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Notes on the Sociology of Deviance Author(s): Kai T. Erikson Source: Social Problems, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Spring, 1962), pp. 307-314 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/798544 . Accessed: 24/04/2013 06:05 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . University of California Press and Society for the Study of Social Problems are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Problems. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NOTES ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANCE KAI T. ERIKSON of Pittsburgh University It is generalpracticein sociologyto rangepoliciesofthecompany required regarddeviantbehavioras an alienele- quite another.Any situationmarked mentin society. Devianceis considered by thiskindof ambiguity, of course, a vagrant formofhumanactivity, mov- can pose a seriousdilemmafortheining outsidethe moreorderlycurrents dividual: if he is carefulto observe of social life.And since this typeof one setofdemandsimposeduponhim, aberration could only occur (in he runsthe immediateriskof violatwerewrongwith- ing some other,and thus may find theory)ifsomething in the social organizationitself,de- himselfcaughtin a deviantstanceno viantbehavioris describedalmostas matterhow earnestly he triesto avoid if it wereleakagefrommachinery in it. In thislimitedsense,deviancecan poor condition:it is an accidentalre- be regardeda "normal"human result of disorderand anomie,a symp- sponseto "abnormal" socialconditions, tomof internalbreakdown. and thesociologist is therefore invited The purposeof the followingre- to assumethatsomesortof pathology markswill be to reviewthisconven- existswithinthesocialstructure whentional outlookand to argue that it ever deviantbehaviormakes an apfor pearance. providestoo narrowa framework the studyof deviantbehavior.DeviaThis general approach is clearly tion,we will suggest,recallingDurk- more concernedwiththe etiologyof heim'sclassicstatement on thesubject, deviantbehaviorthan with its concan oftenbe understood as a normal tinuingsocialhistory-andas a result a vital it oftendraws sociologicalattention productof stableinstitutions, resourcewhich is guardedand pre- away froman important area of inservedby forcesfoundin all human quiry.It may be safe to assumethat naive acts of deviance,such as first organizations.1 criminaloffenses,are provokedby strainsin the local situation.But this to current of a muchlonger deviant is onlythebeginning According theory, behavioris mostlikelyto occurwhen story,fordeviantactivitiescan generthe sanctionsgoverningconductin ate a good deal of momentum once any given settingseem to be contra- theyare setintomotion:theydevelop This would be the case, for formsof organization, dictory.2 persist over example,if the workrulespostedby time, and sometimesremain intact a companyrequiredone courseof ac- long afterthe strainswhichoriginally tionfromitsemployees andthelonger- producedthem have disappeared.In thisrespect, deviantactivities areoften absorbed into the main tissue of society at read the 55th annual meetings Paper of the American Sociological Association, and derive supportfrom the same New York, 1960. forceswhichstabilizeotherformsof 1 Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Socio- social life. There are personsin sological Method (translatedby S. A. Solovay for example,who make career and J. H. Mueller), Glencoe: The Free ciety, commitments to deviantstylesof conPress, 1958. 2 The best known statementsof this gen- duct,impelledby someinnerneed for ratherthanby any urgeneral position, of course, are by Robert K. continuity Merton and Talcott Parsons. Merton,Social cies in the immediatesocial setting. Theory and Social Structures(revised edi- There are groups in societywhich tion), Glencoe: The Free Press, 1957; and encouragenew devianttrends, Parsons, The Social System,Glencoe: The actively Free Press, 1951. often prolongingthem beyond the This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 308 SOCIAL PROBLEMS an adap- correct takinggood spoonat mealtime, point wheretheyrepresent orotherwise observtion to strain.These sourcesof sup- careofhismother, if mores of his the difficult are for deviant behavior society-and ing port electsto bringsancto visualizewhen we use termslike the community in tions againsthim for the occasions "anomie,"or "breakdown" "strain," it is of theproblem.Suchterms when he does act offensively, discussions to a few deviant details the how social us responding explain may help createsfreshdeviantpoten- set withina vast contextof proper structure tial,but theydo not help us explain conduct.Thus a personmaybe jailed fora fewscattered mohow thatpotentialis latershapedinto or hospitalized defined as a fullThe mentsofmisbehavior, socialpatterns.3 durable, persisting individual'sneed for self continuitytimedeviantdespitethe factthathe and the group'sofferof supportare had supplied the communitywith thathe was otherindications altogethernormalprocesses,even if countless theyare sometimesfoundin deviant a decent,moralcitizen.The screening situations;and thusthe studyof de- devicewhichsiftsthesetellingdetails viantbehavioris as mucha studyof out of the individual'sover-allperthen,is a sensitiveinstruas it is a studyof formance, social organization of control.It is important ment