitt, J. D., & Regoli, B. (2003). Differential
oppression theory and female delinquency. Free Inquiry
in Creative Sociology, 31, 165–174.
Hewitt and Regoli argue that girls commit less
delinquency because girls are doubly oppressed. They
are oppressed as children and as females.
Kingston, B., Regoli, B, & Hewitt, J. (2003). The theory
of differential oppression: A developmental-ecological
explanation of adolescent problem behavior. Critical
Criminology, 11, 237–260.
The developmental-ecological perspective provides a
way for understanding how the oppression of
children occurs within multiple social contexts.
Spitzer, Steven: Capitalism and Crime
Spitzer, S. (1975). Toward a Marxian theory of deviance.
Social Problems, 22, 638–651.
An article in which Spitzer develops the essential
outlines of his argument linking the structure of
capitalism with the nature of social control in
capitalist societies.
Spitzer, S., & Scull, A. (1977). Privatization and capitalist
development: The case of the private police. Social
Problems, 21, 18–29.
This article traces the history of policing and its
emergence as a profit-making enterprise. It is a good
example of the argument that criminal justice
institutions increasingly reflect the priorities of the
capitalist mode of production.
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Annotated Further Readings
Taylor, Ian, Paul Walton, and Jock Young:
The New Criminology
Ferrell, J., Hayward, K., & Young, J. (2008). Cultural
criminology. London: Sage.
Whereas its authors do not explicitly state that this
perspective is a direct result of The New Criminology,
it nonetheless provides an excellent introduction to
cultural criminology and its links to late modernity
and capitalism.
Reiner, R. (2007). Law and order: An honest citizen’s
guide to crime and control. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Understanding the causes of crime and policy
responses to it is a complex endeavor no less for
academic criminologists and honest citizens. This
book will be useful to both.
Turk, Austin T.: The Criminalization Process
Kowalski, B. R., & Lundman, R. J. (2008). Sociologist
Austin Turk and policing: Structural reinforcers and
reversals of the positional authority of police. Sociological
Forum, 23, 814–844.
In this essay, Kowalski and Lundman examine Turk’s
theory at police traffic stops. They conclude that
testing of Turk’s theory is still in its infancy and has
been limited to policing citizens with mixed results.
Further tests of Turk’s work are recommended.
Lanza-Kaduce, L., & Greenleaf, R. G. (1994). Policecitizen encounters: Turk on norm resistance. Justice
Quarterly, 1, 605–623.
Addressing the problem of police-citizen conflict,
Lanza-Kaduce and Greenleaf develop specific
hypotheses about Turk’s theory. The authors claim that
Turk’s theory provides fertile ground for formulating
propositions about the likelihood of norm resistance.
Lanza-Kaduce, L., & Greenleaf, R. G. (2000). Age and
race deference reversals: Extending Turk on police-citizen
conflict. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency,
37, 221–236.
In this essay, Lanza-Kaduce and Greenleaf extend
their research on Turk’s theory and explore social
deference norms and police-citizen conflict. The
spotlight is on race and age of authorities and
subjects at domestic violence calls.
Vold, George B.: Group Conflict Theory
Bernard, T. J., Snipes, J. B., & Gerould, A. L. (2010).
Vold’s theoretical criminology (6th ed.). New York:
Oxford University Press.
In the latest edition of Vold’s seminal work,
published 52 years after the first edition, readers can
see how group conflict theory fits in the context of
several other types of conflict theories.
Vold, G. B. (1958). Theoretical criminology. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Vold’s entire presentation of his group conflict theory
was presented in a single chapter of this major text of
his, which is a summary and critical assessment of
theories of crime.
13. Feminist and Gender-Specific
Theories of Crime
Adler, Freda: Sisters in Crime
Chesney-Lind, M., & Pasko, L. (2004). The female offender:
Girls, women, and crime. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Meda Chesney-Lind is a leading contemporary
feminist scholar whose writings in this work (along
with Lisa Pasko) highlight how young criminalized
women are disproportionately affected by the United
State’s punitiveness toward female offenders, despite
their relatively small numbers.
Flynn, E. E. (1998). Freda Adler: A portrait of a pioneer.
Women and Criminal Justice, 10, 1–27.
This 1998 article chronicles Freda Adler’s scholarship,
including but not limited to feminist criminology.
Hartman, J. L., & Sundt, J. L. (in press). The rise of
feminist criminology: Freda Adler. In F. T. Cullen,
C. Lero Jonson, A. J. Myer, & F. Adler (Eds.), The
origins of American criminology (Advances in Criminological
Theory: Vol. 18). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
This chapter, based on a series of interviews with
Freda Alder, discusses in greater detail the origins of
the liberation hypothesis. The chapter also includes
more biographical information about a fascinating,
influential figure.
Peterson, Rebecca D. (2006). The female presidents of the
American Society of Criminology. Feminist Criminology,
1, 147–168.
In this article, Peterson relates the personal and
professional experiences of the female presidents of
the American Society of Criminology. Freda Adler
was the third woman to serve in this prestigious role.
Smart, C. (1978). Women, crime and criminology: A
feminist critique. New York: Routledge.
Smart, who was writing about gender and crime at
the same time as Adler, provides a radically different
Annotated Further Readings
perspective on female criminality. This work provides
a good contrast to Adler’s work. Smart was one of
the outspoken critics of the liberation hypothesis.
Alarid, Leanne Fiftal, and Velmer S. Burton, Jr.:
Gender and Serious Offending
Alarid, L. F., & Cromwell, P. (Eds.). (2006). In her own
words: Women offenders’ views on crime and
victimization. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
This edited book of contemporary readings by a
variety of scholars examines the overlap of female
offending and victimization as a function of women’s
family of origin, peer groups, relationships with men,
economic marginalization, and rational choice.
Heimer, K., & Kruttschnitt, C. (Eds.). (2006). Gender
and crime: Patterns in victimization and offending. New
York: New York University Press.
This edited book examines how women’s patterns of
criminal behavior and victimization are gendered by
differences in social interactions and social
organizations in daily life.
Bartusch, Dawn Jeglum, and Ross L. Matsueda:
Gender and Reflected Appraisals
Heimer, K. (1996). Gender, interaction, and delinquency:
Testing a theory of differential social control. Social
Psychology Quarterly, 59, 39–61.
In this article, Heimer operationalizes three
dimensions of role-taking to explain the gender gap.
She asserts important implications concerning group
social controls and their influence over delinquency
by gender.
Heimer, K., & Matsueda, R. L. (1994). Role-taking, role
commitment, and delinquency: A theory of differential
social control. American Sociological Review, 59,
365–390.
Heimer and Matsueda build on the original symbolic
interactionist theory put forth by Matsueda. The
authors find support for social interactionist theory in
the context of competing theories.
Koita, K., & Triplett, R. A. (1998). An examination of
gender and race effects on the parental appraisal process:
A reanalysis of Matsueda’s model of the self. Criminal
Justice and Behavior, 25, 382–401.
The authors build off of Matsueda’s original model of
the self and delinquency. Koita and Triplett examine
the effects of race and gender on reflected appraisals.
1089
Bottcher, Jean: Social Practices of Gender
Messerschmidt, J. W. (1993). Masculinities and crime:
Critique and reconceptualization of theory. Lanham,
MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
In this book, James Messerschmidt challenges the
traditional association between crime and
masculinity. In so doing, James Messerschmidt
examines gender roles that influence the occurrence
and types of crimes in society. This book provides a
thorough discussion of the inseparable relationship
between gender and crime.
Messerschmidt, J. W. (2004). Flesh and blood:
Adolescent gender diversity and violence. Lanham, MD:
Rowman & Littlefield.
In this book, James Messerschmidt provides the
reader with a discussion of how masculine practices
may be constructed by both boys and girls and how
these social practices are related to both violence and
nonviolence. In addition, this book explores the
misleading notion of the sex-gender, and gender
difference dichotomies.
Renzetti, C., & Curran, D. (1992). Women, men, and
society (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
In this book, Claire Renzetti and Daniel Curran
provide the reader with an analysis of gender
inequality, addressing how sexism affects both men
and women. In addition, this book discusses the
consequences of gender inequality and how these
consequences can be compounded by other factors
such as racism, social class inequality, ageism, and
heterosexism.
Broidy, Lisa M., and Robert S. Agnew: A General
Strain Theory of Gender and Crime
Agnew, R. (2006). Pressured into crime: An overview of
general strain theory. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
Fourteen years after the initial presentation of general
strain theory, Agnew revisits the theory, assesses
related empirical research, discusses added theoretical
extensions of general strain theory, and demarcates
future directions in this book. The role of gender in
general strain theory is discussed at length.
Broidy, L. M. (2001). A test of general strain theory.
Criminology, 39, 9–33.
This empirical piece tests general strain theory’s
propositions regarding gender, emotion, and crime.
Authored by Broidy, the theoretical piece reviewed
here is tested by its original author.
1090
Annotated Further Readings
Chesney-Lind, M. (1989). Girls’ crime and woman’s
place: Toward a feminist model of female delinquency.
Crime and Delinquency, 35, 5–29.
This classic piece in feminist criminology addresses
two issues: (1) the “generalizability problem,” which
questions whether traditional theories of crime apply
to women and (2) the “gender ratio problem,” which
questions why women are less likely than men to
engage in criminal behavior. The applicability of
general strain theory is inferred.
Ganem, N. M. (2008). The role of negative emotion in
general strain theory. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM
Verlag.
This dissertation systematically investigates the role
of negative emotion in general strain theory. A
review of the causes and consequences of negative
emotions pulls together information from the social
psychology of emotion and general strain literature.
Multiple emotions are considered, with analyses and
discussion focusing on how gender differences in
emotion may explain gender differences in criminal
behavior.
Campbell, Anne: Girls in the Gang
Chesney-Lind, M., & Hagedorn, J. (Eds.). (1999). Female
gangs in America: Essays on girls, gangs, and gender.
Chicago: Lake View Press.
This Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (OJJDP)-sponsored reader summarizes
past and current studies on female gangs. The reader
highlights stereotypes of female criminality, law
enforcement surveys that measure gang participation,
as well as levels of offending.
LeBlanc, A. N. (2003). Random family: Love, drugs,
trouble and coming of age in the Bronx. New York:
Scribner.
Adrian LeBlanc is a journalist who spent nearly 10
years studying girls in the Bronx. Her observation
began in the late 1980s. LeBlanc’s contribution is
that like Campbell, she delves into the lives of girls
and women in order to help the reader understand
how a person’s choices and opportunity are limited
by social forces such as the economy, violence, and
the cycle of poverty.
Miller, J. (2000). One of the guys: Girls, gangs, and
gender. New York: Oxford University Press.
Miller’s book presents both a qualitative and
quantitative picture of girls in gangs. Miller’s
insightful interviews of gang girls in Columbus, Ohio,
and St. Louis, Missouri, helps fill in the gap of quality
scholarly research in an oft-overlooked area.
Chesney-Lind, Meda: Feminist Model of Female
Delinquency
Bloom, B., Owen, B., & Covington, S. (2003). Gender
responsive strategies: Research, practice, and guiding
principles for women offenders. Washington, DC:
National Institute of Corrections.
This research report provides an overview of current
gender-responsive strategies for correctional
intervention with female offenders. Further, this
work demonstrates the policy and practices in the
criminal justice system that have been developed
from feminist criminologists, most notably Meda
Chesney-Lind.
Chesney-Lind, M. (1989). Girls’ crime and a woman’s
place: Toward a feminist model of female delinquency.
Crime and Delinquency, 35, 5–29.
In this article, Chesney-Lind presents a feminist
model for delinquency. Through her discussion of
patriarchy and victimization, she develops a theory of
female crime, which became a major contribution to
criminology and guides much gender-responsive
research that is conducted today.
Chesney-Lind, M., & Pasko, L. (2004). The female
offender: Girls, women, and crime. London: Sage.
The book provides an overview of much of the
literature on female offending and feminist theories.
Special attention is paid to the experience of girls and
women in the criminal and juvenile justice systems,
the causes of female crime, and the common offenses
of women.
Costello, Barbara J., and Helen J. Mederer:
A Control Theory of Gender and Crime
Chapple, C. L., McQuillian, J., & Berdahl, T. A. (2005).
Gender, social bonds and delinquency: A comparison of
boys’ and girls’ models. Social Science Research, 34,
357–383.
In this article, the authors examine whether the social
bond is measured similarly and operates similarly for
boys and girls. Chapple et al. find that the social
bond is invariant across gender, although the effect of
peer attachment on decreasing delinquency is stronger
for boys than girls.
Miller, J., & Mullins, C. M. (2006). The status of feminist
theories in criminology. In F. T. Cullen, J. P. Wright, &
Annotated Further Readings
K. R. Blevins (Eds.), Taking stock: The status of
criminological theory (Advances in Criminological Theory:
Vol. 15, pp. 217–249). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Miller and Mullins argue for an integration of
feminist perspectives within traditional theories. They
suggest that because boys and girls often give many of
the same reasons for offending, traditional theories of
delinquency should not be abandoned but rather
modified to incorporate gendered paths to
delinquency for girls and a greater understanding of
the social context of female offending.
Daly, Kathleen: Women’s Pathways to Felony Court
Alarid, L. F., & Cromwell, P. (Eds.). (2006). In her own
words: Women offenders’ views on crime and
victimization. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
This edited book of contemporary readings extends
Kathleen Daly’s theoretical pathways of crime
approach to a fuller understanding of female
offending, particularly as it relates to race/ethnicity
and class differences, and as a function of women’s
family of origin, peer groups, relationships with men,
victimization, economic marginalization, and rational
choice.
Daly, K., & Maher, L. (Eds.). (1998). Criminology at the
crossroads: Feminist readings in crime and justice. New
York: Oxford University Press.
This edited book reviews three decades of feminist
work in criminology, presenting the most important
and pivotal works in this area.
Feminist Criminology. Can be accessed at http://fc.sage
pub.com
A quarterly journal published by SAGE that focuses
on theory and research regarding the gendered nature
of crime from a feminist perspective. This is the
official journal of the Division on Women and Crime
of the American Society of Criminology.
Freud, Sigmund: The Deviant Woman
Freud, S. (1930). Civilization and its discontents
(J. Strachey, Ed. & Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton.
This book is a must for anyone interested in Freud’s
view of the world. The work provides a unique look
into the effects of society on man from the theoretical
lens of psychoanalysis.
Saguaro, S. (Ed.). (2000). Psychoanalysis and woman: A
reader. New York: New York University Press.
1091
This reader opens with Freud’s theory on female
sexuality and provides the reader a look at
psychoanalysis through the eyes of women. The book
includes chapters written by Freud’s contemporaries
and those who followed him regarding their insights
into different aspects of psychoanalysis and its
relation to women.
Young-Bruehl, E. (1990). Freud on women. New York:
W. W. Norton.
This edited compilation provides a look at Freud’s
theories on female sexuality. The work offers an
overview of different materials written by Freud and
gives the reader an opportunity to view some of the
evolution of his works.
Hagan, John, and Holly Foster: Stress and Gendered
Pathways to Delinquency
Hagan, J., Gillis, A. R., & Simpson, J. (1985). The class
structure of gender and delinquency: Toward a powercontrol theory of common delinquent behavior. American
Journal of Sociology, 90, 1151–1178.
This further reading was selected because it provides
the theoretical foundation for the formation of the
gendered and age-graded sequential stress theory. It
serves as the direct springboard for the formation of
the theory discussed in this entry.
Hagan, J., McCarthy, B., & Foster, H. (2002). A
gendered theory of delinquency and despair in the life
course. Acta Sociologica, 45, 37–46.
This further reading was selected because it also
provides the foundation for the formation of the
gendered and age-graded sequential stress theory. In
this article, which discusses the gendered role of
delinquency was published the year before the gendered
and age-graded sequential stress theory appeared.
Thus, it also serves as a springboard to the theory.
Jang, S. J. (2007). Gender differences in strain, negative
emotions, and coping behaviors: A general strain theory
approach. Justice Quarterly, 24, 523–553.
This further reading was selected because it provides
one of the most recent empirical investigations of how
strains can differ by gender. Since stress, or strain, is
an essentially component of Hagan and Foster’s theory
and because the researchers posit gender differences in
reactions to strains, this article was included.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Life-course-persistent and
adolescence-limited antisocial behavior: A developmental
taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.
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Annotated Further Readings
This further reading was included to direct readers to
an alternative view of offending. This cite was
mentioned in the entry in the criticisms section.
Hagan and Foster do not acknowledge the
importance of biology and the role it can play in
shaping criminal behavior.
Wright, R. T., & Decker, S. H. (1997). Armed robbers in
action: Stickups and street culture. Boston: Northeastern
University Press.
This further reading was included because it discusses
the importance of examining behaviors after crime.
Often criminologists do not examine post-crime
behavior. Hagan and Foster posit that crime should
be considered as an intervening variable between
behaviors before and after the commission of a
crime.
Heimer, Karen, and Stacy De Coster:
The Gendering of Violent Delinquency
Belknap, J. (2001). The invisible woman: Gender, crime,
and justice (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Belknap provides a comprehensive overview of
women as offenders, victims, and criminal justice
professionals. This book also re-examines mainstream
criminological theories in terms of their applicability
to female offending and introduces feminist
criminology.
Sutherland, E. H. (1947). Principles of criminology (4th
ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.
This reading offers the original theoretical framework
for differential association theory including both the
individual-level and structural-level differential social
organization—concepts discussed by Heimer and De
Coster (1999).
Haynie, Dana L.: Contexts of Risk
Akers, R. L. (1985). Deviant behavior: A social learning
approach (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
In this book, Akers presents his social learning theory
of delinquency. Building on Sutherland’s differential
association theory, Akers lays out a theory of how
individuals learn delinquency through their
interactions with significant others. Friends and
parents both play critical roles in the delinquent
behavior of adolescents.
Armour, S., & Haynie, D. (2007). Adolescent sexual
debut and later delinquency. Journal of Youth and
Adolescence, 36, 141–152.
This article extends Haynie’s previous work on
pubertal timing and delinquency. In this piece, the
authors try to determine whether becoming sexually
active earlier than one’s peers is linked to later
delinquency. Findings suggest that early sexual
activity relative to peers is associated with an
increased risk of delinquency later.
Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (1991). Individual differences
are accentuated during periods of social change: The
sample case of girls at puberty. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 61, 157–168.
In this earlier article, Caspi and Moffitt explore three
competing hypotheses about the relationship between
female puberty and changes in behavior. Their results
indicated that the early onset of puberty appeared to
increase behavioral problems that existed prior to
puberty.
Klein, Dorie: The Etiology of Female Crime
Belknap, J. (2007). The invisible woman: Gender, crime,
and justice (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
A widely used and excellent textbook on women and
crime, this readable text covers the whole range of the
relationship between women and the criminal justice
system—as offenders, victims, and employees. There is a
good chapter critiquing criminological theories,
following the early groundwork laid by Klein and others.
Morash, M. (2006). Understanding gender, crime and
justice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Another excellent basic text about women and crime,
though this one employs a postmodernist theoretical
approach to understanding the relationships between
women and criminal offending, victimization, and
working in the criminal justice system.
Rafter, N. H. (Editor-in Chief). (2000). Encyclopedia of
women and crime. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.
A comprehensive presentation of the key ideas
comprising the field of women and crime in
encyclopedia format. Though Klein does not appear
in this text as a separate entry, her work is recognized
in the preface as fundamental to the development of
the field.
Koss, Mary P.: The Prevalence and Sources of Rape
Fisher, B. S., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2000). The
sexual victimization of college women. Washington, DC:
Annotated Further Readings
National Institute of Justice. Available from http://www
.ncjrs.org/criminal_justice2000/vol_4/04g.pdf
This study examines several aspects of sexual
victimization among college women. For example,
this article provides sections of the definition of rape,
prevalence, and impact. Results from the National
College Women Sexual Victimization (NCWSV) are
discussed.
Hamby, S. L., & Koss, M. P. (2003). Shades of gray: A
qualitative study of terms used in the measurement of
sexual victimization. Psychology of Women Quarterly,
27, 243–255.
This study used a qualitative focus group method to
examine methodological and definitional issues raised
in past sexual victimization research. Specifically,
terms used frequently in sexual victimization research
are assessed.
Kalof, L. (1993). Rape-supportive attitudes and sexual
victimization experiences of sorority and non-sorority
women. Sex Roles, 29, 767–780.
This article explores the hypothesized link between
sorority participation and sexual victimization of
college women. Rape-supportive attitudes of
sorority compared to non-sorority women are also
examined.
Koss, M. P. (1993). Rape: Scope, impact, interventions,
and public policy responses. American Psychologist, 48,
1062–1069.
This article provides an overview of past research in
the area of sexual victimization, including scope,
impact, and intervention. Several policy implications
and suggestions for future research are given.
Koss, M. P., Dinero, T. E., & Cerbel, C. A. (1988).
Stranger and acquaintance rape. Are there differences in
the victim’s experience? Psychology of Women Quarterly,
12, 1–24.
This article examines differences between women
who experienced sexual victimization from either a
stranger or acquaintance. Variables such as number
of offenders, violence level, and drug or alcohol use
were used as distinguishing factors.
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fraternity participation, sex role stereotyping, and
attitudes are tested.
Testa, M., VanZile-Tamens, C., Livingston, J. A., &
Koss, M. P. (2004). Assessing women’s experiences of
sexual aggression using the sexual experiences survey:
Evidence for validity and implications for research.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 256–265.
In this article, the revised sexual experiences survey is
given to a sample of women to determine the validity
of the modified tool. Survey items were assessed to
determine the ability to detect several forms of sexual
aggression.
Lombroso, Cesare: The Female Offender
Lombroso, C. (2006). Criminal man (M. Gibson &
N. Hahn Rafter, Trans.). Durham, NC: Duke University
Press.
Mary Gibson and Nicole Hahn Rafter are leading
scholars of Cesare Lombroso’s work. This
contemporary translation of Criminal Man brings
new light to Lombroso’s classic text.
Lombroso, C., & Guglielmo, F. (2004). Criminal woman,
the prostitute, and the normal woman. (N. Hahn Rafter &
M. Gibson, Trans.). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
This new translation of La donna delinquente
incorporates more of the original text that was
omitted from The Female Offender. Hahn Rafter and
Gibson pay particular attention to the matters of
sexuality, which were largely ignored in the original
and incomplete translation of the text. The translators
offer not only a historical analysis of Lombroso’s
influence but also detail the scientist’s context at the
time of the text’s publication in their introduction.
Maher, Lisa: Sexed Work
Belknap, J. (2007). The invisible woman: Gender, crime,
and justice (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.
Lackie, L., & De Man, A. F. (1997). Correlates of sexual
aggression among male university students. Sex Roles,
37, 451–457.
This book provides an up-to-date summary and review
of feminist research on the relationship between gender
and crime. This includes recent data and major
theoretical explanations of women’s participation in
crime, women’s experiences as victims, and women
working within the criminal justice system.
This purpose of this article was to examine
characteristics of males who were sexually aggressive.
Several variables such as athletic participation,
Britton, D. (2000). Feminism in criminology: Engendering
the outlaw. Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science, 571, 57–76.
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Annotated Further Readings
This article examines the significance of feminist
theory and research for criminology. It considers the
difference between mainstream and feminist
perspectives on crime and identifies emerging trends
in feminist criminological research.
Richie, B. E. (1996). Compelled to crime: The gender
entrapment of battered black women. New York:
Routledge.
Richie’s study of drug- and crime-involved women
serving time is one of the first to offer a
comprehensive explanation of how both gender and
race shape women’s experiences as victims and
offenders. Her study offers a compelling explanation
of how physical and sexual victimization contribute
to women’s patterns of offending.
Messerschmidt, James W.: Masculinities and Crime
Messerschmidt, J. (1997). Crime as structured action:
Gender, race, class and crime in the making. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
A more involved exploration of the theory being used
with more explicative cases.
Messerschmidt, J. (2000). Nine lives: Adolescent
masculinities, the body, and violence. Boulder, CO:
Westview.
Application of the theory to life-history interviews
with nine young men.
Messerschmidt, J. (2004). Flesh and blood: Adolescent
gender diversity and violence. Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield.
An analysis of the gendered lives of both male and
female adolescents involved in violence. Extends
structured action theory into femininities.
Newburn, T., & Stanko, E. (Eds.). (1994). Just boys
doing business? Men, masculinities and crime. London:
Routledge.
An edited volume of papers exploring the
intersections of masculinities and crime.
Miller, Jody: Gendered Social Organization Theory
Britton, D. M. (2000). The epistemology of the gendered
organization. Gender and Society, 14, 418–434.
Traditionally, the theory of gendered organizations
has been applied to workplace and professional
settings (e.g., Acker, 1990). Miller developed a theory
of gendered social organizations. This article by
Britton will enrich one’s understanding of the early
work in this vein. Here, Britton argues that scholars
must be deeply attentive to the significance of
organizational context in order to effectively
understand and apply this theoretical approach. Both
she and Miller demonstrate how being attentive to
context enriches our understandings of social
phenomena.
Miller, J. (2008). Getting played: African American girls,
urban inequality, and gendered violence. New York: New
York University Press.
This is Miller’s most recent foray into gendered social
organizations theory, a richly detailed study drawing
on interviews with 75 girls and boys. In this book,
Miller documents violence experienced by poor urban
African American girls, effectively arguing that this
violence is deeply rooted in structures of gender, race,
and class inequality in the girls’ distressed urban
neighborhoods.
Zhang, S. X., Chin, K., & Miller, J. (2007). Women’s
participation in Chinese transnational human smuggling:
A gendered market perspective. Criminology, 45,
699–733.
The authors do an exemplary job demonstrating how
their data about Chinese transnational struggling
reveal a gendered process, illuminating the
intersection of criminal enterprise and gendered
organizations. This article enriches our theoretical
understanding of Miller’s theory of gendered social
organizations.
Miller, Jody: Girls, Gangs, and Gender
Miller, J. (1998). Up it up: Gender and the
accomplishment of street robbery. Criminology, 36,
37–66.
In this article, Miller examines street robberies among
inner-city residents involved in prostitution and drug
markets to illustrate both the gendered nature of
street life and how violence is marshaled as a resource
for both males and females.
Miller, J. (2002). The strengths and limits of “doing
gender” for understanding street crime. Theoretical
Criminology, 6, 433–460.
In this article and subsequent responses, Miller
critiques static depictions of masculine and feminine
criminality provided by the research literature. Here,
Miller asserts that offending differences in criminal
offending are a product not so much of individuallevel notions of “doing gender” as some have
suggested, but also of broader structural
Annotated Further Readings
considerations that place women in social positions
subordinate to men.
Moore, Joan W.: Homeboys and Homegirls in the
Barrio
Hughes, E. (1971). Bastard institutions. The sociological
eye: Selected papers (pp. 98–105). Chicago: AldineAtherton.
Moore’s most influential mentor was the first to
conceptualize gangs within a context of
institutionalization.
Klein, M. (1971). Street gangs and street workers.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Klein’s approach to Los Angeles gangs argues that
process trumps ethnicity and in this regard is
diametrically opposed to Moore’s perspective.
Vigil, D. (1988). Barrio gangs. Austin: University of
Texas Press.
This comprehensive treatment of the Mexican
American experience owes a great debt to Moore’s
pioneering work.
Pollak, Otto: The Hidden Female Offender
Anderson, E. A. (1976). The “chivalrous” treatment of
the female offender in the arms of the criminal justice
system: A review of the literature. Social Problems, 23,
350–357.
This reading posits a position opposite to Pollak’s
assertions about how female offenders are treated by
the criminal justice system. In this empirical article,
Anderson dispels the myth that the criminal justice
system is chivalrous to women.
Chesney-Lind, M. (1997). The female offender: Girls,
women, and crime. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
This work shows that there is some debate in the field
as to whether females receive shorter sentences than
male offenders when similar crimes are committed and
when prior arrests and convictions are controlled for
as Pollak has asserted. Opposite of Pollak’s assertions
and expectations, Chesney-Lind states that females
disproportionately receive harsher sentences for drug
offenses than males.
Freud, S. (1933). New introductory lectures on
psychoanalysis. New York: W. W. Norton.
Freud’s work offers a theoretical precursor to Pollak’s
theory and reveals how women criminals were
described by early theorists. This is a pivotal reading.
1095
Heidensohn, F. M. (1968). The deviance of women: A
critique and an enquiry. British Journal of Sociology, 19,
160–173.
Heidensohn directs readers to alternative views of
female offending. She critiques Pollak’s assertions,
including his failure to explain why some female
deviance and criminality surfaces and is processed in
the criminal justice system.
Lombroso, C., & Ferrero, W. (1895). The female
offender. London: Fisher Unwin.
This reading provides another theoretical precursor to
Pollak’s theory and thus is a pivotal reading.
Smart, C. (1976). Women, crime, and criminology: A
feminist critique. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Smart provides a critique of Pollak, including his
interpretations of the data that he cites to support his
viewpoints are flawed.
Thomas, W. I. (1923). The unadjusted girl. Boston:
Little, Brown.
Thomas is another significant theoretical precursor to
Pollak’s work.
Rape Myths and Violence Against Women
Wilson, P. (1978). The other side of rape. Queensland,
Australia: University of Queensland Press.
This book has provided a comprehensive yet detailed
study on rape, victims, and perpetrators. Paul Wilson
highlights the social stigmatization faced by the victims
not only by society but also by the police, lawmakers,
and the criminal justice system. His research provides
an in-depth report about the risk factors, nature of
victimization, and why rape is underreported.
Winkler, C. (2002). One night: Realities of rape. New
York: AltaMira Press.
This book portrays the nightmare a rape victim has
experienced. The author’s narrative, ethnography,
and radiant observation describes the appalling
experience and frustration she underwent in her long
fight to seek justice, much of which are due to the
myths associated with rape. This book provides
researchers with a framework to introspect about
victims’ experiences with rape, its aftermath, and the
processing of the offense in the justice system.
Russell, Diana E. H.: The Politics of Rape
Henderson, H. (2007). Feminism, Foucault, and rape: A
theory and politics of rape prevention. Berkeley Journal
of Gender, Law and Justice, 22, 225–253.
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Annotated Further Readings
Henderson considers Foucault’s views of rape as a
violent crime, not a sexual crime, and considers feminist
views of rape and power. She argues that self-defense as
a mechanism for rape prevention is physical feminism.
Russell, D. E. H. (1998). Dangerous relationships:
Pornography, misogyny and rape. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
In this book, Russell argues that pornography is a
misogynistic endeavor to the detriment of women.
She considers the role of pornography as womenhating propaganda and as a cause of rape.
Schwartz, Martin D., and Victoria L. Pitts:
A Feminist Routine Activity Theory
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and
crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American
Sociological Review, 44, 588–608.
This article was the original discussion of routine
activity theory that was published. It outlines what
Cohen and Felson theorized regarding why crime
rates had increased. This original version of routine
activity theory has a macro orientation.
Mustaine, E. E., & Tewksbury, R. A. (2002). Sexual
assault of college women: A feminist routine activities
analysis. Criminal Justice Review, 27, 89–123.
This article was published after the Schwartz and Pitts
article and is a further explication of the combination
of routine activity theory and feminism. Mustaine and
Tewksbury utilize a sample of female college students
and explore the relationships between the lifestyles of
women and the types of behaviors that increase their
risks for sexual assault victimization.
Schwartz, M. D., & DeKeseredy, W. (1997). Sexual
assault on the college campus: The role of male peer
support. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
This book is a much more thorough and in-depth
examination of the concepts and theory raised in
the Schwartz and Pitts article. Here, one of the
areas that is explored more fully is the idea that
male college students in certain settings (e.g.,
fraternities) receive support from their peers for the
sexual assault of women. Then, women who live
lifestyles that bring them into contact with men
belonging to such groups are at greater risk for
victimization.
Schwartz, M. D., & Pitts, V. L. (1995). Exploring a
feminist routine activities approach to explaining sexual
assault. Justice Quarterly, 12, 9–31.
This is the original article that is discussed in this
entry. It is the first time routine activity theory was
combined with feminism in order to explore the
concept of target attractiveness. In this article, the
authors theorize that one aspect of target attractiveness
could be the ease of getting away with the sexual
assault of women, in part because women are not
likely to report their victimization or because the
penalties for this type of behavior are not terribly
severe.
Simon, Rita J.: Women and Crime
Adler, F. (1975). Sisters in crime: The rise of the new
female criminal. New York: McGraw-Hill.
This book explores the increase in women’s
criminality during the 1970s. The author purports
that changes in women’s criminality could be
attributed to their “emancipation” from the home
and their traditional female sex roles. Adler argues
that there will be significant increases in women’s
violent offending, such that women criminals would
essentially mimic male criminals.
Messerschmidt, J. (1986). Capitalism, patriarchy, and
crime: Toward a socialist feminist criminology. Totowa,
NJ: Rowman & Littlefield.
Messerschmidt shows how capitalism and patriarchy
work together to affect women’s criminality. He
suggests that women’s subordinate position in a
capitalist, patriarchal society provides them with
limited opportunities for white-collar or employmentrelated crime. Rather, he argues that women’s
criminality typically involves petty economic crimes,
drug issues, and prostitution. In sum, women engage
in crime as a result of economic marginalization or
necessity rather than from increased labor force
participation.
Pollack-Byrne, J. (1990). Women, prison, and crime.
Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
This reading explores the nature of women’s
involvement in the criminal justice system. It
specifically examines the idea of chivalry in regards to
sentencing women offenders. Moreover, it also
investigates the conditions women face in U.S. prisons,
such as programming, health care, and violence.
Simon, R. J., & Ahn-Redding, H. (2005). The crimes
women commit, the punishments they receive (3rd ed.).
Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
This book is the most recent edition of Rita Simon’s
original Women and Crime. It provides updated
Annotated Further Readings
statistics on women in the criminal justice system,
from arrest to imprisonment. Moreover, it includes a
new discussion of women’s criminality around the
world in regards to the liberation hypothesis.
Simpson, Sally S.: Gender, Class, and Crime
Simpson, S., & Elis, L. (1994). Is gender subordinate to
class? An empirical assessment of Colvin and Pauly’s
Structural Marxist theory of crime. Journal of Criminal
Law and Criminology, 82, 453–480.
In this article, Simpson and Elis examine the basic
relationship between class, family, peers, and
educational experiences and serious patterned
delinquency so as to determine whether the implicit
assumption of gender neutrality in Colvin and Pauly’s
theory holds true. This is an interesting view of the
race-class-gender intersection that utilizes an
additional structural theory in the analysis.
Simpson, S., & Elis, L. (1995). Doing gender: Sorting out
the caste and crime conundrum. Criminology, 33, 47–81.
Simpson and Elis contend that the field of criminology
tends to view social class as the primary system of
stratification. From this point, they systematically link
gender and race oppression as moderating ecological
variables. Further, these researchers examine how
hegemonic masculinities and femininities are played
out in work, the family, school, and so forth.
Simpson, S., & Gibbs, C. (2005). Intersectionalities:
Gender, race, poverty, and crime. In K. Heimer &
C. Kruttschnitt (Eds.), Gender and crime (pp. 269–302).
New York: New York University Press.
This is a more recent work on intersections in the
gender, race, class, and crime nexus. Though this work
is similar to other prior works on this topic, it is
included due to its recency in publication. It provides
the reader with a good overview of Simpson’s
contentions in most of her research on intersectionalities.
This work is also co-authored with Carole Gibbs,
another prime researcher on intersectionalities who is
often cited conducting similar research.
Smart, Carol: Women, Crime, and Criminology
Cowie, J., Cowie, V., & Slater, E. (1968). Delinquency in
girls. London: Heinemann.
This book examines the social and psychological
variables that are related to female delinquency. The
authors observe case studies and focus on age, parents
and family background, and psychiatric records.
1097
Konopka, G. (1966). The adolescent girl in conflict.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
The author examines at-risk females’ behavior by
interviewing adolescent girls that were reported to the
courts or social agencies. The book includes writings from
the females and transcripts from the original interviews.
Pollak, O. (1961). The criminality of women. New York:
A. S. Barnes.
Author focuses on the manner that women commit
crimes, the specific nature of female criminality, the
personal attributes of female offenders, and the
differences between female offenders and other
offenders. The book discusses the underestimation of
female crime as well as the biological and cultural
components of female criminality.
Steffensmeier, Darrell J.: Organization Properties and
Sex Segregation in the Underworld
Acker, J. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of
gendered organizations. Gender and Society, 4, 139–158.
In this essay, Acker develops a theory of gendered
organizations, explicitly articulating how
organizational structures, rather than being gender
neutral, are built on assumptions about gender.
Though not addressing crime or criminal
organizations, it provides a useful expansion of the
concepts discussed by Steffensmeier.
Britton, D. M. (2000). The epistemology of the
gendered organization. Gender and Society, 14,
418–434.
Britton’s application of gendered organizational theory
builds from and refines Acker’s. While again not written
for a criminological audience, and focused primarily on
formal occupations, it outlines important epistemological
considerations for studying gender across organizational
types, including those involving crime.
Maher, L. (1997). Sexed work: Gender, race, and
resistance in a Brooklyn drug market. New York:
Clarendon Press.
Maher’s longitudinal ethnography of a Brooklyn
crack economy provides an important look at the
impact of gender and race on this specific illicit
market. Many of the tenets of Steffensmeier’s original
theory are supported, while Maher’s analysis of the
intersection of gender and race further advances this
framework.
Zhang, S., Chin, K.-O., & Miller, J. (2007). Women’s
participation in Chinese transnational human smuggling:
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Annotated Further Readings
A gendered market perspective. Criminology, 45,
699–733.
Zhang et al.’s analysis of women’s roles in Chinese
transnational human smuggling networks is one of
the few explicit efforts to examine the second facet
of Steffensmeier’s theory, specifically, the variability
of gendered exclusionary practices across illicit
organizational contexts. The nature of these human
smuggling networks appears to provide a unique
niche for female smugglers due to organizational
facets and market conditions shaping these
networks.
Steffensmeier, Darrell J., and Emilie Andersen Allan:
A Gendered Theory of Offending
Haynie, D., Steffensmeier, D. J., & Bell, K. (2007).
Gender and serious violence: Untangling the role of
friendship sex composition and peer violence. Youth
Violence and Juvenile Justice, 5, 235–253.
This study applies concepts from the gendered
paradigm and insights from social influence literature
to examine the effect of friendship sex composition
on girls’ and boys’ involvement in serious violence.
Findings are consistent with the tenet that girls’ focal
concerns, femininity norms, and lesser physical
strength influence their offending patterns and also
that girls’ greater prosocial norms influence the
behavior of males in their lives.
Maher, L., & Daly, K. (1996). Women in the street-level
economy: Continuity or change? Criminology, 34, 465–491.
Ethnographic work in New York City demonstrates
that the crack cocaine market of the late 1980s and
early 1990s was highly gender-stratified with women
playing lesser roles in selling and distribution, much
like in heroin markets of the 1960s and 1970s. Streetlevel sex work was a more viable option for women
than selling drugs, demonstrating pervasive sexism in
the underworld.
Miller, E. M. (1986). Street woman. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press.
This work highlights how relational obligations and
gender norms influence women’s pathways into and
out of offending.
Zhang, S., Ko-Lin, C., & Miller, J. (2007). Women’s
participation in Chinese transnational human smuggling:
A gendered market perspective. Criminology, 45,
699–733.
Interviews with human smugglers are analyzed to
understand the extent and nature of women’s roles in
smuggling operations and gender stratification in
illicit enterprises. Gender ideologies about work and
caregiving, the importance of social networks, the
emphasis on safety, and the limited use of violence
offer a niche for women in these operations.
Thomas, W. I.: The Unadjusted Girl
Blumer, H. (1979). Critiques of research in the social
sciences: An appraisal of Thomas and Znaniecki’s the
Polish peasant in Europe and America. New York:
Transaction.