social and anomie. disorganization to notethatthisscreentakesa number of factorsinto accountwhichare II relatedto the deviantact de- not directly Froma sociologicalstandpoint, as conductwhich itself:it is concernedwiththe actor's viancecanbe defined is generally thoughtto requiretheat- social class,his past recordas an oftheamountofremorse he mantentionof social controlagencies-- fender, that is, conductabout which "some- ages to convey,and manysimilarconthingshouldbe done."Devianceis not cernswhichtakehold in the shifting This is why inherentin certainforms moodsof thecommunity. a property of behavior;it is a property conferredthe communityoften overlooksbedeviant upon these formsby the audiences haviorwhichseemstechnically which directlyor indirectlywitness (like certainkinds of white collar them.Sociologically, then,the critical graft)or takessharpexceptionto beharmvariablein thestudyof devianceis the haviorwhichseemsessentially social audienceratherthan the indi- less (like certainkindsof sexualimIt is an easilydemonstrated vidualperson,sinceit is theaudience propriety). whicheventuallydecideswhetheror fact,for example,thatworkingclass not any given actionor actionswill boyswho stealcarsare farmorelikely to go to prisonthanupperclassboys becomea visiblecase of deviation. who committhe same or even more a little seem This definition may but it has the advantageof seriouscrimes,suggestingthat from indirect, bringinga neglectedsociologicalissue the point of view of the community intoproperfocus.When a communitylower class offendersare somehow thecomactsto controlthebehaviorof one of moredeviant.To thisextent, it is engagedin a very munityscreenis perhapsa morereleits members, intricateprocessof selection.Even a vant subjectfor.sociologicalresearch determinedmiscreantconformsin than the actual behaviorwhich is it. through mostof his dailybehavior-usingthe filtered Once theproblemis phrasedin this 8Cf. Daniel Glaser and Kent Rice, way,we can ask: howdoesa communi"Crime, Age, and Employment,"American ofconductshould decidewhatforms Sociological Review, 24 (1959), pp. 679- ty be singledout forthiskindof atten. 86. This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Notes on the Sociologyof Deviance 309 tion? And why, having made this cipleof a system, a then,is essentially one: it drawsthe behavior choice,does it createspecial institu- centripetal tions to deal with the personswho of actorstowardthe nucleusof the enact them?The standardanswerto system,bringingit withinrange of this questionis that societysets up basic norms.Any conductwhich is the machinery of controlin orderto neitherattractedtoward this nerve protectitself against the "harmful" centerby the rewardsof conformity of deviance,in muchthe same norcompelledtowardit byothersocial effects is considered "outofcontrol," way that an organismmobilizesits pressures resourcesto combat an invasionof whichis to say,deviant. This basic model has providedthe germs.At times,however,this classtheme roomconvention for most contemporary to make thinkseems only In the ing about deviance,and as a result theproblemmorecomplicated. firstplace, as Durkheimpointedout littleattention has been given to the someyearsago,it is byno meansclear notionthatsystemsoperateto mainthat all acts considereddeviantin a tain boundaries.Generallyspeaking, cultureare in fact(or even in princi- boundaries arecontrols whichlimitthe of a system'scomponent ple) harmfulto grouplife.4And in fluctuation the secondplace, specialistsin crime partsso thatthe whole retainsa deand mentalhealthhavelongsuggested finedrangeof activity-a uniquepatthat deviancecan play an important ternof constancy and stability-within role in keepingthesocialorderintact thelargerenvironment.6 The rangeof to humanbehavioris potentially so great -again a pointwe owe originally This has seriousimplica- thatanysocialsystem mustmakeclear Durkheim.5 in general. statements tionsforsociological about the natureand locatheory tion of its boundaries, placinglimits III on theflowof behaviorso thatit cirIn recentyears,sociologicaltheory culateswithina given culturalarea. are a crucialpointof has becomemoreand moreconcerned Thus boundaries forpersonslivingwithinany with the concept"social system"-an reference organizationof society'scomponent system,a prominentconceptin the partsinto a formwhichsustainsin- group'sspeciallanguageand tradition. ternalequilibrium, resistschange,and A juvenilegangmaydefineitsboundais boundarymaintaining.Now this ries by the amountof territory it deconcepthas manyabstract dimensions,fends,a professionalsocietyby the a fraterbut it is generallyused to describe rangeof subjectsit discusses, of members it thoseforcesin the socialorderwhich nal orderby thevariety promotea high level of uniformityaccepts.But in each case, members amonghumanactorsand a high de- sharethe same idea as to wherethe withinhumanin- groupbeginsand ends in socialspace gree of symmetry In thissense,theconceptis and know what kinds of experience stitutions. orientedsince it directs "belong"withinthisdomain. normatively For all its apparentabstractness, a the observer'sattentiontowardthose centersin social space wherethe core social systemis organizedaroundthe of personsjoinedtogether lo- movements values of societyare figuratively cated.The main organizational prin- in regularsocial relations.The only materialfoundin a systemformark4 Emile Durkheim, The Division of then,is the behavior Labor in Society (translated by George ing boundaries, of itsparticipants; and theformof beSimpson), Glencoe: The Free Press, 1952. See particularlyChapter 2, Book 1. 