With this critique of Thomas’s writings, Herbert
Blumer was able to articulate his theory of symbolic
interactionism. Blumer would develop a more precise
vision of social action that emphasized less the wishes
that Thomas relates and more how social interaction
is the essence of all social action. If not for Thomas’s
scholarship, it is difficult say if Blumer would have
been able to develop his theory of symbolic
interactionism.
Bressler, M. (1952). Selected family patterns in W. I.
Thomas’ unfinished study of the Bintl Brief. American
Sociological Review, 71, 563–571.
This article more clearly states the sources for many of
the letters that Thomas cites in his book The
Unadjusted Girl. Thomas was less clear about his
methodology and how his letters were selected.
Bressler shows that he had a larger project, one that
reflects his obsession with not only the stories of
Polish immigrants but also Eastern Jewish immigrants.
The letters were letters to the editor and reflected the
need for advice in the new world of America. A theme
that fit well with Thomas’s general argument that the
lives of immigrants would remain disorganized if not
provided with expert knowledge.
Merton, R. K. (1995). The Thomas theorem and the
Matthew effect. Social Forces, 74, 379–422.
Merton traces the history of ideas and the several
reasons for why W. I. Thomas’s collaborator Dorothy
Thomas was not initially cited as well in reference to
“definitions of the situation.” This is an important
article because it shows not only the intellectual history
of an idea but also how the Matthew effect leads to the
citation of an older and more distinguished scholar
over that of the lesser known scholar.
Widom, Cathy Spatz: The Cycle of Violence
White, H. R., & Widom, C. S. (2008). Three potential
mediators of the effects of child abuse and neglect on
Annotated Further Readings
adulthood substance use among women. Journal of Drug
Problems, 69, 337–347.
This article attempts to explain the relationship
between childhood victimization and substance abuse
in women. It examines whether posttraumatic stress
disorder, stressful life events, and delinquency
are the casual mechanism through which
childhood victimization causes substance abuse in
adulthood.
Widom, C. S. (1992). The cycle of violence (NCJ No.
136607). Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
This report describes Widom’s original research and
findings. It provides an overview of the research
methodology and describes the sample and measures.
It also provides detailed findings regarding the effects
of abuse on arrests as a young adult.
Widom, C. S. (2000). Childhood victimization and the
derailment of girls and women into the criminal justice
system. In J. E. Samuels & J. Thomas (Eds.), Plenary
papers of the 1999 Conference on Criminal Justice
Research and Evaluation: Enhancing policy and practice
through research: Vol. 3. Research on women and girls
in the justice system (pp. 27–36) (NCJ No. 180973).
Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
This paper outlines the implications for Widom’s
research for females in the criminal justice system. It
provides a review of the research on women,
childhood victimization and offending as well as
points out key issues regarding the treatment of
female offenders who have been victimized.
Widom, C. S., & Maxfield, M. G. (2001). An update on
the cycle of violence (NCJ No. 184894). Washington,
DC: National Institute of Justice.
This report provides results from a 6-year follow-up
to the cycle of violence. It provides detailed
information regarding the methodology of the
follow-up as well as new findings from the follow-up
data. It also points out that gender and race are
important factors in the cycle of violence.
Widom, C. S., Schuck, A. M., & White, H. R. (2006).
An examination of pathways from childhood
victimization to violence: The role of early aggression
and problematic alcohol use. Violence and Victims, 21,
675–690.
This article seeks to provide an explanation for the
cycle of violence. It examines whether aggression and
alcohol use provide the casual mechanism through
which childhood victimization causes violence in
adulthood.
1099
14. Choice and Opportunity Theories of Crime
Brantingham, Patricia L., and Paul J. Brantingham:
Environmental Criminology
Felson, M. K. (2002). Crime and everyday life (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
With his routine activities theory, Marcus Felson
provides theoretical support for many of the central
tenets of environmental criminology. In this book,
Felson emphasizes how everyday actions provide the
context for criminal activities.
Rossmo, D. K. (1999). Geographic profiling. Boca Raton,
FL: CRC Press.
D. Kim Rossmo was Patricia and Paul Brantingham’s
doctoral student at Simon Fraser University. For his
dissertation, later published as this book, Rossmo
took the Brantingham’s ideas and applied them to
criminal investigation and geographic profiling.
Wortley, R., & Mazerolle, L. (Eds.). (2008).
Environmental criminology and crime analysis. Portland,
OR: Willan.
In this collected edition, Richard Wortley and
Lorraine Mazerolle bring together scholars who
provide the key theories in environmental criminology
and brings them up to date with current research.
Clarke, Ronald V.: Situational Crime Prevention
Clarke, R. V. (2004). Technology, criminology and crime
science. European Journal on Criminal Policy and
Research. 10, 55–63.
Clarke draws a stark contrast between traditional
criminology and the field of environmental
criminology.
Clarke, R. V. (2008). Situational crime prevention. In
R. Wortley & L. Mazerolle (Eds.), Environmental
criminology and crime analysis (pp. 178–194).
Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan.
This is the most recent comprehensive description of
the theory and practice of situational crime
prevention. The book containing this chapter describes
other related theories of crime and prevention.
Clarke, R. V., & Eck, J. E. (2005). Crime analysis for
problem solvers: In 60 small steps. Washington, DC:
Office of Community Oriented Policing.
This manual, available as a PDF file from www.pop
center.org integrates Clarke’s works with other
environmental criminology and shows their practical
1100
Annotated Further Readings
application to policing. This manual, and a
companion manual for the British police services,
have been translated into 15 languages (also available
at the above website). The manual contains the most
up-to-date version of situational crime prevention.
Clarke, R. V., & Newman, G. R. (2006). Outsmarting
the terrorists. Westport, CT: Praeger Security
International.
Clarke and Newman take on terrorism, show its
“rationality” and how understanding principles of
opportunity theory can help prevent terrorist
incidents. Not only does this book show how
situational approaches can be applied to terrorism,
but it also gives a good overview of situational crime
prevention and opportunity theories.
Felson, M., & Clarke, R. V. (1998). Opportunity makes
the thief: Practical theory for crime prevention (Police
Research Papers No. 98). London: Home Office,
Research Development and Statistics Directorate.
This paper (available for free from http://www
.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prgpdfs/fprs98.pdf) describes
opportunity theories, including situational crime
prevention, and provides 10 principles of crime
opportunity theory. Though over a decade old, this
monograph, written for practitioners, provides a
lively introduction to opportunity theories and
situational crime prevention.
Cohen, Lawrence E., and Marcus K. Felson:
Routine Activity Theory
Felson, M. (2002). Crime and everyday life (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
In this book, Felson presents an overview of
contemporary routine activity theory, highlighting
how everyday aspects of social settings facilitate or
inhibit the commission of criminal offenses. This is
perhaps the most easily read and digested overview
of routine activity theory. Both scholars and
laypersons alike will find this book highly
informative.
Kennedy, L. W., & Forde, D. R. (1999). When push
comes to shove: A routine conflict approach to violence.
Albany: SUNY Press.
In this book, Kennedy and Forde focus on the ways
in which individuals define and consequently
respond to everyday confrontations in life. Emphasis
is on how and when people do or do not use violent
means to respond to and resolve disputes in
everyday life.
Miethe, T. D., & Meier, R. F. (1994). Crime and its
social context: Toward an integrated theory of offenders,
victims, and situations. Albany: SUNY Press.
This text draws together issues encompassing those
who commit crime, are victims of crime and the
variable contexts in which offenders, and victims
intermingle to offer an explanation of criminal events
that is multifaceted. The core issues of routine
activity are emphasized, with the ultimate
explanation for criminal events relying on
interactions and intersections of the three core
theoretical components.
Sacco, V. F., & Kennedy, L. W. (1996). The criminal
event. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
This book emphasizes the event of a crime as the
intersection of multiple factors that are necessary for
crime to occur. The argument presented emphasizes
criminal events as a process, not just a distinct event
that is not tied to larger social issues.
Schwartz, M. D., & Pitts, V. L. (1995). Exploring a
feminist routine activities approach to explaining sexual
assault. Justice Quarterly, 12, 9–31.
In this study, Schwartz and Pitts present one of the
first attempts to apply routine activity theory to
sexual violence. The study emphasizes both victim
vulnerability (women’s drinking in public frequently)
and motivations of offenders (men working to get
women drunk so as to victimize them). The study
applies feminist principles as well as the core concepts
of routine activity theory to the explanation of sexual
assault among college students.
Cook, Philip J.: Supply and Demand of Criminal
Opportunities
Clarke, R. V. (1980). Situational crime prevention: Theory
and practice. British Journal of Criminology, 20, 136–147.
This article provides an introduction to the principles
of situation crime prevention, a strategy that focuses
on thwarting crimes by eliminating criminal
opportunities.
Ehlich, I. (1981). The market for offenses and the public
enforcement of laws: An equilibrium analysis. British
Journal of Social Psychology, 21, 107–120.
This article discusses the “demand for offenses” in
terms of supply and demand.
Felson, M., & Clarke, R. V. (1998). Opportunity makes
the thief: Practical theory for crime prevention (Police
Research Series No. 98). London: Home Office.
Annotated Further Readings
This article provides an overview of opportunity
theories and implications for crime prevention.
Wilcox, P., Land, K. C., & Hunt, S. A. (2003). Criminal
circumstance: A dynamic, multicontextual criminal
opportunity theory. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
This book introduces a multilevel and mulitcontextual
theoretical model for how criminal opportunities are
created.
1101
street segments in the city of Seattle. Criminology, 42,
283–321.
This article presents empirical evidence that crime hot
spots have generally stable concentrations of crime
over time. The research also suggests that a relatively
small proportion of crime places belong to groups
with steeply rising or declining crime trajectories and
that these places may be primarily responsible for
overall city trends in crime.
Cornish, Derek B., and Ronald V. Clarke:
Rational Choice Theory
Decker, Scott H., and Richard T. Wright:
Decisions of Street Offenders
Clarke, R. V., & Cornish, D. (1985). Modeling offender’s
decisions: A framework for research and policy. In
M. Tonry & N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice: An
annual review of research (Vol. 6, pp. 147–185).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Katz, J. (1988). Seductions of crime: Moral and sensual
attractions in doing evil. New York: Basic Books.
This is the original article that describes the
contributions from other social sciences and lays out
the involvement and event models.
Cornish, D., & Clarke, R. V. (Eds.). (1986). The
reasoning criminal: Rational choice perspectives on
offending. New York: Springer-Verlag.
This book reviews rational choice approaches to
studying crime, as well as multiple empirical studies of
criminal decision making and relevant theoretical issues.
Crime Hot Spots
Sherman, L., Gartin, P., & Buerger, M. (1989). Hot spots
of predatory crime: Routine activities and the criminology
of place. Criminology, 27, 27–56.
This article is one of the seminal works in the microlevel examination of the distribution of crime within
and across neighborhoods. This article also develops
routine activity theory as an explanation for the
concentration of crime in particular hot spot locations.
Weisburd, D., & Braga, A. (2006). Hot spots policing
as a model of police innovation. In D. Weisburd &
A. Braga (Eds.), Police innovation: Contrasting
perspectives (pp. 225–244). New York: Cambridge
University Press.
This chapter describes the role of criminological
theory and careful empirical study in the development
of hot spots policing. The evaluation evidence on the
crime prevention effectiveness of hot spots policing is
also reviewed.
Weisburd, D., Bushway, S., Lum, C., & Yang, S. (2004).
Trajectories of crime at places: A longitudinal study of
This is a prominent work in criminology that focuses
on emotional and “foreground” factors in shaping the
decisions of persons who partake in certain acts of
crime and aggression.
Lofland, J. (1969). Deviance and identity. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wright and Decker draw from Lofland in developing
their theoretical framework and in interpreting the
behaviors of active street criminals.
Eck, John E.: Places and the Crime Triangle
Clarke, R. V., & Eck, J. E. (2005). Crime analysis for
problem solvers in 60 small steps. Washington, DC:
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S.
Department of Justice.
This manual was written for crime analysts but can
also be used to introduce readers to the crime science
perspective. The manual translates the basic principles
of environmental criminology into practical analytical
strategies (e.g., use of the crime triangle) for crime
researchers.
Eck, J. E., & Weisburd, D. (Eds.). (1995). Crime and
place: Crime prevention studies (Vol. 4). Monsey, NY:
Criminal Justice Press.
Crime and Place is the most popular volume of the
Crime Prevention Studies series. It contains a
collection of chapters dedicated to examining place
and crime relationships.
Wortley, R., & Mazerolle, L. (Eds.). (2008). Environmental
criminology and crime analysis. Portland, OR: Willan.
This edited volume provides summaries of
environmental criminology theories and related
contributions. This volume serves as the most
complete resource for those interested in the
1102
Annotated Further Readings
environmental criminology paradigm. Many of the
chapters are authored by the original theorists.
Economic Theory and Crime
Bushway, S., & Reuter, P. (2008). Economists’
contribution to the study of crime and the criminal justice
system. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of
research (Vol. 37, pp. 389–451). Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
The current chapter is based on this much larger
work on the contribution of economists to the study
of crime. Those readers interested in more detail
should refer to this article.
Felson, Marcus K.: Crime and Nature
Felson, M. (2002). Crime and everyday life (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
In this unconventional textbook on crime causation,
Felson explains how routine everyday activities set the
stage for illegal activities, and how crime can be
reduced by simple measures.
Felson, M. (2006). Crime and nature. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
This textbook, written for undergraduate courses in
criminology and criminal justice, formulates Felson’s
perspective on crime as outlined in this entry.
Coase, R. (1978). Economics and contiguous disciplines.
Journal of Legal Studies, 7, 201–211.
Krebs, J. R., & Davies, N. B. (1993). An introduction to
behavioral ecology (3rd rev. ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
This chapter lays out general elements of what
economists bring to the study of new areas, including
crime. Coase is a Nobel Prize–winning economist
who helped found the area of Law and Economics.
Felson’s Crime and Nature uses many concepts
that have been developed in behavioral ecology, a
contemporary branch of biology that explains
behavior as a function of ecological and
evolutionary mechanisms. This book is generally seen
as an accessible introduction to this field of
investigation.
Miles, T., & Levitt, S. (2007). The empirical study of
criminal punishment. In A. M. Polinsky & S. Shavell
(Eds.), The handbook of law and economics
(pp. 453–495). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
This chapter reviews empirical work by economists on
the study of criminal punishment. While not explicitly
about economic theory, the theoretical approach is made
explicit in the empirical approach of the economist.
Tonry, M. (2008). Learning from the limitations of
deterrence research. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice:
A review of research (Vol. 37, pp. 279–312). Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
This balanced critique of deterrence research by a
non-economist presents some insight into the
potential limitations of economic theory when applied
to criminal behavior.
Felson, Marcus K.: Crime and Everyday Life
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. K. (1979). Social change and
crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American
Sociological Review, 44, 588–608.
This article is the introduction to routine activity
theory and is the foundation of much of
environmental criminology.
Eck, J. E., & Weisburd, D. (Eds.). (1995). Crime and
place. Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press.
This volume in the Crime Prevention Studies series is
one of the seminal pieces in empirical research on the
influence of place in crime occurrence.
Hindelang, Michael J., Michael R. Gottfredson, and
James Garofalo: Lifestyle Theory
Robinson, M. B. (1999). Lifestyles, routine activities,
and residential burglary victimization. Journal of Crime
and Justice, 22, 27–56.
In this article, Matthew Robinson provides a brief
summary of lifestyle/exposure and routine activity
theories. He also reports the findings from his
telephone survey regarding the relationship between
victims’ lifestyles, routine activities, and residential
burglary victimization.
Jeffery, C. Ray: Crime Prevention Through
Environmental Design
Jacobs, J. (1961). The life and death of great American
cities. New York: Random House.
This book introduced the insight that the natural and
social environment contributes to crime and deviance,
as well as suggested ideas for combating crime by
changing the physical environment.
Jeffery, C. R. (1971). Crime prevention through
environmental design. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
This book introduces the idea that it is possible to
curtail offending by removing environmental cues
that reinforce the offending behavior.
Annotated Further Readings
Jeffery, C. R. (1977). Crime prevention through
environmental design (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA:
Sage.
In this edition, Jeffery added major discussion of the
biological influences of behavior. He spends much time
outlining the influence of the individual’s biological
makeup on processing input to behavior.
Jeffery, C. R. (1990). Criminology: An interdisciplinary
approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
This work argues for fully integrating biological,
social, psychological, and other disciplinary
approaches into a single coherent model for
understanding behavior and what can be done to
prevent crime.
Newman, O. (1972). Defensible space: People and design
in the violent city. New York: Macmillan.
This book introduces the idea of defensible space,
which seeks to create “a physical expression of a
social fabric which defends itself.” The book
offers very specific recommendations on what to
change in the environment in order to combat
crime.
Wood, E. (1961). Housing design, a social theory.
New York: Citizens’ Housing and Planning Counsel of
New York.
This work reports on an evaluation of public housing
in Chicago and problems that contribute to crime in
that setting. The analysis made early suggestions on
enhancing safety by promoting resident surveillance
and activity in the area.
Miethe, Terance D., and Robert F. Meier:
An Integrated Theory of Victimization
Miethe, T. D., & Meier, R. F. (1994). Crime and its
social context: Toward an integrated theory of offenders,
victims and situations. Albany: SUNY Press.
In this book, the authors demonstrate empirically and
conceptually the importance of integrating offender-,
victim-, and situation-based theories in one
perspective.
Miller, Jody: Gendered Criminal Opportunity
Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street: Decency,
violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York:
W. W. Norton.
This book provides a good understanding of both the
culture and ideals of normalcy among inner-city
residents.
1103
Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & Rudolph, J. L.
(2002). Gender, crime, and desistance: Toward a theory
of cognitive transformation. American Journal of
Sociology, 107(4), 990–1064.
This study provides a detailed look at the genderrace-crime interaction. It also works to develop an
updated theory of cognitive transformation that is
applicable across gender and races.
Jacobs, B. A., & Wright, R. (1999). Stick-up, street
culture, and offender motivation. Criminology,
37, 149.
This study provides a detailed look at the influence of
street culture and norms on the decision to commit
crime, in lieu of background risk factors.
Steffensmeier, D. J., & Allan, E. (1996). Gender and
crime: Toward a gendered theory of female offending.
Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 459–487.
This study provides an all-encompassing look at the
effect of gender on criminality, including variance
over time and general theory.
Suchman, L. A. (1987). Plans and situated actions: The
problem of human-machine communication. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
This book is the first to discuss the concept of
situated action. It provides a detailed description of
its meaning and application.
Newman, Oscar: Defensible Space Theory
Newman, O. (1972). Defensible space: Crime prevention
through urban design. New York: Macmillan.
In this book, Newman lays out for the first time, a
detailed description of the concept of defensible space.
The book contains many photographs, drawings, and
blueprints to portray the concept visually.
Newman, O. (1996). Creating defensible space.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development.
This volume contains an updated version of
Newman’s thesis about the relationship between
physical space and crime. He explores the concept as
it applies to the design of the Five Oaks
neighborhood in Dayton, a row house public housing
complex in the South Bronx, and dispersed,
scatter-site public housing in Yonkers.
Reynald, D. M., & Ellfers, H. (2009). The future of
Newman’s defensible space theory. European Journal of
Criminology, 6, 25–46.
1104
Annotated Further Readings
This article describes the evolution of the defensible
space concept and critiques the ambiguity of key
aspects of the concept. The authors show the
relationship between the defensible space approach
and situational crime prevention theory and routine
activity theory.
Osgood, D. Wayne, Janet K. Wilson, Jerald G.
Bachman, Patrick M. O’Malley, Lloyd D. Johnston:
Routine Activities and Individual Deviant Behavior
Felson, M. (2002). Crime and everyday life (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
This book provides a thorough and engaging
introduction to routine activity theory. Felson
demonstrates that the theory offers a coherent and
distinct perspective about crime by showing its
relevance to a surprisingly wide range of topics.
Osgood, D. W., & Anderson, A. L. (2004). Unstructured
socializing and rates of delinquency. Criminology, 42,
519–549.
These authors apply individual-level routine activity
theory to explaining rates of delinquency for
neighborhoods and schools. They show that this
perspective is a useful addition to social
disorganization theory.
Osgood, D. W., Anderson, A. L., & Shaffer, J. N.
(2005). Unstructured leisure in the after-school hours. In
J. L. Mahoney, R. W. Larson, & J. S. Eccles (Eds.),
Organized activities as contexts of development:
extracurricular activities, after-school and community
programs (pp. 45–64). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
This chapter discusses the connection between
unstructured socializing and delinquency in relation
to the students’ after-school time use. It reviews
evidence about the connection, lays out the
developmental trends of time use with age and their
association with age differences in delinquency, and
considers the policy implications of these themes.
Physical Environment and Crime
Fowler, E. P. (1992). Building cities that work.
Montreal, QC: McGill-Queens University Press.
The most impressive ideas about crime and physical
environment at the community—as opposed to the
site level—originated with Jane Jacobs. Fowler
provides a test of her idea that short blocks with
mixed land use are safer.
St. Jean, P. K. B. (2007). Pockets of crime: Broken
windows, collective efficacy, and the criminal point of
view. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Of most value in the above volume is hearing how
offenders—drug dealers and robbers—in extremely
disadvantaged neighborhoods think about physical
environment. They pay attention to what the
Brantinghams call crime generators and crime attractors.
Although the volume overlooks the contributions of
environmental criminology to land-use dynamics, it
provides considerable detail on how offenders choose sites
and the roles of land use—at least in this type of setting.
Taylor, R. B. (2001). Breaking away from broken
windows: Evidence from Baltimore neighborhoods and
the nationwide fight against crime, grime, fear and
decline. Boulder, CO: Westview.
This work seeks to provide a longitudinal test of the
incivilities thesis. It raises methodological and
theoretical questions and finds some support for some
ideas in some versions of the thesis.
Pogarsky, Greg: Behavioral Economics and Crime
Nagin, D. S., & Pogarsky, G. (2003). An experimental
investigation of deterrence: Cheating, self-serving bias,
and impulsivity. Criminology, 41, 167–193.
This article reported on a randomized experiment in
which student subjects could cheat on a laboratory task
to earn extra money and on which the probability of
detection and severity of punishment were manipulated.
Among the key results was that cheating was more
prevalent among individuals with strong present
orientation and who were prone to self-serving bias.
Pogarsky, G. (2007). Deterrence and individual
differences among convicted offenders. Journal of
Quantitative Criminology, 23, 59–74.
This study tested how variation in criminal propensity
(operationalized as “self-control”) moderated
deterrent effects in a sample of convicted offenders in
New Jersey’s Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) in
1989 and 1990. Offenders’ perceptions of the risks
and consequences from violating ISP were associated
with whether they successfully completed ISP.
Moreover, lower self-control did not diminish and, if
anything, enhanced these deterrent effects.
Pogarsky, G. (in press). Deterrence and decision-making:
Research questions and theoretical refinements. In
M. D. Krohn, A. J. Lizotte, G. Penly Hall (Eds.),
Handbook on crime and deviance. New York: Springer.
Annotated Further Readings
This chapter comments on the current state of
criminological deterrence research. It identifies areas
of intersection between behavioral economics and
criminological deterrence and suggests avenues of
further investigation to improve our understanding of
crime decisions.
Pogarsky, G., Kim, K., & Paternoster, R. (2005).
Perceptual change in the National Youth Survey: Lessons
for deterrence theory and offender decision making.
Justice Quarterly, 22, 1–29.
This study advanced and tested a theoretical
framework in which perceptions of the certainty of
punishment are a function of the offending
experiences and consequences of both the actor and
others. The findings included the following:
(1) Arrests had little effect on perceptions of the
certainty of punishment for stealing and attacking.
(2) In contrast, offending corresponded with
decreases in the perceived certainty of punishment
for both offenses. (3) Peer offending produced
decreases in the perceived certainty for stealing, but
not for attacking. (4) Prior offending experience did
not diminish the influence of more immediate
offending experience on risk perceptions. (5) Moral
inhibition reduced the effects of offending experience
on risk perceptions.
Sacco, Vincent F., and Leslie W. Kennedy:
The Criminal Event Perspective
Anderson, A. L., & Meier, R. F. (2004). Interaction and
the criminal event perspective. Journal of Contemporary
Criminal Justice, 20, 416–440.
Anderson and Meier used the criminal event
perspective to explore how components of the social
environment interact together to produce crime or
delinquency.
Meier, R. F., Kennedy, L. W., & Sacco, V. F. (Eds.).
(2001). The process and structure of crime: Criminal
events and crime analysis. New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction.
This edited book explores the criminal event
perspective in detail from the perspective of a variety
of authors. Specific topics include the application of
the criminal event perspective to macro studies of
crime, using qualitative methods to study criminal
events, and the relationship between criminal careers
and criminal events.
Pino, N. W. (2005). Serial offending and the criminal
events perspective. Homicide Studies, 9, 109–148.
1105
In this article, Pino applied the criminal events
perspective to understanding serial offending through
a focus on the precursors, the event, and the
aftermath.
Weaver, G. S., Wittekind, J. E., Huff-Corzine, L.,
Corzine, J., Petee, T. A., & Jarvis, J. P. (2004). Violent
encounters: A criminal event analysis of lethal and
nonlethal outcomes. Journal of Contemporary Criminal
Justice, 20, 348–368.
Weaver et al. explored the contextual factors related
to violent encounters, including the type of weapon
used, the temporal and spatial characteristics of the
event, and the offender and victim characteristics of
the event.
Shover, Neal: Great Pretenders
Shover, N. (1985). Aging criminals. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
This work uses some of the data used in Great
Pretenders with more specific focus.
Wright, R. T., & Decker, S. H. (1996). Burglars on the
job: Streetlife and residential break-ins. Boston:
Northeastern University Press.
This work adds additional insight into how streetlife
affects criminal decision making.
Wright, R. T., & Decker, S. H. (1997). Armed robbers in
action: Stick-ups and street culture. Boston: Northeasters
University Press.
This work adds additional insight into how streetlife
affects criminal decision making.
Stark, Rodney: Deviant Places
Sampson, R. J., & Groves, W. B. (1989). Community
structure and crime: Testing social disorganization
theory. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 774–802.
This article is considered a seminal piece contributing
to the social disorganization theory literature. Their
study was the first to directly test social
disorganization theory. They mentioned problems
with past research; these problems consisted of a lack
of intervening variables in the model, and reliance on
official crime rates. They addressed these issues in
their study. They used self-report victimization and
offending data. Their sample included 10,905
households across 238 localities in Great Britain. For
intervening variables, they created a model that was
an extension of Shaw and McKay’s original theory.
1106
Annotated Further Readings
With this new model, they were able to directly test
Shaw and McKay’s theory. They found that the
results from their study were consistent with social
disorganization theory.
Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1969). Juvenile
delinquency and urban areas (2nd ed.). Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Shaw and McKay developed social disorganization
theory. The work that they undertook was
unprecedented and was conducted without the use of
computers and statistical techniques that we have
today. Further, their theory, which was first published
in 1942, is still being tested and supported today. They
found that rather than individuals themselves being the
cause of crime, it is neighborhoods that create criminal
conduct. Their work sparked a movement that
explored contextual level theories of causes of crime.
Wikström, Per-Olof H.: Situational Action Theory
Wikström, P.-O. (2005). The social origins of pathways in
crime. Towards a developmental ecological action theory
of crime involvement and its changes. In D. P. Farrington
(Ed.), Integrated developmental and life-course theories of
offending (Advances in Criminological Theory: Vol. 14,
pp. 211–245). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Wikström, P.-O., & Treiber, K. (2009). What drives
persistent offending. The neglected and unexplored role
of the social environment. In J. Savage (Ed.), The
development of persistent criminality (pp. 389–420).
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
These two chapters give jointly the best overview of
how situational action theory conceptualizes and
deals with the topic of development and change.
Wikström, P.-O. (2006). Individuals, settings and acts of
crime: Situational mechanisms and the explanation of
crime. In P.-O. Wikström & R. J. Sampson (Eds.), The
explanation of crime: Context, mechanisms and
development (pp. 61–107). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
This chapter presents in detail the foundations of
situational action theory and its grounding in social
and behavioral science theory.
Wilcox, Pamela, Kenneth C. Land, and Scott A. Hunt:
Multicontextual Opportunity Theory
Sampson, R. J., & Wooldredge, J. D. (1987). Linking the
micro- and macro-level dimensions of lifestyle-routine
activity and opportunity models of predatory victimization.
Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 3, 371–393.
This study examines whether micro- and macro-level
indicators of opportunity independently influence the
likelihood of victimization. Consistent with the main
effects of individual and environmental opportunity
on crime posited by multicontextual opportunity
theory, the findings suggest that both macro- and
micro-level indicators of opportunity influence
victimization risk.
Wilcox, P., Madensen, T., & Tillyer, M. S. (2007).
Guardianship in context: Implications for burglary
victimization risk and prevention. Criminology, 45,
771–803.
This study uses multicontextual opportunity theory
to guide the development of hypotheses predicting
the relationship between neighborhood- and
individual-level guardianship indicators and their
influence on burglary victimization risk. The findings
reflect support for the hypothesized moderating
effects suggested by multicontextual opportunity
theory.
Wilcox Rountree, P., Land, K. C., & Miethe, T. D.
(1994). Macro-micro integration in the study of
victimization: A hierarchical logistic model analysis
across Seattle neighborhoods. Criminology, 32, 387–414.
This study examines whether the effects of individuallevel opportunity variables on victimization risk vary
depending on neighborhood context. Consistent with
the interactive effects of environmental- and
individual-level opportunity on crime posited by
multicontextual opportunity theory, the findings
suggest that the importance of individual-level
opportunity in explaining victimization varies by
neighborhood context.
Wortley, Richard: A Revised Situational Crime
Prevention Theory
Clarke, R. V., & Cornish, D. B. (1985). Modeling
offenders’ decisions: A framework for research and
policy. In M. Tonry & N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and
justice: An annual review of research (Vol. 6,
pp. 147–185). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
In this essay, Ronald Clarke and Derek Cornish
argue that crime is the outcome of an offender’s
rational choice. These authors provide fundamental
theoretical groundwork for situational crime
prevention by emphasizing offender decision making
across all stages of a criminal event.
Annotated Further Readings
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and
crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American
Sociological Review, 44, 588–608.
Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson suggest that
offending is a function of opportunity when
motivated offenders converge in time and space with
suitable targets in the absence of capable
guardianship. Their routine activity theory underlies
using situational crime prevention to disrupt
criminal opportunity structures at specific times and
places.
Cornish, D. B., & Clarke, R. V. (2003). Opportunities,
precipitators, and criminal decisions: A reply to Wortley’s
critique of situational crime prevention. In M. Smith &
D. Cornish (Eds.), Theory for practice in situational
crime prevention (Vol. 16, pp. 41–96). Monsey, NY:
Criminal Justice Press.
Derek Cornish and Ronald Clarke offer a rebuttal to
Wortley’s (2001) critique of situational crime
prevention. In the end, these authors concede to
Wortley and update the existing framework for
situational crime prevention.
15. Macro-Level/Community Theories of Crime
Blau, Judith R., and Peter M. Blau: Inequality and
Crime
Messner, S. F., & Golden, R. M. (1992). Racial
inequality and racially disaggregated homicide rates: An
assessment of alternative theoretical explanations.
Criminology, 30, 421–447.
Messner and Golden delineate the various arguments
linking racial inequality to race-specific homicide
rates. Their results indicate that racial inequality
affects both black and white homicide rates,
suggesting a generalized disorganizing effect on the
total population, rather than on just one racial group.
Shihadeh, E. S., & Flynn, N. (1996). Segregation and
crime: The effect of black social isolation on the rates of
urban black violence. Social Forces, 74, 1325–1352.
This article by Shihadeh and Flynn marked a critical
turn in the macro-level research on urban black
violence. Their summary of the social disorganization/
social control model informed by the work of
William Julius Wilson and of Douglas Massey and
Nancy Denton and their empirical analysis of black
social isolation highlighted the importance of spatially
embedded inequalities.
1107
Bursik, Robert J., Jr., and Harold C. Grasmick:
Levels of Control
Bursik, R. J., Jr., & Grasmick, H. G. (1993).
Neighborhoods and crime. New York: Lexington.
This book furnishes more details on Bursik and
Grasmick’s levels of control and systemic theory. It also
provides useful discussion on how neighborhoods deal
with disorder, fear of crime, and gangs and provides
examples of community organizing against crime.
Carr, P. (2005). Clean streets: Controlling crime,
maintaining order, and building community activism.
New York: New York University Press.
This book is a close-up examination of a single
neighborhood in Chicago and of how levels of control
come together there to fight against crime. Carr spent 5
years interviewing neighborhood residents and taking
field notes to produce insightful observations about how
order is maintained in a modern urban community.
DeLeon-Granados, W. (1999). Travels through crime and
place: Community-building as crime control. Boston:
Northeastern University Press.
This book is an ethnographic travelogue by a
criminologist intent on determining how
neighborhoods and communities around the United
States maintain order. Interesting reading on the topic
of communities and crime.
Rose, D. R., & Clear, T. R. (1998). Incarceration, social
capital, and crime: Implications for social disorganization
theory. Criminology, 36, 441–479.
This article extends Bursik and Grasmick’s theory to
consider in more detail how incarceration, as a form of
public control, contributes to social disorganization and a
breakdown of social capital. The authors also outline an
extension of the theory that considers “feedback” effects
of crime and incarceration on neighborhood order.
Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997).
Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of
collective efficacy. Science, 277, 918–924.
This article describes collective efficacy and systemic
theory in more detail and provides an empirical test
using data from Chicago neighborhoods. It is an
influential article in the literature on neighborhoods and
crime published in one of the leading scientific journals.
Inequality and Crime
Hipp, J. (2007). Income inequality, race, and place: Does
the distribution of race and class within neighborhoods
affect crime rates? Criminology, 45, 665–696.
1108
Annotated Further Readings
Hipp argues that if inequality-crime theories are
correct, inequity in the distribution of economic
resources within neighborhoods should affect crime
rates. He contends that because most theories suggest
that the social interaction of residents is an important
mechanism by which inequality affects crime,
neighborhoods are a preferred unit of analysis than
larger aggregates (e.g., cities or standard metropolitan
statistical areas).
Reiman, J. (2007). The rich get richer and the poor get
prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice (8th ed.).
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
In this classic book, Reiman argues that the
“criminal” actions of the economic elite frequently
cause as much or more death, destruction, and
financial loss as is caused by all “street crimes.” Yet,
these actions and their perpetrators commonly are not
treated as criminal. In contrast, members of the lower
class are more likely to be arrested, convicted, and
imprisoned than the members of the middle and
upper classes, even when they commit the same type
of crime. Reiman contends that the criminal justice
system operates to preserve and enhance the wealth
of the rich, and its function is not really to reduce
crime, as many believe.
Walker, S., Spohn, C., & DeLone, M. (2007). The color
of justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America.
Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
In this accessible book, Walker and colleagues
document the extent of racial inequality in crime
and criminal justice, review potential explanations of
existing disparities, and provide insightful summaries
of the state of the research literature on these issues.
Krivo, Lauren J., and Ruth D. Peterson:
Extreme Disadvantage and Crime
Bernard, T. J. (1990). Angry aggression among the “truly
disadvantaged.” Criminology, 28, 73–96.
Bernard presents a theoretical model that
incorporates psychological data on aggression in
order to explain why we should expect to see a
relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and
violence. This article both complements the major
findings of Krivo and Peterson (1996) and posits
underlying causal mechanisms that Krivo and
Peterson were unable to establish.
De Coster, S., Heimer, K., & Wittrock, S. M. (2006).
Neighborhood disadvantage, social capital, street context,
and youth violence. Sociological Quarterly, 47, 723–753.
In this study using individual-level data, De Coster,
Heimer, and Wittrock demonstrate that the effects of
living in concentrated disadvantage on violent
offending drop out of statistical significance once
criminogenic street context variables are added to the
model. The authors’ findings provide a counterpoint to
the findings of Krivo and Peterson (1996) because they
suggest that community disadvantage itself might not
cause violence once other criminogenic characteristics
of the community are taken into account. De Coster
and colleagues’ contrasting findings might also be the
result of using individual-level data versus Krivo and
Peterson’s aggregate-level analysis.
Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears: The world
of the new urban poor. New York: Vintage.
In this later book, Wilson expands on his discussion
of the world of the urban underclass in The Truly
Disadvantaged by further analyzing the effects of the
loss of manufacturing jobs on low-skilled inner-city
residents. Of interest to criminologists, he particularly
discusses the link between the rise of unemployment
and social disorganization and the surge in drug
trafficking.
Negotiated Coexistence
Browning, C. R. (2009). Illuminating the downside of
social capital: Negotiated coexistence, property crime,
and disorder in urban neighborhoods. American
Behavioral Scientist, 52, 1556–1578.
This article builds on the negotiated coexistence
framework presented in Browning, Feinberg, and
Dietz (2004) and applies the model to the case of
property crime and disorder. The analyses offer
additional empirical support for the negotiated
coexistence model—the regulatory effects of collective
efficacy on the prevalence of property crime and
disorder are diminished as network interaction
exchange increase.
Browning, C. R., Feinberg, S. L., & Dietz, R. (2004). The
paradox of social organization: Networks, collective
efficacy, and violent crime in urban neighborhoods.
Social Forces, 83, 503–534.
The negotiated coexistence model is described and
contrasted with two extant competing perspectives on
the joint effects of collective efficacy and social
network interaction and exchange. Employing data
on violence in Chicago neighborhoods, results of the
analyses are consistent with the expectations of the
negotiated coexistence model—as network interaction
Annotated Further Readings
and exchange increase, the beneficial effect of
collective efficacy in reducing the prevalence of
violence is diminished.
Pattillo-McCoy, M. (1999). Black picket fences. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Pattillo-McCoy’s insightful analysis of a middle-class
African American community provides an important
foundation for the negotiated coexistence model.
Residents of “Groveland” expressed concern about—
and attempted to control—the prevalence of crime in
their community. Nevertheless, the density of ties
between Groveland’s more conventionally oriented
residents and local gang members inhibited the
community’s ability to translate strong social control
inclinations into effective regulation of local crime.
Racial Threat and Social Control
Blalock, H. M. (1967). Toward a theory of minoritygroup relations. New York: Wiley.
This is the work that got social scientists interested in
the social control implications of minority group
threat. Some readers may find parts of it to be
somewhat technical, but it is essential reading for
anyone interested in this perspective.
Chiricos, T., Welch, K., & Gertz, M. (2004). Racial
typification of crime and support for punitive measures.
Criminology, 42, 359–390.
This article develops an alternative micro-level
measure of racial threat that directly assesses the
extent to which crime is perceived to be associated
with African Americans. That perception is implicit,
though unmeasured, in macro-level assessments of the
relationship between racial composition of place and
criminal justice controls.
Liska, A. E. (1992). Social threat and social control.
Albany: SUNY Press.
Liska provides a readable summary of the origins,
propositions, and problems with this perspective.
Chapters written by other authors expand the range
of potentially threatening “others” that may be
subject to fatal, coercive, and beneficent controls.
Sampson, Robert J., and William Julius Wilson:
Contextualized Subculture
Morenoff, J. D., Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W.
(2001). Neighborhood inequality, collective efficacy, and
the spatial dynamics of urban violence. Criminology, 39,
517–559.
1109
This article examines how concentrated disadvantage,
structural social disorganization, collective efficacy,
and spatial proximity to violence affect homicide
rates. It represents a sophisticated test of Sampson
and Wilson’s ideas about the importance of
neighborhood context in explaining violent crime.
Sampson, R. J., & Wilson, W. J. (1995). Toward a
theory of race, crime, and urban inequality. In J. Hagan
& R. D. Peterson (Eds.), Crime and inequality (pp.
37–54). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
This chapter presents the original statement of
Sampson and Wilson’s theory.
Skogan, Wesley G.: Disorder and Decline
Kelling, G. L., & Coles, C. M. (1996). Fixing broken
windows: Restoring order and reducing crime in our
communities. New York: Free Press.