5 Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method, op. cit. 6 Cf. Talcott Parsons,The Social System, op. cit. This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 310 SOCIAL PROBLEMS havior which best performsthis func- ceive? Perhaps they satisfya number tion would seem to be deviant almost of psychologicalperversitiesamong the by definition,since it is the most ex- mass audience, as many commentators treme varietyof conduct to be found have suggested,but at the same time within the experience of the group. theyconstituteour main source of inIn this respect, transactions taking formationabout the normativeoutlines place between deviant persons on the of society. They are lessons through one side and agencies of control on which we teach one anotherwhat the the other are boundary maintaining normsmean and how far theyextend. mechanisms. They mark the outside In a figurativesense, at least, morality limits of the area in which the norm and immoralitymeet at the public has jurisdiction,and in this way assert scaffold,and it is during this meeting how much diversityand variabilitycan thatthe communitydeclareswhere the be containedwithin the systembefore line between them should be drawn. it begins to lose its distinctstructure, Human groups need to regulatethe its unique shape. routine affairsof everydaylife, and to A social norm is rarelyexpressedas this end the normsprovide an impora firmrule or officialcode. It is an tant focus for behavior. But human abstractsynthesisof the many separate groups also need to describe and antimes a communityhas statedits senti- ticipate those areas of being which lie mentson a given issue. Thus the norm beyond the immediateborders of the has a historymuch like that of an group-the unseen dangers which in articleof commonlaw: it is an accum- any culture and in any age seem to ulation of decisions made by the com- threatenthe securityof group life.The munity over a long period of time universal folklore depicting demons, which graduallygathersenough moral devils, witchesand evil spiritsmay be influenceto serve as a precedent for one way to give formto these otherfuture decisions. Like an article of wise formlessdangers,but the visible common law, the norm retains its deviant is another kind of reminder. validityonly if it is regularlyused as As a trespasseragainst the norm, he a basis for judgment. Each time the representsthose forcesexcludedby the communitycensures some act of de- group's boundaries: he informsus, as viance, then,it sharpensthe authority it were, what evil looks like, what of the violated norm and re-establishes shapes the devil can assume. In doing the boundariesof the group. between so, he shows us the difference of kinds which experience belong One of the most interestingfeatures of control institutions,in this regard, within the group and kinds of experiis the amount of publicity they have ence which belong outside it. Thus deviance cannot be dismissed always attracted.In an earlierday,correctionof deviantoffenderstook place as behavior which disruptsstabilityin in the public market and gave the society,but is itself,in controlledquancrowd a chance to display its interest tities,an importantcondition for prein a direct, active way. In our own servingstability. day, the guiltyare no longer paraded IV in public places, but instead we are confrontedby a heavy flow of newsThis raises a serious theoretical paper and radio reports which offer question. If we grant that deviant bemuch the same kind of entertainment. havior oftenperformsa valuable servWhy are these reports considered ice in society,can we then assume that "newsworthy"and why do they rate societyas a whole activelytriesto prothe extraordinaryattention they re- mote this resource? Can we assume, This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Notes on the Sociologyof Deviance in otherwords,thatsome kind of active recruitmentprocess is going on to assure societyof a steadyvolume of deviance? Sociology has not yet developed a conceptual language in which this sortof question can be discussedwithout a great deal of circularity, but one observationcan be made which gives the question an interestingperspective -namely, that deviant activitiesoften seem to derive support from the very agencies designed to suppress them. Indeed, the institutions devised by human society for guarding against deviance sometimes seem so poorly equipped for this task that we might well ask why this is considered their "real" functionat all. It is by now a thoroughlyfamiliar argumentthatmany of the institutions built to inhibitdeviance actuallyoperate in such a way as to perpetuateit. For one thing,prisons,hospitals,and other agencies of control provide aid and protection for large numbers of deviant persons.But beyond this,such institutionsgathermarginalpeople into tightlysegregatedgroups,give them an opportunityto teach one another the skills and attitudes of a deviant career,and even drive them into using these skills by reinforcingtheir sense of alienation fromthe rest of society.7 This process is found not only in the institutionswhich actuallyconfinethe deviant,but in the general community as well. The community'sdecision to bring deviant sanctionsagainst an individual is not a simple act of censure. It is a 7 For a good descriptionof this process in the modern prison, see Gresham Sykes, The Societyof Captives,Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress, 1958. For views of two differenttypes of mental hospital settings,see Erving Goffman,"The Characteristicsof Total Institutions," Symposium on Preventiveand Social Psychiatry, Washington,D. C.: Walter Reed ArmyInstitute of Research, 1957; and Kai T. Erikson, "Patient Role and Social Uncertainty:A Dilemma of the Mentally Ill," Psychiatry, 20 (1957), pp. 263-74. 