In this book, George Kelling and Catherine Coles
expand on the “broken windows” hypothesis and
Skogan’s work in Disorder and Decline. They discuss
the increase of disorder in America, the failure of past
municipal strategies to deal with disorder, and
methods to prevent disorder and crime in
neighborhoods.
Thacher, D. (2004). Order maintenance reconsidered:
Moving beyond strong causal reasoning. Journal of
Criminal Law and Criminology, 94, 101–133.
In this essay, David Thacher discusses the difficulty of
establishing the connection between disorder and
serious crime with scientific certainty. He argues,
however, that the control of disorder is still important.
Wilson, J. Q., & Kelling, G. L. (1982, March). Broken
windows: The police and neighborhood safety. The
Atlantic Monthly, pp. 29–38.
In this essay, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling
develop the broken windows hypothesis. Disorder
and Decline is a test of the broken windows
hypothesis.
Systemic Model of Social Disorganization
Bursik, R. J., Jr., & Grasmick, H. (1993). Neighborhoods
and crime: The dimensions of effective community
control. New York: Lexington Books.
This book lays out an extensive discussion of the
systemic model of social disorganization theory and
provides a thorough review of research up to its point
of publication.
1110
Annotated Further Readings
Sampson, R. J., & Groves, W. B. (1989). Community
structure and crime: Testing social-disorganization
theory. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 774–802.
This was among the first empirical studies examining
social disorganization theory that included both an
adequate number of neighborhoods to empirically test
the theory and measures of social disorganization
separate from exogenous neighborhood structural
features. It is generally considered the classic piece for
the systemic model of social disorganization theory.
Warner, B. D. (2007). Directly intervene or call the
authorities? A study of forms of neighborhood social
control within a social disorganization framework.
Criminology, 45, 99–129.
This is one of the more recent studies specifically
examining the systemic model of social disorganization.
It is important because the study distinguishes between
direct and indirect forms of social control and
examines the relationship of social ties to each.
Wilson, James Q., and George L. Kelling: Broken
Windows Theory
Kelling, G. L., & Coles, C. M. (1996). Fixing broken
windows. New York: Simon & Schuster.
This book was George Kelling’s first big follow-up to
the original broken windows article. The authors
examined the New York City Police Department’s
experience with broken windows theory and provided
several arguments in favor of the effectiveness of this
approach.
Sampson, R. J., & Raudenbush, S.W. (1999). Systematic
social observation of public spaces: A new look at
disorder in urban neighborhoods. American Journal of
Sociology, 105, 603–651.
This article is a good single source for an empirical
test of broken windows theory combined with a
discussion of the major weaknesses of the theory and
directions for future theoretical development.
Skogan, W. G. (1990). Disorder and decline. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
This was the first large-scale, widely-read empirical
test of broken windows theory. In addition to
analyzing disorder’s effect on crime, Skogan also
addressed the significance of disorder for the entire
process of community decline, including structural
decay and reductions in property values.
Taylor, R. B. (2001). Breaking away from broken
windows. Boulder, CO: Westview.
This is probably the most large-scale, comprehensive
test of broken windows theory to date. Taylor used
both observed and perceived measures of incivilities
and employed a longitudinal design. These two
strategies allowed for a strict test of the proposition
that disorder causes crime over the long run. Taylor’s
extensive analyses and nuanced conclusions make this
a good single source for a better understanding of the
strengths and weaknesses of the theory.
Wilson, William Julius: The Truly Disadvantaged
Sampson, R. J., & Wilson, W. J. (1998). Toward a
theory of race, crime and urban inequality. In D. R. Karp
(Ed.), Community justice: An emerging field (pp.
97–115). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
This chapter discusses the implication of Wilson’s
work to the field of criminology by trying to develop
a theoretical perspective to understand the
relationship between race and violent crime. This is
one of the first significant works to specifically
integrate Wilson’s The Truly Disadvantaged to
criminality.
Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears: The world
of the new urban poor. New York: Knopf.
Wilson’s work from The Truly Disadvantaged was
continued in this book. A further understanding of the
underclass along with short-term and long-term policy
recommendations are incorporated in this piece.
16. Life-Course and Developmental
Theories of Crime
Catalano, Richard F., and J. David Hawkins:
Social Development Model
Catalano, R. F., & Hawkins, J. D. (1996). The Social
Development Model: A theory of antisocial behavior. In
J. D. Hawkins (Ed.), Delinquency and crime: Current
theories (pp. 149–197). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
This chapter provides a thorough overview of
theoretical foundation and specific propositions
contained in the theory. It is the definitive outline of
the social development model by its developers.
Catalano, R. F., Park, J., Harachi, T. W., Haggerty, K.
P., Abbott, R. D., & Hawkins, J. D. (2005). Mediating
the effects of poverty, gender, individual characteristics,
and external constraints on antisocial behavior: A test of
the social development model and implications for
Annotated Further Readings
developmental life course theory. In D. P. Farrington
(Ed.), Integrated developmental and life-course theories
of offending (Advances in Criminological Theory:
Vol. 14, pp. 93–123). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
This book chapter provides an empirical examination
of some key tenets of the social development model.
It also responds to some broader questions
surrounding integrated developmental and life-course
theories of crime and delinquency.
Criminal Career Paradigm
Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., Roth, J. A., & Visher, C. A.
(Eds.). (1986). Criminal careers and “career criminals”
(Vol. 1: Report of the Panel on Criminal Careers,
National Research Council). Washington, DC: National
Academy of Sciences.
This report provides an overview of the criminal career
framework and discusses research on key dimensions
as well as methodological and statistical issues.
Farrington, D. P. (2003). Developmental and life-course
criminology: Key theoretical and empirical issues—the
2002 Sutherland award address. Criminology, 41,
221–255.
This article provides an overview of key life-course
criminology facts and then theoretical explanations of
them.
Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings,
divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
This resource consists of quantitative and qualitative
data for the longest longitudinal study in the world
tracking Boston-area delinquents until age 70.
Piquero, A. R., Farrington, D. P., & Blumstein, A.
(2003). The criminal career paradigm. In M. Tonry (Ed.),
Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 30, pp.
359–506). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This study updates the Blumstein et al. (1986) report
with new literature and issues on criminal career issues.
Farrington, David P.: The Integrated Cognitive
Antisocial Potential Theory
Farrington, D. P. (Ed.). (2005). Integrated developmental
and life-course theories of offending (Advances in
Criminological Theory: Vol. 14). New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction.
In this edited book, David Farrington gathers some of
the leading experts who, from their perspectives,
1111
present and elucidate their different developmental
and life-course theories of offending, many of which
were formulated in the last 20 years.
Flannery, D. J., Vazsonyi, A. T., & Waldman, I. D.
(Eds.). (2007). The Cambridge handbook of violent
behavior and aggression. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
In this edited book, Flannery, Vazsonyi, and Waldman
present a comprehensive and multidisciplinary
investigation of aggressive and violent behavior from
international leading experts in the field. Many of the
chapters constitute a developmental, biological, biogenetics, and cultural analysis of the risk factors and
mechanisms implicated in the origin of violent
behavior over the life span.
Gulotta, G. (Ed.). (2002). Elementi di psicologia giuridica
e di diritto psicologico [Juridical psychology and
psychological law]. Milan, Italy: Giuffrè.
Even though this book is mainly for European
readers, mostly Italians, it offers an overall view of
the theories of offending and looks at how the
criminal system responds to prevent and control the
onset and development of criminal careers.
Loeber, R., & Farrington, D. P. (Eds.). (2001). Child
delinquents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Child Delinquents is an edited book that permits
readers to be up to date with the most recent work
on early criminal onset. Loeber and Farrington
assemble some of the most interesting investigations
on the risk-processes behind the onset, persistence,
and aggravation of a criminal career started in
childhood.
Thornberry, T. P., & Krohn, M. D. (Eds.). (2003).
Taking stock of delinquency: An overview of findings
from contemporary longitudinal studies. New York:
Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
This edited book by Thornberry and Krohn provides
readers with an extensive overview of seven of the
most significant longitudinal studies in contemporary
criminology. The underlying message for researchers
is to recognize and appreciate that longitudinal
investigation has become a crucial empirical approach
to direct theory testing and policy making.
Welsh, B. C., & Farrington, D. P. (Eds.). (2006).
Preventing crime: What works for children, offenders,
victims, and places. New York: Springer.
This book is a project of the Campbell Collaboration
Crime and Justice Group. Welsh and Farrington affirm
1112
Annotated Further Readings
that crime prevention should be rational and based on
the best possible evidence—and explain why. Criminal
behavior is multidetermined by individual, familial,
scholastic, situational, and social risk factors.
Multimodal programs, which tackle these dimensions,
are proved to be the most effective in the long term.
Giordano, Peggy C., and Stephen A. Cernkovich:
Cognitive Transformation and Desistance
Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & Rudolph, J. L.
(2002). Gender, crime, and desistance: Toward a theory
of cognitive transformation. American Journal of
Sociology, 107, 990–1064.
This is the original article that first presents the
foundation of the theory of cognitive transformation.
The development and tenets of the theory are also
discussed in a clear and concise manner.
Giordano, P. C., Schroeder, R. D., & Cernkovich, S. A.
(2007). Emotions and crime over the life course: A neoMeadian perspective on criminal continuity and change.
American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1603–1661.
This article presents the new direction of the theory. It
describes the additional role of emotions, particularly
the emotion of love, as well as the role that cognitions
and social bonds play in the desistance process.
Le Blanc, Marc: An Integrated Personal Control
Theory of Deviant Behavior
Farrington, D. P. (2006). Building developmental and
life-course theories of offending. In F. T. Cullen, J. P.
Wright, & K. R. Blevins (Eds.), Taking stock: The status
of criminological theory (Advances in Criminological
Theory: Vol. 15, pp. 335–364). New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction.
Farrington provides a brief overview of Le Blanc’s
theory along with other developmental and life-course
theories of crime. This work is of particular
importance because it provides a concise comparison
of these theories on key topics such as underlying
constructs, age of onset, and desistance.
Le Blanc, M. (1997). A generic control theory of deviant
behavior: The structural and dynamical statements of an
integrative multilayered control theory. In T. P.
Farrington (Ed.), Developmental theories of crime and
delinquency (Advances in Criminological Theory: Vol. 7,
pp. 215–286). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
In this foundational chapter, Le Blanc introduces his
integrative multilayered control theory. Le Blanc
argues that his control theory addresses two
deficiencies of traditional control theories: single
layered and non-developmental. This chapter is
important because it not only provides a description of
his entire theory but also details his integrated personal
control theory of deviant behavior and places it in the
context of his integrative multilayered control theory.
Le Blanc, M. (2005). An integrative personal control
theory of deviant behavior: Answers to contemporary
empirical and theoretical developmental criminology
issues. In T. P. Farrington (Ed.), Integrated developmental
and life-course theories of offending (Advances in
Criminological Theory: Vol. 14, pp. 125–163). New
Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
This book chapter serves to expand and clarify Le
Blanc’s integrated personal control theory of deviant
behavior by focusing on the developmental aspect of
this theory. Specifically, he addresses the causes of
change in deviant behavior overtime by discussing the
role of quantitative and qualitative changes.
Le Blanc, M. (2007). Self-control and the social control
of deviant behavior in context: Development and
interactions along the life-course. In P.-O. H. Wikström
& R. J. Sampson (Ed.), The explanation of crime:
Context, mechanisms, and development (pp. 195–242).
New York: Cambridge University Press.
This book chapter can be characterized as an
additional expansion and clarification of Le Blanc’s
earlier works (see Le Blanc, 1997 and 2005). This
essay expands on his earlier works by focusing on
self-control and how it interacts with other forms of
control, including characteristics of the community in
which an individual resides.
Life-Course Interdependence
Ousey, G. C., & Wilcox, P. (2007). The interaction of
antisocial propensity and life-course varying predictors of
delinquent behavior: Differences by method of estimation
and implications for theory. Criminology, 45, 313–354.
This article summarizes and tests models of antisocial
behavior and life-course ties.
Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1993). Crime in the making:
Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
A classic theory about the effect of antisocial behavior
on crime via weakened social ties.
Wright, B. R. E., Caspi A., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A.
(2001). The effects of social ties on crime vary by
Annotated Further Readings
criminal propensity: A life-course model of
interdependence. Criminology, 39, 321–352.
A statement and test of the life-course model of
interdependence.
Loeber, Rolf, and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber:
Pathways to Crime
Loeber, R., Keenan, K., & Zhang, Q. (1997). Boys’
experimentation and persistence in developmental
pathways toward serious delinquency. Journal of Child
and Family Studies, 6, 321–327.
This work extends upon Loeber et al.’s 1993 work by
examining whether the pathway model equally
applies to chronic offenders (i.e., persisters) and
experimental offenders.
Maruna, Shadd: Redemption Scripts and Desistance
Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings,
divergent lives: Delinquent boys at age 70. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
This work traces the life experiences of 500 delinquent
boys into late adulthood. The findings indicate that
desistance is shaped by structural routines and strong
connections to family and community.
Maruna, S., Porter, L., & Carvalho, I. (2004). The
Liverpool Desistance Study and probation practice:
Opening the dialogue. Probation Journal, 51, 221–232.
Maruna et al. provide a brief overview of the findings
from the Liverpool Desistance Study and develop
recommendations for how these results can inform
probation practice.
Shover, N. (1996). The great pretenders: Pursuits and
careers of persistent thieves. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Like Making Good, this work provides a narrative
analysis of the life stories of more than 50 persistent
thieves. Shover shows how the choice to commit
crime is shaped by cultural and social constraints.
The work challenges assumptions about the
effectiveness of imprisonment as a deterrent.
Moffitt, Terrie E.: A Developmental Model of LifeCourse-Persistent Offending
Moffitt, T. E. (2006). Life-course-persistent versus
adolescence-limited antisocial behavior. In D.
Cicchetti & D. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental
psychopathology (2nd ed., pp. 570–598). New York:
Wiley.
1113
Moffitt reviews 10 years of research on her dual
taxonomy of offending, with particular emphasis on
empirical tests of her theory. She provides a
comprehensive and up-to-date discussion of the
empirical status of the theory and concludes that
many of her original postulates are well-supported.
She also identifies those postulates that require either
theoretical refinement or additional empirical scrutiny.
Nagin, D. S., & Tremblay, R. E. (2005). Developmental
trajectory groups: Fact or a useful statistical fiction?
Criminology, 43, 873–904.
Moffitt’s dual taxonomy of offending—and
developmental theories at large—has generated
significant conversation and heated debate as to the
appropriate methodological and analytical techniques
to apply. This article is the first of three (printed
sequentially in the same volume) in an exchange
between (1) Nagin and Tremblay and (2) Sampson and
Laub that proves both enlightening and provocative.
Piquero, A. R., & Moffitt, T. E. (2005). Explaining the
facts of crime: How the developmental taxonomy replies
to Farrington’s invitation. In D. P. Farrington (Ed.),
Integrated developmental and life course theories of
offending (Advances in Criminological Theory: Vol. 14,
pp. 51–72). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
In this systematic response to David Farrington’s
2003 Sutherland Address to the members of the
American Society of Criminology, Piquero and
Moffitt provide a detailed discussion of how Moffitt’s
dual taxonomy fits in to the larger landscape of
developmental theories of offending behavior and of
the contributions and challenges of the theory.
Philadelphia Birth Cohorts, The
Cohen, J., Roth, J. A., Visher, C. A., & Blumstein, A.
(Eds.). (1986). Criminal careers and “career criminal”
(Vols. 1–2). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
These two volumes were produced by the National
Academy Panel on Research on Criminal Careers and
include work by major scholars studying crime,
measurement, and policy issues related to crime
patterns over the life course.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1986). The true value
of lambda would appear to be zero: An essay on career
criminals, criminal careers, selective incapacitation, cohort
studies, and related topics. Criminology, 24, 213–234.
This article provides perhaps the harshest criticism of
the cohort studies and longitudinal framework used
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Annotated Further Readings
for studying the Philadelphia Birth Cohorts. This is
one of a series of papers by these authors, and readers
should consult these other works as well.
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1993). Crime in the
making: Pathways and turning points through life.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
This award-winning book offers an age-periodspecific explanation for criminal careers, or crime
over the life course, based on data that were collected
by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck for 500 delinquents
and 500 youths not involved in juvenile justice who
were followed for many years. The nature of the
“Glueck” data differ dramatically from that of the
Philadelphia Birth Cohort.
Sampson, Robert J., and John H. Laub:
Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (Eds.). (2005).
Developmental criminology and its discontents:
Trajectories of crime from childhood to old age. Annals of
the American Academic of Political Science. Volume 602.
This volume covers the major theoretical and
methodological controversies of contemporary lifecourse criminology with essays from top criminologists.
17. Integrated Theories of Crime
Agnew, Robert: Integrated Theory
Agnew, R. (2005). Why do criminals offend? A general
theory of crime and delinquency. Los Angeles:
Roxbury.
In his complete work, Robert Agnew describes in
further detail the particulars of his theory, describes
the specific manner in which he believes that his
theory can most effectively be tested by future
research, and builds on his theory to elaborate the implications that he believes it to have for efforts to
control criminal behavior most effectively.
Bernard, Thomas J., and Jeffrey B. Snipes:
Variable-Centered Approach
Agnew, R. (2005). Why do criminals offend? A general
theory of crime and delinquency. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
This book provides another example of a variablecentered approach to theory integration.
Bernard, T. J., & Snipes, J. B. (1996). Theoretical
integration in criminology. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and
justice: A review of research (Vol. 20, pp. 301–348).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This reading provides an overview of most of the
major integrated theories in criminology and then
presents Bernard and Snipes variable-centered
approach to integration.
Messner, S. F., Krohn, M. D., & Liska, A. E. (1989).
Theoretical integration in the study of deviance and
crime: Problems and prospects. Albany: SUNY Press.
This book provides an overview of other strategies
for constructing integrated theories of crime.
Chamlin, Mitchell B., and John K. Cochran:
Social Altruism and Crime
Chamlin, M. B., & Cochran, J. K. (1997). Social altruism
and crime. Criminology, 35, 203–228.
This is the original theoretical piece. It provides an
overview of the logic behind the development of the
theory. Moreover, it provides insight into how to test
the relationship between crime and social altruism.
Chamlin, M. B., & Cochran, J. K. (2001). Social altruism
and crime revisited: A research note on measurement.
Journal of Crime and Justice, 24, 59–72.
In this article, Chamlin and Cochran delve into the
complications and issues surrounding measurement
and testing of social altruism theory. Any future tests
of social altruism theory would benefit from reading
this article.
Chamlin, M. B., Novak, K. J., Lowenkamp, C. T., &
Cochran, J. K. (1999). Social altruism, tax policy, and
crime: A cautionary tale. Criminal Justice Policy Review,
10, 429–446.
This research paper provides the first policy test of
social altruism theory. While unsuccessful, the
authors provide suggestions for future research, as
well as a discussion on what this means for the policy
implications of social altruism theory.
Colvin, Mark, Francis T. Cullen, and Thomas Vander
Ven: Coercion, Social Support, and Crime
Colvin, M. (2000). Crime and coercion: An integrated
theory of chronic criminality. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Integrating several existing perspectives of
criminology, Colvin lays out his differential coercion
theory in this book with a great emphasis on the role
of coercive forces that create social and psychological
dynamics that lead to chronic criminality. A
comprehensive understanding of the differential
coercion and social support (DCSS) theory requires
Annotated Further Readings
being exposed to the arguments of Colvin on
“coercion” as proposed in this book.
Colvin, M. (2007). Applying differential coercion and
social support theory to prison organizations. Prison
Journal, 87, 367–387.
Colvin tested the general premises of the differential
coercion and social support (DCSS) theory using the
levels of social support in the Penitentiary of New
Mexico and coercion felt by the inmates thereof in
different time periods. This study supported the core
propositions of the DCSS theory and indicated that it
has implications beyond individual criminal behavior.
Colvin, M., Cullen, F. T., & Vander Ven, T. (2002).
Coercion, social support, and crime: An emerging
theoretical consensus. Criminology, 40, 19–42.
Colvin, Cullen, and Vander Ven proposed a new
perspective in understanding criminal behavior around
the themes of “coercion” and “social support” in this
essay that was the basis for the DCSS theory.
Cullen, F. T. (1994). Social support as an organizing
concept for criminology: Presidential address to the
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Justice Quarterly,
11, 527–559.
In this essay, Cullen offered “social support” in
both instrumental and expressive forms as an
organizing concept for the contemporary approaches
against the crime problem in the society. Since the
DCSS theory grips “social support” along with
“coercion” to explain vicious cycle of chronic
criminality, reading Cullen’s presidential address is
vital for a comprehensive understanding of the
DCSS theory.
Cullen, Francis T.: Social Support and Crime
Currie, E. (1997). Market, crime and community:
Toward a mid-range theory of post-industrial violence.
Theoretical Criminology, 1, 147–172.
In this article, Currie lays out what he refers to as a
“mid-range” theory of violent crime among postindustrial nations. What is important here from a
social support perspective is that he argues that
market-based societies (like the United States) tend to
emphasize individualism, which systematically
undermines key sources of social support—such as
education, health care, and welfare—that could
conceivably reduce violence in the long term.
Pratt, T. C. (2009). Addicted to incarceration:
Corrections policy and the politics of misinformation in
the United States. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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While Pratt’s book is focused most heavily on the
collateral consequences of policies emanating from
the “control” tradition in criminology, considerable
discussion is devoted to how these policies have
eroded forms of social support over time in the
United States. His discussion of potential correctional
reform draws heavily on Cullen’s (1994) social
support theory both generally (i.e., socially supportive
policies outside of criminal justice that may have a
significant impact on crime) and specifically related to
corrections (i.e., socially supportive approaches such
as correctional rehabilitation).
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and
revival of American community. New York: Simon &
Schuster.
Although Putnam’s work is only peripherally
concerned with criminal behavior, his work is relevant
here in that his discussion of the breakdown of the
American community is rooted firmly in the social
capital tradition (a close cousin of social support
theory). Drawing from many of the same ideas that
influenced Cullen’s (1994) work, Putnam outlines the
harmful consequences that have emerged as a result of
social institutions from education, religion, and
politics having all become weakened over time.
Savolainen, J. (2000). Inequality, welfare state, and
homicide: Further support for the institutional anomie
theory. Criminology, 38, 1021–1042.
Savolainen’s cross-national study, while rooted
explicitly in the institutional anomie perspective,
focused on how the effect of economic inequality on
levels of lethal violence is most pronounced among
nations that are also characterized as having
weakened institutions of social protection (i.e., the
strength of the welfare state). In short, Savolainen
argues that “nations that protect their citizens from
the vicissitudes of market forces appear to be immune
to the homicidal effects of economic inequality.”
Drennon-Gala, Don: Social Support and Delinquency
Cullen, F. T. (1994). Social support as an organizing
concept for criminology: Presidential address to the
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Justice Quarterly,
11, 527–559.
Cullen, another early theorist on social support,
provides an alternative theory that builds upon
literature in mental health. Reflecting his
background in corrections and rehabilitation,
Cullen’s social support theory suggests that criminal
offenders have difficulty ceasing their deviant
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Annotated Further Readings
behavior because they lack the adequate social
resources and support mechanisms. He suggests that
a society and criminal justice system that is focused
on providing offenders with the necessary social
supports is not only more likely to reduce crime but
also is more benevolent.
Drennon-Gala, D. (1994). The effects of social support
and inner containment on the propensity toward
delinquent behavior and disengagement in education.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
Rochester.
Drennon-Gala’s dissertation was the original work
from which his book, Delinquency and High School
Dropouts, was produced. It provides a detailed
description of his theoretical statements, a thorough
review of the literature, an in-depth discussion of his
methodology, and a comprehensive presentation of
his findings.
Drennon-Gala, D. (1995). Delinquency and high school
dropouts: Reconsidering social correlates. Lanham, MD:
University Press of America.
In this book, Drennon-Gala details his hypothesis
regarding social support, inner containment, and
social bond theory. After a theoretical explanation, he
provides a test of his key propositions and finds that
social support and inner containment are strongly
related to both disengagement from education and
delinquency. He closes with his revised model of
social bond theory that includes measures of social
support.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
In this book, Hirschi presents a comprehensive
theoretical review of theories of social control,
cultural deviance, and strain. He suggests that control
theories have a stronger logical and theoretical
framework and presents his own control theory on
social bonds and delinquency. Hirschi also tests his
theory using survey data from a large sample of
adolescents and finds that his theory is shown more
support than measures of cultural deviance and
strain.
Elliott, Delbert S., Suzanne S. Ageton, and Rachelle J.
Canter: Integrated Perspective on Delinquency
Elliott, D. S. (1985). The assumption that theories can be
combined with increased explanatory power: Theoretical
integrations. In R. F. Meier (Ed.), Theoretical methods in
criminology (pp. 123–149). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
In this piece, Elliott discusses the benefits of
developing integrated theories of delinquency. Much
of the material is part of an ongoing debate between
Elliott and Travis Hirschi.
Elliott, D. S., Ageton, S., & Canter, R. (1979). An
integrated theoretical perspective on delinquent behavior.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 16, 3–27.
Elliott and colleagues introduce their integrated
theory of delinquency in this article. The key
components of the theory (strain, social learning, and
social control) are discussed and combined into a
comprehensive explanation of individual involvement
in sustained delinquent behavior.
Elliott, D. S., Huizinga, D., & Ageton, S. (1985).
Explaining delinquency and drug use. Newbury Park,
CA: Sage.
Elliott and colleagues present information from the
National Youth Survey (NYS). This book includes a
description of the theoretical framework of the study,
the research methodology, and study findings.
Hirschi, T. (1979). Separate and unequal is better. Journal
of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 16, 34–38.
Hirschi presents arguments against the use of
integrated theories in criminology. Hirschi presents
the benefits of using a “classical approach” in which
components of various pure theories are tested
against one another.
Hirschi, T. (1989). Exploring alternatives to integrated
theory. In S. F. Messner, M. D. Krohn, & A. E. Liska
(Eds.), Theoretical integration in the study of deviance
and crime: Problems and prospects (pp. 37–49). Albany:
SUNY Press.
Part of the ongoing debate on the utility of integrated
approaches to delinquency between Hirschi and
Delbert Elliott, Hirschi offers additional support for
the “competing hypothesis” approach to theoretical
development.
England, Ralph W.: A Theory of Middle-Class
Delinquency
Cernkovich, S. A. (1978). Evaluating two models of
delinquency causation. Criminology, 16, 335–352.
In this article, Cernkovich tests competing
theoretical perspectives on juvenile delinquency,
including one of the assumptions of England’s
theory that adherence to a hedonistic value system is
conducive to delinquency. He finds that both
elements of both structural (including subcultural)
Annotated Further Readings
and control theories interact to explain delinquency
likelihood.
Eve, R. A. (1975). “Adolescent culture”: Convenient
myth or reality? A comparison of students and their
teachers. Sociology of Education, 48, 152–167.
In this article, Eve tests whether, as England
proposed, adolescents have a distinct subculture from
adults. He reports that adolescents differ from adults
in their commitment to values that condone deviant
behaviors, but that adolescent values derive mainly
from those of adults.
Miller, J. G. (1970). Research and theory in middle-class
delinquency. British Journal of Criminology, 10, 33–51.
Miller provides a comprehensive discussion on how
criminological theories explain delinquent behaviors
committed by middle-class youths. He includes a
comparison of subcultural theories, including
England’s theory, with learning, control, and social
disorganization theories.
Felson, Richard B., and James T. Tedeschi:
Social Interactionist Theory of Violence
Felson, R. B., & Tedeschi, J. T. (Eds.). (1993). Aggression
and violence: Social interactionist perspectives.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
This edited book is based on a 1991 conference held
on SUNY Albany campus titled “Social Interactionist
Approaches to Aggression and Violence.” Participants
were asked to prepare more elaborated versions of
their presentations that were published as book
chapters. The result is an interesting collection of
studies providing social interactionist explanations for
different forms of violence, and they also compare and
contrast social interactionism with alternative
explanations for violence.
Tedeschi, J., & Felson, R. B. (1994). Violence, aggression,
and coercive actions. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
This book presents the social interactionist theory of
violence, aggression, and coercive actions in great
details. The first part includes a careful examination
and critique of traditional theories of aggression
based on biological, psychological, and criminological
perspectives. In the following parts, the authors
present their own theory (social interactionism) and a
variety of empirical evidence and logical arguments to
support it. They also demonstrate how social
interactionism can explain specific forms of
aggression like family violence and sexual coercion.
1117
Hagan, John, and Bill McCarthy: Social Capital and
Crime
Hagan, J., & McCarthy, B. (with Parker, P., &
Climenhage, J.). (1997). Mean streets: Youth crime and
homelessness. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press.
In this award-winning book, Hagan and McCarthy
outline the development and testing of a social capital
theory of crime. This rich field study of adolescents
living on the streets of Vancouver and Toronto,
Canada, identifies the risk factors that forced youths
to abandon the security of home for the mean streets
of the city. The book provides rich insight into street
culture, the criminal social capital that is vital to
survival on the street, and policy interventions toward
alleviating homeless in North American cities.
McCarthy, B., & Hagan, J. (2001). When crime pays:
Capital, competence, and criminal success. Social Forces,
79, 1035–1059.
In this article, McCarthy and Hagan extend work on
occupational success with an examination of
prosperity in illicit activities. They demonstrate the
importance of human and social capital to economic
success but also the salience of personal forms of
capital. Their study reveals that personal capital—
including a heightened ambition for wealth, an
inclination toward risk-taking, specialized skills, a
willingness to cooperate, and competence—play
important roles in both legal and illegal prosperity.
McCarthy, B., Hagan, J., & Martin, M. J. (2002). In and
out of harm’s way: Violent victimization and the social
capital of fictive street families. Criminology, 40, 831–865.
McCarthy and colleagues identify in this article
different types of relationships that are important to
people living on the street. They describe “street
families” as fictive kin that serve as a source of social
capital to homeless youths. Their study reveals that
street families provide greater protection against
criminal victimization than do other street associations.
Krohn, Marvin D.: Networks and Crime
Krohn, M. D. (1986). The web of conformity: A network
approach to the explanation of delinquent behavior.
Social Problems, 33, S81–S93.
This article is mainly a theoretical argument about
the effects of multiplex networks on deviance. Here,
Krohn focuses on area status and how urban areas
are prone to developing higher crime rates due to
social distance.
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Annotated Further Readings
Krohn, M. D., & Massey, J. L. (1980). Social control and
delinquent behavior: An examination of the elements of
social bond. Sociological Quarterly, 21, 529–544.
Krohn introduces his theory of the relationship
between networks and deviance in this reading. His
main goal is to build on Hirschi’s work.
Krohn, M. D., Massey, J. L., & Zielinski, M. (1988).
Role overlap, network multiplicity, and adolescent
deviant behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 51,
346–356.
This article establishes more empirical evidence for
Krohn’s theory. The study examines adolescent’s
social network multiplexity and the effects on
cigarette smoking.
Krohn, M. D., Stern, S. B., Thornberry, T. P., &
Jang, S. J. (1990). Family processes and initiation of
delinquency and drug use: The impact of parent and
adolescent perceptions. Albany, NY: Rochester Youth
Development Study, Hindelang Criminal Justice Research
Center, University at Albany.
This is an empirical study on the effects of parental
involvement on adolescent deviance. It concludes that
adolescents who have stronger relationships with their
parents are less likely to exhibit deviant behavior.
LaFree, Gary D.: Legitimacy and Crime
Blumstein, A., & Wallman, J. (Eds.). (2000). The crime
drop in America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press.
This collection of readings represents a variety of
explanations of the decline in crime in the United
States.
LaFree, G. D. (1998). Losing legitimacy: Street crime and
the decline of social institutions in America. Boulder, CO:
Westview.
In this book, LaFree fully explains institutional
legitimacy theory.
Robinson, T. H. (2003). Towards bridging the gap
between micro and macro levels of analysis in
criminology. Dissertation Abstracts International: The
Humanities and Social Sciences, 63, 4101.
This dissertation provides an extensive analysis of
institutional legitimacy theory. It is not an empirical
test of the theory, but it examines the logic and
theoretical construction of institutional legitimacy
theory.
Thornberry, Terence P.: Interactional Theory
Jang, S. J. (2002). The effects of family, school, peers,
and attitudes on adolescents’ drug use: Do they vary with
age? Justice Quarterly, 19, 97–126.
Jang tested interactional theory’s developmental
hypotheses about changing influence of four
interactional variables (attachment to parents,
commitment to school, drug-using peers, and pro-drug
attitudes) on drug use across the ages of adolescence.
While age-varying effects were found, observed
patterns were only partly consistent with the theory.
Krohn, M. D., Lizotte, A. J., Thornberry, T. P., Smith,
C., & McDowall, D. (1996). Reciprocal causal
relationships among drug use, peers, and beliefs: A fivewave panel model. Journal of Drug Issues, 26, 405–428.
Analyzing longitudinal data, Krohn and his colleagues
estimated a model of interrelationships among peer
drug use, peer reactions to drug use, beliefs about
drug use, and adolescent drug use. Findings generally
support the hypotheses of reciprocal causal
relationships among the variables.
Thornberry, T. P. (1996). Empirical support for
interactional theory: A review of the literature. In
J. D. Hawkins (Ed.), Delinquency and crime: Current
theories (pp. 198–235). New York: Cambridge
University Press.
This article provides an overview of empirical findings
about interactional theory. Given the lack of test of
the theory’s developmental hypotheses, Thornberry
focused on studies examining bidirectional
relationships among interactional variables.
Tittle, Charles R.: Control Balance Theory
Braithwaite, J. (1997). Charles Tittle’s control balance
and criminological theory. Theoretical Criminology, 1,
77–97.
Braithwaite provides one of the first critiques of
control-balance theory.
Hickman, M., & Piquero, A. R. (2001). Exploring the
relationship between gender, control balance and
deviance. Deviant Behavior, 22, 323–351.
Hickman and Piquero apply control-balance theory
to explain gender differences in crime.
Piquero, N. L., & Piquero, A. R. (2006). Control
balance and exploitative corporate crime. Criminology,
44, 397–430.
Annotated Further Readings
Piquero and Piquero apply control-balance theory to
the study of corporate crime.
18. Theories of White-Collar and Corporate Crime
Anomie and White-Collar Crime
1119
Pontell, H. N., & Geis, G. (Eds.). (2007). International
handbook of white-collar and corporate crime. New
York: Springer.
A recent international collection of contributions to
the white-collar crime criminology.
Clinard, M. B., & Yeager, P. C. (2006). Corporate crime.
New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Vaughan, D. (1996). The Challenger launch decision:
Risky technology, culture and deviance at NASA.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This is an updated and well-sourced volume on issues
regarding organizational crimes for profit.
Excellent case study of organizational deviance
analyzed through the lens of the anomie tradition.
Cullen, F. T. (1984). Rethinking crime and deviance
theory: The emergence of a structuring tradition. Totowa,
NJ: Rowman and Allenhend.
Cullen took Cloward and Ohlin’s theory and applied
it to crime generally, showing the importance of
differentiating between various types of deviant
adaptation.
Ermann, M. D., & Lundman, R. J. (Eds.). (2002).
Corporate and governmental deviance: Problems of
organizational behavior in contemporary society
(6th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
A classic reader revelaing the nature and harms of
upperworld illegality.
Geis, G., Meier, R. F., & Salinger, L. M. (Eds.). (1995).
White-collar crime: Classic and contemporary views
(3rd ed.). New York: Free Press.
A good collection of significant contributions to the
white-collar crime literature.
Kwitny, J. (1987). The crimes of patriots: The true tale
of dope, dirty money, and the CIA. New York: W. W.
Norton.
This is a good study of how well-integrated actors
pursuing legitimate national objectives may engage in
serious misconduct.
Passas, N., & Goodwin, N. (Eds.). (2004). It’s legal, but
it ain’t right: Harmful social consequences of legal
industries. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
This collection of essays illustrates the importance
of exploring the concept of white-collar crime
beyond legal definitions, while at the same time
shunning moralistic and subjective positions. It
shows how the pursuit of legitimate economic goals
by legal organizations generates consequences more
socially harmful than what others call “organized
crime.”
Benson, Michael L.: The Collateral Consequences of
White-Collar Offending
Conklin, J. E. (1977). Illegal but not criminal: Business
crime in America. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
This book focuses on the intricacies of various types
of business crime, public attitudes toward business
crime, and possible mechanisms for control of
business crime. The book also discusses specific cases
of business crime, as well as offender rationalizations
for engaging in such behavior.
Cressey, D. R. (1953). Other people’s money: A study in
the social psychology of embezzlement. New York: Free
Press.
Donald Cressey chronicles lengthy prison interviews
with incarcerated felons convicted of embezzlement.
He contends that three common themes are central to
cases of embezzlement for offenders: (1) the existence
of financial problems and the opportunity to engage
in crime, (2) intricate knowledge of the business
environment in order to engage in embezzlement,
and (3) rationalizations for engaging in
embezzlement.
Capitalism and White-Collar Crime
Cullen, F. T., Cavender, G., Maakestad, W. J., & Benson,
M. L. (2006). Corporate crime under attack: The fight to
criminalize business violence (2nd ed.). Newark, NJ:
LexisNexis.
This book examines one of the most famous cases in
the history of corporate crime: the trial of the Ford
Motor Company for negligent homicide in the
design and manufacture of the Ford Pinto
automobile. It includes chapters on the history and
contemporary status of the law in regards to
corporate crime.
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Annotated Further Readings
Friedrichs, D. O. (2007). Trusted criminals: White-collar
crime in contemporary society (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
This book presents an encyclopedic treatment of the
literature on white-collar crime. It covers the history
of the concept of white-collar crime, its many
different forms and types, theories of white-collar
crime, and official reactions to white-collar crime in
the criminal justice system.
Shover, N., & Hochstetler, A. (2006). Choosing whitecollar crime. New York: Cambridge University Press.
This book treats recent developments in whitecollar crime. It has particularly good treatments of
the effects of globalization on opportunities for
white-collar crime and of the differences between
elite corporate crime and ordinary white-collar
crime.
Clinard, Marshall B.: The Black Market
Clinard, M. B. (1983). Corporate ethics and crime: The
role of middle management. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Based on interview with officials from Fortune 500
companies, Clinard probes how middle managers
view ethics and illegal behavior.
Clinard, M. B., & Yeager, P. C. (1980). Corporate crime.
New York: Free Press.
In this classic study that updates Edwin Sutherland’s
White Collar Crime, Clinard and Yeager provide
systematic empirical information on the extent of
corporate illegality. They also develop a framework
for understanding why crime flourishes in corporate
organizations and explore policies for controlling
lawlessness in the upperworld.
Cressey, Donald R.: Embezzlement and
White-Collar Crime
Cressey, D. R. (1973). Other people’s money: A study in
the social psychology of embezzlement. Montclair, NJ:
Patterson Smith. (Original work published 1953)
The short monograph demonstrates the use of the
technique of analytic induction to study the financial
violation of trust.
Cressey, D. R. (1989). The poverty of theory in corporate
crime research. In W. S. Laufer & F. Alder (Eds.),
Advances in criminological theory (Vol. 1, pp. 31–56).
New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Cressey’s iconoclasm is on display in his powerful
criticism of the view that corporations can be treated
in criminology as human entities because the criminal
law so regards them.
Cressey, D. R. (1990). Learning and living. In B. Berger
(Ed.), Authors of their own lives: Intellectual
autobiographies by twenty American sociologists
(pp. 235–259). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cressey, along with 19 other eminent sociologists,
offers autobiographical information about his
background and his scholarly work.
Laub, J. H. (1983). Interview with Donald R. Cressey:
March 29, 1979. In J. H. Laub (Ed.), Criminology in the
making (pp. 131–165). Boston: Northeastern University
Press.
Cressey responds to a series of questions regarding his
life, work habits, and his views of various
criminological theories.
Croall, Hazel: Individual Differences and
White-Collar Crime
Clinard, M. B., & Quinney, R. (1973). Occupational
criminal behavior. Criminal behavior systems: A typology
(2nd ed., pp. 187–205). New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
Clinard and Quinney introduce two typologies of
white-collar crime: occupational crime and corporate
crime. They discuss the ability of white-collar
offenders to use their role as professionals to monitor
and define illegality in their behaviors. Specifically,
they focus on the role that professional associations
play in monitoring and defining illegality.
Daly, K. (1989). Gender and varieties of white-collar
crime. Criminology, 27, 769–794.
This is another work that questions the stereotype of
the white-collar criminal. Daly examines the
socioeconomic status of men and women and
demonstrates that a majority of the women employed
were clerical workers and most of the men were
managers or administrators. Also, she raises questions
regarding the relationship between gender, social
status, and race in which white-collar criminals get
caught and prosecuted.
Sutherland, E. H. (1940). White-collar criminality.
American Sociological Review, 5, 1–12.
Sutherland discusses crimes that include corporate
business violations committed by those of the upperclass for the purposes of developing a more
comprehensive theory of criminal behavior. He also
examines ways in which upper-class offenders can
Annotated Further Readings
shape the law and manipulate the system, thus
allowing the elites to influence the administration of
the law. For this reason, Sutherland’s introduction of
the term white-collar crime into the criminological
community purposely generalizes this concept to
focus on powerful corporations and elite offenders.
Geis, Gilbert: Perspectives on White-Collar
Crime Scandals
Pontell, H. N., & Geis, G. (Eds.). (2007). International
handbook of white-collar and corporate crime. New
York: Springer.
White-collar and corporate crimes have recently
gained international attention and concern. In this
recent text, well-known authorities from around the
world contribute original chapters regarding
numerous issues in white-collar and corporate crime,
many of which relate directly to the global economy.
Rosoff, S. M., Pontell, H. N., & Tillman, R. (2010).
Profit without honor: White-collar crime and the looting
of America (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
This widely cited book provides a substantive and
thorough overview of white-collar and corporate
crime that incorporates detailed and rich case
histories, social and theoretical analysis, and policy
discussion.
Shover, N., & Hochstetler, A. (2006). Choosing whitecollar crime. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Neal Shover and Andy Hochstetler’s thesis regarding
the “generative worlds” of white-collar offending and
issues of rational choice frame this informed and
novel theoretical discussion. It updates an enormous
amount of research and provides important and new
conceptualizations for understanding a broad range
of offenses.
Green, Stuart P.: Moral Theory of White-Collar Crime
Geis, G., Meier, R., & Salinger, L. (Eds.). (1995). Whitecollar crime: Classic and contemporary views. New York:
Free Press.
A collaboration of both classic and contemporary
literature regarding white collar criminality.
Green, G. (1997). Occupational crime. Chicago: Nelson
Hall.
Describes white-collar criminality as being largely
occupational and used by individuals in their
legitimate positions of employment. Examines
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criminological theory and its application to specific
white collar offenses.
Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Examines the concept of social justice through a
politically philosophical framework.
Individual Differences and White-Collar Crime
Piquero, N. L., & Weisburd, D. (2009). Developmental
trajectories of white-collar crime. In S. Simpson &
D. Weisburd (Eds.), The criminology of white-collar
crime (pp. 153–174). New York: Springer.
Some of the strongest works in this field arise from
a wealth of longitudinal research on a dataset of
U.S. federal offenders in the 1970s. Piquero and
Weisburd’s essay summarizes and further
develops this earlier work on white-collar criminal
careers.
Shover, N., & Hochstetler, A. (2006). Choosing whitecollar crime. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Shover and Hochstetler, especially in chapters 3 and 5
of their book, provide a thoughtful analysis of whitecollar crime and the factors that influence decision
making.
Integrated Theories of White-Collar Crime
Barak, G. (1998). Integrating criminologies. Boston:
Allyn & Bacon.
This book remains the single most thorough survey of
the issues involved in integrated theories of crime,
authored by a prominent and prolific critical
criminologist.
Friedrichs, D. O. (2010). Trusted criminals: White collar
crime in contemporary society (4th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
The text by the author of this entry is the most
comprehensive survey of what is known about whitecollar crime and its control. It includes a chapter
reviewing virtually all theories—including integrated
theories—applied to white-collar crime.
Pontell, H., & Geis, G. (Eds.). (2007). International
handbook of white-collar and corporate crime. New
York: Springer.
This handbook, edited by two leading white-collar
crime scholars, includes a number of articles of
relevance to integrated theories of white-collar
crime.
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Annotated Further Readings
Schlegel, K., & Weisburd, D. (Eds.). (1992). White-collar
crime reconsidered. Boston: Northeastern University
Press.
This collection of articles, originally papers presented
at a conference commemorating Edwin H.
Sutherland, includes some important contributions by
Braithwaite, Coleman, and Vaughan, on integrated
theories of white-collar crime.
Michalowski, Raymond J., and Ronald C. Kramer:
State-Corporate Crime
Kauzlarich, D., & Kramer, R. (1998). Crimes of the
nuclear state: At home and abroad. Boston: Northeastern
University Press.
Kauzlarich and Kramer analyze the interaction of
state and private entities in facilitating massive
environmental crimes spanning many decades, and in
doing so both apply and develop concepts relevant to
state-corporate crime.
Kramer, R. C., Michalowski, R. J., & Kauzlarich, D.
(2002). The origins and development of the concept and
theory of state-corporate crime. Crime and Delinquency,
48, 263–282.
Kramer et al. chronicle the historical development of
the concept of state-corporate crime and discuss its
relation to existing criminological theory.
Michalowski, R. J., & Kramer, R. C. (Eds.). (2006).
State-corporate crime: Wrongdoing at the intersection of
business and government. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press.
This represents the most recent contribution from
the progenitors of the concept of state-corporate
crime. In collaboration with a number of
researchers, they examine a variety of tragic
historical events that resulted from a confluence of
organizational forces.
Pontell, Henry N., and Kitty Calavita: Explaining the
Savings and Loan Scandal
Black, W. K. (2005). The best way to rob a bank is to
own one. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Authored by a former savings and loan regulator, this
book uses economic and criminological theories to
explain how corrupt CEOs and CFOs, with the aid
of industry regulators and politicians, perpetrated
massive accounting fraud. Special attention is given to
Charles Keating.
Rational Choice and White-Collar Crime
Benson, M. L., & Simpson, S. S. (2009). White-collar
crime: An opportunity perspective. New York:
Routledge.
Provides a detailed analysis of how opportunities
available within organizational settings shape the
criminal choices that white-collar offenders make.
Shover, N., & Hochstedler, A. (2006). Choosing whitecollar crime. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Details the factors that “bound” or circumscribe the
“rational” choice to engage in white-collar crime.
Ross, E. A.: Sin and Society
Borgatta, E. F., & Meyer, H. J. (Eds.). (1959). Social
control and the foundations of sociology: Pioneer
contributions of Edward Alsworth Ross to the study of
society. Boston: Beacon Press.
This volume contains versions of two of Ross’s major
works, each edited to half its original length but
retaining substantive content and conclusions, as well
as the author’s distinctive literary style.
Hertzler, J. O. (1951). Edward Alsworth Ross:
Sociological pioneer and interpreter. American
Sociological Review, 16, 609–613.
This review of Ross’s life and achievements contains a
complete list of all his published works.
McMahon, S. H. (1999). Social control and public
intellect: The legacy of Edward A. Ross. New Brunswick,
NJ: Transaction.
Sean McMahon’s intellectual biography traces Ross’s
career as an activist and academic. The author
discusses Ross’s major works and makes extensive use
of unpublished lectures, speeches, and essays, as well
as Ross’s letters and correspondence.
Ross, E. A. (1977). Seventy years of it: An
autobiography. New York: Arno Press.
Originally published in 1936, this illustrated
autobiography gives a spirited account of Ross’s life
as scholar, traveler, activist, and reporter.
Sutherland, Edwin H.: White-Collar Crime
Geis, G. (2007). White-collar and corporate crime. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Considers the developments in the realm of whitecollar crime that have followed in the wake of
Annotated Further Readings
Sutherland’s original work. Discusses definitional
issues, research contributions, and the historical
background of white-collar crime.
Sutherland, E. H. (1983). White collar crime: The uncut
version. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
The restored full text of Sutherland’s pioneering
statement on white-collar crime.
Vaughan, Diane: The Normalization of Deviance
Calavita, K., Pontell, H. N., & Tillman, R. (1997). Big
money crime: Fraud and politics in the savings and loan
crisis. Berkeley: University of California Press.
In this study of the savings and loan crisis of the
1980s, Calavita, Pontell, and Tillman analyze how
deregulation created a criminogenic environment that
fostered the commission of various forms of fraud in
the thrift industry. What they characterize as collective
embezzlement appears to have resulted, in part, from
elastic norms in the industry that normalized deviance
within savings and loan institutions.
Kramer, R. (2010). From Guernica to Hiroshima to
Baghdad: The normalization of the terror bombing of
civilian populations. In W. J. Chambliss, R. J.
Michalowski, & R. C. Kramer (Eds.), State crime in the
global age (pp. 118–133). Devon, UK: Willan.
This study analyzes how international outrage over
the terror bombing of civilians at Guernica and
other places prior to World War II was
transformed into general acceptance and support
for such practices, including the use of atomic
bombs against Japan, by the war’s end. Kramer
argues that the socially constructed morality of war
goals, the instrumental rationality of military
bureaucracies, and the legitimation of state violence
through the failures of international law combined
to normalize the bombing of civilians within the
political culture and war planning organizations of
the United States and the United Kingdom.
Pontell, H. N., & Geis, G. (Eds.). (2007). International
handbook of white-collar and corporate crime. New
York: Springer.
This book is an outstanding collection of articles on
white-collar and organizational crime by
internationally renowned scholars. Diane Vaughan’s
contribution to this volume is a clear, concise
overview of her theoretical strategy; the concepts of
situated action and the normalization of deviance;
1123
and the connection between causes and strategies for
social control.
19. Contemporary Gang Theories
Bourgois, Philippe: In Search of Respect
DeKeseredy, W. S., Alvi, S., & Schwartz, M. D. (2006).
Left realism revisited. In W. S. DeKeseredy & B. Perry
(Eds.), Advancing critical criminology: Theory and
application (pp. 19–42). Lanham, MD: Lexington.
This chapter offers readers and researchers alike an
in-depth overview of left realism, which is a major
subdiscipline of critical criminology.
DeKeseredy, W. S., & Schwartz, M. D. (2002).
Theorizing public housing woman abuse as a function of
economic exclusion and male peer support. Women’s
Health and Urban Life, 1, 26–45.
This article includes an integrated theory of woman
abuse in public housing that is heavily influenced by
Bourgois’s empirical and theoretical work on drug
dealing gangs in East Harlem.
Lewis, O. (1966). La vida: A Puerto Rican family in the
culture of poverty—San Juan and New York. New York:
Random House.
Prior to the publication of In Search of Respect, this
was the last major ethnographic study conducted in
El Barrio, and the culture of poverty theory emerged
from this research. This theory is flawed for several
reasons, but despite its major shortcomings, it is
broadcast locally and nationally by leading radio and
television personalities.
Schwartz, M. D., & DeKeseredy, W. S. (1997). Sexual
assault on the college campus: The role of male peer
support. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
This book includes a comprehensive analysis of the
ways in which male peer support contributes to
sexual assault on the college campus. Rich with
theory, this book also includes a review of large-scale
survey data gathered in the United States and
Canada.
Waterson, A. (1993). Street addicts in the political
economy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Using rich ethnographic data gathered in New York
City, Waterston provides a critical criminological
description of the ways in which street addicts’ lives
are shaped by broader economic, political, and
ideological forces.
1124
Annotated Further Readings
Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears: The world
of the new urban poor. New York: Knopf.
This book is essential reading for anyone interested in
developing a rich sociological understanding of the
relationship between joblessness and drugs in U.S.
urban ghettos.
Gangs and the Underclass
Hagedorn, J. M. (1988). People and folks: Gangs, crime,
and the underclass in a rustbelt city (2nd ed.). Chicago:
Lake View Press.
John Hagedorn’s classic ethnographic study of gangs
in Milwaukee presents a dramatic look at the
structural changes that contributed to gang
development and continuity. This book provides a
quintessential look at “gangs and the underclass.”
Moore, J. W. (1978). Homeboys: Gangs, drugs, and
prison in the barrios of Los Angeles. Philadelphia:
Temple University Press.
Joan Moore’s classic book on the lives of Latino gang
members in Los Angeles presents an intriguing look at
how history, culture, and community structure converge
to shape gangs in Los Angeles. The connection between
street life and prison for the gangs and their members
makes this a particularly interesting read.
Moore, J. W. (1991). Going down to the barrio:
Homeboys and homegirls in charge. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press.
This follow-up to Moore’s prior work provides
additional insight into the lives of male and female
gang members, including their involvement in crime,
drugs, and violence. This book provides additional
insight into Moore’s earlier (1978) work.
Wilson, W. J. (1990). The truly disadvantaged: The
inner-city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
William Julius Wilson provides an intriguing look at
the structural conditions contributing to the
development of the “underclass.” This classic book
provided a foundation for much of the research on
neighborhood context and structural disadvantage
during the past 2 decades.
Horowitz, Ruth, and Gary Schwartz: Honor and Gang
Delinquency
Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street: Decency
violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York:
W. W. Norton.
This work extends the idea of normative ambiguity to
modern day, inner-city communities. Anderson
proposes that individuals in crime-prone, urban
neighborhoods have two sets of norms, street and
decent, that they utilize depending on where and with
whom they are interacting.
Horowitz, R., & Schwartz, G. (1974). Honor, normative
ambiguity and gang violence. American Sociological
Review, 39, 238–251.
This work defines the role of normative ambiguity as
it relates to the causes of gang violence. Horowitz and
Schwartz explain that gang violence is the result of
the interpersonal conflict that arises when a gang
member’s honor is impugned and the resulting
disrespect causes the individual to break from the
conventional normative response, thereby responding
in a manner that would value criminal and violent
behavior.
Jankowski, Martin Sanchez: Islands in the Street
Jankowski, M. S. (2002). Representation, responsibility
and reliability in participant-observation. In T. May
(Ed.), Qualitative research in action (pp. 144–160).
London: Sage.
This chapter highlights some of the important
elements and responsibilities of a researcher
conducting participant-observation, such as that
done for Islands in the Street. Jankowski argues that
participant-observers have a tremendous
responsibility to the groups they study because there
is limited opportunity for reliability of findings to be
confirmed since replication is nearly impossible.
Because there is rarely replication of participantobservations, groups under study must be
represented to the public as accurately and fairly as
possible.
Jankowski, M. S. (2003). Gangs and social change.
Theoretical Criminology, 7, 191–215.
Jankowski explains how American gangs have
responded to environmental and social changes over
five different eras and that urban characteristics have
a significant impact on structural elements of gang
membership. In doing so, he further differentiates
gang behaviors from other social actions.
Klein, Malcolm W., and Cheryl L. Maxson:
Street Gang Structure and Organization
Spergel, I. A. (1995). The youth gang problem. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Annotated Further Readings
Also considered one of the preeminent gang scholars
in the field, Spergel provides an exhaustive and
intricate analysis of gangs and gang research. In
chapter 6 specifically, Spergel discusses at length
gang structure and organization, how it differs across
gangs, how it develops and evolves, and the many
and varied gang typologies already in existence.
Starbuck, D., Howell, J. C., & Lindquist, D. J. (2001).
Hybrid and other modern gangs. Juvenile Justice Bulletin,
Youth Gang Series. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
A collaborative piece from a widely published gang
researcher and a retired gang unit sergeant, this
article calls attention to—and describes the recent
proliferation of—a new gang type: the “hybrid” gang.
With characteristics such as a mixture of racial/ethnic
groups, an amalgam of symbols and graffiti from
various gangs, shifting membership patterns, and
frequent merging and splintering among gangs, the
authors discuss the importance in recognizing this
gang type as distinct from the more traditional gangs.
Weisel, D. L. (2002). The evolution of street gangs: An
examination of form and variation. In W. L. Reed &
S. H. Decker (Eds.), Responding to gangs: Evaluation
and research (pp. 25–65). Washington, DC: National
Institute of Justice.
Utilizing data collected from a large-scale survey of
police department and in-depth interviews with gang
members in two large cities, this article describes
different gang types in terms of their characteristics,
organizational dimensions, and criminal versatility.
The author also observes a great deal of agreement
between the two data sources on many of the
organizational and structural features of gangs.
Maxson, Cheryl L.: Gang Migration Theorizing
Klein, M. W., & Maxson, C. L. (2006). Street gangs:
Patterns and policies. New York: Oxford University Press.
This book is a current and thorough review of the
available research on many aspects of gangs. In
particular, chapter 1 offers a good summary of the
work on prevalence, proliferation, and migration.
Maxson, C. L. (1998). Gang members on the move:
Juvenile justice bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention.
This article is the original explication of Maxson’s
work on gang migration. It includes more in-depth
1125
findings of the original 1992 study conducted by the
University of Southern California.
Maxson, C. L., Woods, K. J., & Klein, M. W. (1995).
Street gang migration in the United States. Unpublished
final report, Los Angeles Social Science Research
Institute, University of Southern California.
This unpublished report is the basis for the larger
University of Southern California study on gang
migration. This report provides a longer treatment of
the study methods and findings.
Short, James F., Jr.: Gangs and Group Processes
Decker, S. H., & Van Winkle, B. (1996). Life in the
gang: Family, friends, and violence. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Scott Decker and Barrik Van Winkle interviewed 100
current members in St. Louis to capture intricate
details of gang life. Many of these details illuminate
Short’s key contention that group processes dictate
individual crime and delinquency. A key concept the
authors offer is how gang involvement perpetuates a
constant threat, which often prompts violence.
Short, J. F., Jr. (1998). The level of explanation problem
revisited: The American Society of Criminology 1997
Presidential Address. Criminology, 36, 3–36.
In this article, Short calls attention to the level of
explanation problem in criminology on the largest of
platforms—the 1997 presidential address to the
American Society of Criminology. Short
acknowledged the importance and advances in
individual-level research, but that the field “must be
sensitive to context” (p. 28).
Thornberry, T. P. (1987). Toward an interactional theory
of delinquency. Criminology, 25, 863–891.
Terence Thornberry, the principal investigator of the
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s
longitudinal Rochester, New York, site, introduced a
bidirectional model of juvenile delinquency.
Thornberry called for a merging of major theories at
the three levels of explanation and later went on to
write Gangs and Delinquency in Developmental
Perspective (2003) based on the Rochester gang youth.
Vigil, James Diego: Multiple Marginality Theory
Vigil, J. D. (2004). Gangs and group membership:
Implications for schooling. In M. A. Gibson, P. Gandara,
& J. P. Koyama (Eds.), School connections: U.S. Mexican
1126
Annotated Further Readings
youth, peers, and school achievement (pp. 87–106). New
York: Teachers College Press.
This additional work by Vigil further examines the
relationship between gang membership and schooling.
Vigil, J. D., & Long, J. M. (1990). Emic and etic
perspectives on gang culture: The Chicano case. In C. R.
Huff (Ed.), Gangs in America (pp. 55–68). Newbury
Park, CA: Sage.
This is another work that explains a methodological
approach to studying gangs. Utilizing this method, to
examine Chicano gangs, it outlines characteristics of
gangs and gang members.
20. Theories of Prison Behavior and Insurgency
Colvin, Mark: Social Sources of the New Mexico
Prison Riot
Colvin M. (1981). The contradictions of control: Prisons
in a class society. The Insurgent Sociologist, 11, 33–45.
An early publication on prison riots, in this article,
Colvin provides an interpretation of the New Mexico
Prison riot from a conflict perspective. It offers a
critical analysis of how economic and political
changes following World War II altered the
relationship between the inmate social structure and
administrative control structure.
Colvin, M. (1982). The 1980 New Mexico prison riot.
Social Problems, 29, 449–462.
In this article, Colvin provides a concise overview of
the historical context that led up to the riot at the
Penitentiary of New Mexico. An emphasis is placed
on how political and ideological influences increased
the disorganization of both the administrative control
structure and the inmate social system.
Colvin, M., Cullen, F. T., & Vander Ven, T. (2002).
Coercion, social support, and crime: An emerging
theoretical consensus. Criminology, 40, 19–42.
This article provides an overview of how changes in
the levels of coercion and support in the environment
can influence criminal behavior in general. This
theory is applied to the prison environment to explain
riots in Colvin (2008, see entry reference section).
DiIulio, J. (1987). Governing prisons: A comparative
study of correctional management. New York: Free Press.
Dilulio suggests that understanding prison
management is most pertinent to explaining prison
disorganization and violence. Unlike Colvin, DiIulio
suggests that effective prison management can control
even the most unruly inmate populations and that
prison violence is primarily the result of failed
management.
Useem, B., & Kimball, P. (1989). States of siege: U.S.
prison riots, 1971–1986. New York: Oxford University
Press.
This book provides a narrative review of riots that
occurred from 1971 to 1986 in order to examine the
historical and contextual factors that encourage
prison uprisings. Similar to DiIulio, Useem and
Kimball argue that riots are caused primarily by
administrative breakdown, not the organization of
prisoners. Similar to Colvin, they also place high
importance on the historical and political context the
preceded the riots.
Useem, B., & Reisig, M. D. (1999). Collective action in
prisons: Protests, disturbances, and riots. Criminology,
37, 735–760.
This article examines factors that cause riots, protests
and disturbances. In particular, it investigates the
influence that both managerial practices and inmate
organization have on collective action.
DiIulio, John J., Jr.: Prison Management and Prison
Order
DiIulio, J. (1989). Managing constitutionally. Society,
26(2), 81–82.
A response to Toch’s (1989) review (see below).
Reisig, M. (1998). Rates of disorder in higher-custody
state prisons: A comparative analysis of managerial
practices. Crime and Delinquency, 44(2), 229–244.
An empirical test of DiIulio’s theory using data from
prison employees.
Stohr, M. K., Loverich, N. P., Menke, B. A., & Zupan,
L. L. (1994). Staff management in correctional
institutions: Comparing DiIulio’s “control model” and
“employee investment model” outcomes in five jails.
Justice Quarterly, 11(3), 471–497.
An empirical test of DiIulio’s theory using data
collected from employees of different jails.
Toch, H. (1989). Being tough versus being fair. Society,
26(4), 84.
A response to DiIulio (1989, see above).
Toch, H. (1989). Review of Governing Prisons: A
comparative study of correctional management. Society,
26(2), 86–88.
A book review and criticism of Governing Prisons.
Annotated Further Readings
Useem, B., & Reisig, M. (1999). Collective action in
prisons: Protests, disturbances, and riots. Criminology,
37(4), 735–759.
An empirical test of administrative control theory and
it relevance for inmate collective action.
Giallombardo, Rose: Women in Prison
Casey-Acevedo, K., & Bakken, T. (2001). The effect of
time on the disciplinary adjustment of women in prison.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and
Comparative Criminology, 45, 489–497.
The authors present a study of female inmates who
spent time in a maximum security prison. They
examine adaptation to prison and disciplinary
infractions over time.
Greer, K. R. (2000). The changing nature of interpersonal
relationships in a women’s prison. Prison Journal, 80,
442–468.
In this article, the author interviews female inmates to
gain insight into the subcultures that exist in women’s
correctional facilities. Results indicate that women in
prison do still form subcultures reminiscent of those
found in early research, but the structure of the
subcultures seems to be changing.
Maeve, M. K. (1999). The social construction of love and
sexuality in a women’s prison. Advances in Nursing
Science, 21, 46–65.
Using interviews with female inmates, the author
presents a summary of the development and types of
relationships in a women’s prison. Findings indicate
that relationships in prison generally reflect the types
of relationships found outside of prison.
Goffman, Erving: Asylums
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday
life. New York: Doubleday Anchor.
In this seminal work by Goffman, he presents a
dramaturgical approach to understanding social
action. The theatrical metaphor implies that the self
develops in response to performing for others and
simultaneously observing and responding to the
direction others give; social life is literally a stage. It
can also be argued that this book forms the basis of
Goffman’s theory of interaction.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-toface behavior. New York: Doubleday Anchor.
The concept of “face” is defined and shown how it
conforms individual behavior into socially acceptable
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forms. Taken with The Presentation of Self in
Everyday Life, this book is often viewed as another
step toward Goffman’s theory of interaction order.
Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the
organization of experience. New York: Harper & Row.
The “frame” metaphor is used to address the
individualist dilemma and show how structures (i.e.,
frames) can organize human experiences. When read
with The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and
Interaction Ritual, this book can be seen to round out
Goffman’s theory of interaction.
Irwin, John, and Donald R. Cressey:
Importation Theory
Irwin, J. (1980). Prisons in turmoil. Boston: Little,
Brown.
In this book, Irwin traces the historical changes in
prison paradigms and discusses how prisoners cope
with the hardships of institutional life.
Irwin, J. (2005). The warehouse prison: Disposal of the
new dangerous class. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
In this book, Irwin discusses how prisons have
become a receptacle for incapacitating society’s most
disadvantaged citizens. He discusses the idea that
prisons have lost their capacity to reform inmates.
Irwin, J., & Cressey, D. R. (1962). Thieves, convicts and
the inmate subculture. Social Problems, 10, 142–155.
In this article, Irwin and Cressey first developed and
explained the importation model. The authors
describe their model and discuss the three unique
prison subcultures.
Kruttschnitt, Candace, and Rosemary Gartner:
Women and Imprisonment
Kruttschnitt, C., & Gartner, R. (2005). Marking time in
the golden state: Women’s Imprisonment in California.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
This book gives a detailed account of Kruttschnitt
and Gartner’s study of the California Institution for
Women and Valley State Prison for Women.
McCorkel, Jill: Gender and Embodied Surveillance
Gartner, R., & Kruttschnitt, C. (2004). A brief history of
doing time: The California Institution for Women in the
1960s and the 1990s. Law and Society Review, 38,
267–304.
1128
Annotated Further Readings
This article discusses the experiences of women
prisoners under a penal discourse of rehabilitation in
the 1960s compared to the penal discourse
characterized by “get tough” sentiments.
Hannah-Moffat, K. (2004). Losing ground. Social
Politics: State, and Society, 11, 363–385.
In this article, Hannah-Moffat discusses the results of
a study of 144 women parole candidates and their
parole board decisions. Decisions and discussions are
examined in the broader context of gender-responsive
policy and how risk is reframed.
McKim, A. (2008). Getting gut-level. Gender and Society,
22, 303–323.
This article discusses penal governance of women in a
mandated, community-based drug treatment program.
Pollack, S. (2005). Taming the shrew: Regulating
prisoners through women-centered mental health
programming. Critical Criminology, 13, 71–87.
In this article, Pollack discusses the new womencentered mental health agenda that the Correctional
Service of Canada has implemented. Pollack discusses
that, despite this progressive rhetoric, these processes
still serve to regulate women rather than empower
them.
Prison Insurgency Theory
Useem, B., & Goldstone, J. A. (2002). Forging social
order and its breakdown: Riot and reform in U.S.
prisons. American Sociological Review, 67, 499–524.
Their most recent work extends their state-centered
theory of collective behavior to look at the role of
prison administrators and political officials in
breaking down and/or restoring social order inside of
prisons. They examine two riots from the 1990s,
including one at Rikers Island in New York and the
other in private prisons in New Mexico.
Useem, B., Graham-Camp, C., & Camp, G. M. (1996).
Resolution of prison riots: Strategies and policies. New
York: Oxford University Press.
The authors examine the stages before, during, and
after prison riots. The authors provide real life
strategies for policy makers and prison administrators
to prevent and deal with these situations.
Useem, B., & Kimball, P. A. (1987). A theory of prison
riots. Theory and Society, 16, 87–122.
The authors put forth a theory of prison violence
based on the social-psychological variable of
identification. Moreover, they use identification to
explain the intensity and duration of prison riots.
Useem, B., & Reisig, M. D. (1999). Collective action in
prisons: Protests, disturbances, and riots. Criminology,
37, 735–759.
In this article, the authors explore riots as well as
lesser forms of collective behavior inside of prisons,
such as protests, work stoppages, and general
disturbances. The authors test whether inmatebalance theory or administrative-control theory
provide the best explanation for these actions.
Sykes, Gresham M.: Deprivation Theory
Giallombardo, R. (1966). Society of women: A study of a
women’s prison. New York: Wiley.
Giallombardo’s work is a useful contrast to Sykes’s
work due to her focus on women (versus Sykes’s
focus on men). Her research also occurred within
the same general time frame as Sykes’s study,
allowing more direct comparisons between the two
studies.
Hagan, J. (1995). The “imprisoned society”: Time turns a
classic on its head. Sociological Forum, 10, 519–525.
In this review essay, Hagan revisits Sykes’s classic
work and discusses the applicability of his perspective
several decades later. The evolution of correctional
facilities and changes to inmate populations and
prison administrators forces consideration of whether
the deprivations and cultural adaptations described
by Sykes remain fully applicable.
Toch, Hans: Coping in Prison
DiIulio, J., Jr. (1991). Review: Understanding prisons:
The new old penology. Law and Social Inquiry, 16,
65–99.
A review of Coping: Maladaptation in Prisons and
two other studies carried out during the same time
period.
Summers, R., & Dear, G. E. (2003). The prison
preference inventory: An examination of substantive
validity in an Australian prison sample. Criminal Justice
and Behavior, 30, 459–482.
An empirical test of the validity of Toch’s prison
preference inventory.
Toch, H. (1981). Inmate classification as a transaction.
Criminal Justice and Behavior, 8, 3–14.
Toch outlines his perspective on inmate classification.
Annotated Further Readings
Wright, K. (1988). The relationship of risk, needs, and
personality classification systems and prison adjustment.
Criminal Justice and Behavior, 15, 454–471.
An empirical test of the predictive validity of the
prison preference inventory.
21. Theories of Fear and Concern About Crime
Altruistic Fear
Madriz, E. (1997). Nothing bad happens to good girls:
Fear of crime in women’s lives. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
In this book, Esther Madriz explores fear of crime
among a group of urban women suing qualitative
techniques. She details the negative consequences of
higher levels of personal fear felt by women, which is
relevant to gendered patterns in fear for others. She
also discusses women’s altruistic fear.
Snedker, K. A. (2006). Altruistic and vicarious fear of
crime: Fear for others and gendered social roles.
Sociological Forum, 21, 163–195.
In this essay, Karen Snedker explores fear for others
through qualitative interviews of male and female
urban residents. She documents the gender differences
in altruistic and vicarious fear and the behavioral
consequences of fear for others.
Warr, M., & Ellison, C. G. (2000). Rethinking social
reactions to crime: Personal and altruistic fear in family
households. American Journal of Sociology, 106, 551–578.
In this essay, Mark Warr and Christopher Ellison
provide an in-depth quantitative analysis of altruistic
fear within the household. They report different types
of altruistic fear: spousal and parental. This seminal
piece has spurred research on altruistic fear.
Chiricos, Ted: Racial Threat and Fear
Chiricos, T., Hogan, M., & Gertz, M. (1997). Racial
composition of neighborhood and fear of crime.
Criminology, 35, 107–131.
This is the first article by Chiricos and colleagues to
address the issue of racial threat. It demonstrates a
relationship between the perceived racial composition
of neighborhoods and fear of crime. However, it does
not include a racial threat measure beyond racial
composition.
Chiricos, T., McEntire, R., & Gertz, M. (2001). Perceived
racial and ethnic composition of neighborhood and
perceived risk of crime. Social Problems, 48, 322–340.
1129
This article probably provides the fullest explication of
the racial threat thesis. It also presents empirical
evidence linking minority presence to victimization risk.
Chiricos, T., Welch, K., & Gertz, M. (2004). Racial
typification of crime and support for punitive measures.
Criminology, 42, 359–389.
This represents probably the most explicit test of the
racial threat hypothesis at the individual level. It
includes specific, individual-level measures of both the
association of minorities with crime and punitive
sentiments.
Crawford, C., Chiricos, T., & Kleck, G. (1998). Race,
racial threat, and sentencing of habitual offenders.
Criminology, 36, 481–511.
This article represents Chiricos’s first effort to directly
measure racial threat. It connects county-level
indicators of racial threat with the use of Florida’s
habitual offender law. The results are somewhat
counterintuitive but not inconsistent with the racial
threat thesis.
Collective Security/Fear and Loathing
Black, D. (1980). The manners and customs of the police.
New York: Academic Press.
Black discusses the history of the police and the
function of the police and law in contemporary society.
He introduced the concept of self-help, which he
argues is a decentralized form of social control. When
the people are threatened by crime and when people
cannot rely on the government for protection, they
take individual measures in the form of gun ownership
to protect themselves. This concept of self-help is
closely related to the concept of informal security.
Waskow, A. I. (1966). From race riot to sit-in, 1919 and
the 1960s. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Elaborating Max Weber’s thesis of the state with the
monopoly of legitimate use of physical force,
Waskow discusses the unique situation of U.S. private
gun ownership and its use. He predicted that
American society was moving in the direction of a
“state” in the Weberian sense in the mid-1960s, with
inclination to concentrate the use of physical force in
the hands of governmental agencies.
Ferraro, Kenneth F.: Risk Interpretation Model
Ferraro, K. F. (1995). Fear of crime: Interpreting
victimization risk. Albany: SUNY Press.
1130
Annotated Further Readings
This is the work in which Ferraro spells out the
foundations for his risk interpretation model.
Hale, C. (1996). Fear of crime: A review of the literature.
International Review of Victimology, 4, 79–150.
In this article, Hale undertakes a thorough review of
the literature regarding fear of crime. While over a
decade old, the article still provides a good summary
of the theoretical perspectives used to explain fear of
crime.
Ricketts, M. L. (2007). K-12 teachers’ perceptions of
school policy and fear of school violence. Journal of
School Violence, 6(3), 45–67.
In this article, Ricketts reviews the literature
regarding Ferraro’s risk interpretation model and its
various applications. She then applies the risk
interpretation model to explain fear among public
school teachers in Kentucky.
Fisher, Bonnie S., and Jack L. Nasar: Fear Spots
Fisher, B. S., & Nasar, J. L. (1992). Fear of crime in
relation to three exterior site features: Prospect, refuge,
and escape. Environment and Behavior, 24, 35–65.
In this work, Fisher and Nasar develop the initial
components and mechanisms of fear spots. This work
is a cornerstone piece in the greater understanding of
fear spots.
Fisher, B. S., & Nasar, J. L. (1995). Fear spots in relation
to microlevel physical cues: Exploring the overlooked.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 32,
214–239.
Here Fisher and Nasar further test the construct of
fear spots and solidify the importance of
subcomponents prospect, concealment, and escape.
Lewis, Dan A., and Greta W. Salem:
Incivilities and Fear
Hunter, A. (1978). Symbols of incivility: Social disorder
and fear of crime in urban neighborhoods. Paper
presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society
of Criminology, November 8–12, Dallas, TX.
Hunter is widely credited with being the first to tie
the concept of incivility to fear of crime. Hunter
contends that minor transgressions of community
norms are not fear producing per se yet are able to
trigger feelings of fear because people associate
these incivilities with criminal activity. The greater
the incivility, the more our protective vigilance is
aroused.
Lewis, D. A., & Salem, G. W. (1986). Fear of crime:
Incivility and the production of a social problem. New
Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
It is in this book that Lewis and Salem carefully
develop their theory of incivility and fear. The book
provides a solid theoretical foundation built upon the
Chicago School of Social Disorganization and the
victimization perspective. The book also reports
Lewis and Salem’s empirical findings where they find
support for the theory.
Wilson, J. Q., & Kelling, G. L. (1982, March). Broken
windows: The police and neighborhood safety. Atlantic
Monthly, 249, 29–38.
Wilson and Kelling’s well-known broken windows
theory appeared a few years before Lewis and Salem’s
book on incivility and fear. Whereas Lewis and Salem
provided the theoretical foundation for this general
line of inquiry, Wilson and Kelling’s metaphorical
imagery of a broken window popularized the
connection between minor misbehavior and fear of
crime among a wide audience.
Perceptually Contemporaneous Offenses
Lane, J., & Meeker, J. (2003). Women’s and men’s fear
of gang crimes: Sexual and nonsexual assault as
perceptually contemporaneous offenses. Justice
Quarterly, 20, 337–371.
Lane and Meeker provide an up-to-date and thorough
review of the literature on perceptually
contemporaneous offenses. This article also presents
empirical evidence that fear of rape and fear of
assault are perceptually contemporaneous offenses for
both women and men.
Warr, M. (1984). Fear of victimization: Why are women
and the elderly more afraid? Social Science Quarterly, 65,
681–702.
In this article Mark Warr introduced the concept of
perceptually contemporaneous offenses and explained
its theoretical importance to the study of fear of
crime. This article also provided the first empirical
evidence supporting the existence of perceptually
contemporaneous offenses.
Skogan, Wesley G., and Michael G. Maxfield:
Coping With Crime
Lewis, D. A. (Ed.). (1981). Reactions to crime: Individual
and institutional responses. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
The overarching theme of this volume is the
importance of the victimization perspective to
Annotated Further Readings
understanding different responses to crime. The 11
chapters are organized around three interrelated
themes: (1) individual’s reactions, (2) political
dimensions, and (3) institutional responses.
Lewis, D. A., & Salem, G. W. (1981). Crime and urban
community: Toward a theory of neighborhood security.
Washington, DC: National Crime Justice Reference
Service.
The authors compare the victimization perspective
and the social control perspective as approaches to
the study of the impact of crime on the attitudes and
reactions of people. They argue that the social control
perspective may be a more useful means to address
crime and fear. This perspective focuses on the
capacity of community organizations to organize
collectively to control signs of disorder that lead to
increased fear and crime among large-city dwellers.
Podolefsky, A., & DuBow, F. (1981). Strategies for
community crime prevention: Collective responses to
crime in urban America. Springfield, IL: Charles C
Thomas.
The authors use the lens of the social problems
approach and the victimization prevention approach
to understand responses to crime by community and
other groups. They describe who participates in these
responses, as well as the types, patterns of, and
reasons for different types of collective responses.
Their conclusions do not support conventional
wisdom that individuals are motivated by fear-related
factors to participate in collective efforts; rather
participation is linked to the social integration to the
neighborhood.
Rosenbaum, D. P. (Ed.). (1986). Community crime
prevention: Does it work? Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
The overarching theme of this edited volume is to
access a fundamental question that grew out of the
War on Crime and Reactions to Crime Project: Do
citizen and police initiatives have any effect on fear of
crime, crime and incivilities in residential, and
1131
commercial areas. Each chapter presents results from
1 of 11 evaluations of citizen or police strategies that
were implemented during 1970s and mid-1980s.
After critically assessing the evaluations, Yin in the
last chapter concludes that overall intervention did
succeed in reducing crime and fear.
Stanko, Elizabeth A.: Gender, Fear, and Risk
Stanko, B. (2004). A tribute to 10 years of knowledge.
Violence Against Women, 10, 1395–1400.
This article discusses some of the things Stanko has
learned over the 25 years of research on women and
violence and describes her current view of the world.
Stanko, B. (2007). From academia to policy making:
Changing police responses to violence against women.
Theoretical Criminology, 11, 209–219.
This article discusses Stanko’s experience moving
from the world of academia into the practitioner
world, as well as how her academic history influences
her current role working with police.
Stanko, E. A. (1985). Intimate intrusions: Women’s
experience of male violence. London: Routledge &
Kegan Paul.
This book is the first major work where Stanko
makes the argument that women’s experience with
men’s violence is an “ordinary” part of their
lives—that they are legitimately afraid because they
are constantly in danger from the men that they know
(e.g., spouses, boyfriends, friends, and coworkers)
and men that they do not know (e.g., strangers).
Stanko, E. A. (1990). Everyday violence: How women
and men experience sexual and physical danger. London:
Pandora.
This is Stanko’s second book, where she interviews
both men and women about their experiences with
danger and discusses her argument that most people
have learned to manage these situations as part of
their daily lives.