311 at once moving sharpriteof transition, him out of his normal position in sohim into a disciety and transferring tinct deviant role.8 The ceremonies which accomplishthischange of status, usually,have threerelatedphases. They arrange a formal confrontationbetween the deviant suspect and representativesof his community(as in the criminal trial or psychiatriccase conference); they announce some judgment about the natureof his deviancy (a "verdict"or "diagnosis,"for example); and theyperforman act of social placement,assigning him to a special deviant role (like that of "prisoner" or "patient") for some period of time. Such ceremoniestend to be events of wide public interest and ordinarily take place in a dramatic, ritualized setting.9Perhaps the most obvious example of a commitmentceremonyis the criminal trial, with its elaborate ritual and formality, but more modest equivalents can be found almost anywhere that proceduresare set up for judging whether or not someone is officiallydeviant. An importantfeatureof these ceremonies in our cultureis that they are almost irreversible.Most provisional roles conferredby society-like those of the student or citizen soldier, for instance-include some kind of terminal ceremonyto mark the individual's movement back out of the role once its temporaryadvantages have been exhausted.But the roles allotted to the deviant seldom make allowance for this type of passage. He is ushered into the special position by a decisive and dramaticceremony,yet is retired fromit with hardlya word of public notice. As a result,the deviant often returnshome with no proper license to resume a normal life in the com8 Talcott Parsons, op cit., has given the classical descriptionof how this role transfer works in the case of medical patients. 9 Cf. Harold Garfinkel,"SuccessfulDegradationCeremonies,"AmericanJournalof Sociology,61 (1956), pp. 420-24. This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 312 SOCIAL PROBLEMS munity.From a ritual point of view, nothing has happened to cancel out the stigmas imposed upon him by earlier commitmentceremonies: the original verdict or diagnosis is still formallyin effect.Partly for this reason, the communityis apt to place the returningdeviant on some form of probationwithinthe group,suspicious that he will returnto deviant activity upon a moment'sprovocation. A circularityis thus set into motion which has all the earmarksof a "selffulfillingprophecy,"to use Merton's finephrase.On the one hand, it seems obvious that the apprehensionsof the community help destroy whatever chances the deviant might otherwise have for a successfulreturnto society. Yet, on the other hand, everydayexperience seems to show that these apprehensionsare altogetherreasonable, for it is a well-knownand highlypublicized fact that most ex-convictsreturnto prison and thata large proportion of mental patients require additional treatment after once having been discharged.The community'sfeeling thatdeviantpersonscannotchange, then,maybe based on a faultypremise, but it is repeated so frequentlyand with such convictionthat it eventually creates the factswhich "prove" it correct.If the returneddeviantencounters this feelingof distrustoftenenough,it is understandablethat he too may begin to wonderif the originalverdictor diagnosisis stillin effect-and respond to thisuncertainty by resumingdeviant activity.In some respects,this solution may be the onlyway forthe individual and his community to agree what formsof behavior are appropriatefor him. Moreover,this prophecyis found in the officialpolicies of even the most advanced agencies of control. Police departmentscould not operate with any real effectivenessif they did not regard ex-convictsas an almost permanentpopulation of offenders, a con- stantpool of suspects.Nor could psychiatricclinics do a responsiblejob if they did not view formerpatients as a groupunusuallysusceptibleto mental illness. Thus the prophecygains currencyat many levels within the social order,not only in the poorlyinformed attitudes of the communityat large, but in the best informedtheories of most controlagencies as well. In one form or another,this problem has been known to Western culture for many hundredsof years,and this simple fact is a very important one for sociology. For if the culture has supporteda steadyflowof deviant behavior throughoutlong periods of historical evolution, then the rules which apply to any formof functionalist thinkingwould suggestthat strong forces must be at work to keep this flow intact. This may not be reason enough to assertthat deviantbehavior is altogether"functional"-in any of the many senses of that term-but it should make us reluctant to assume that the agencies of controlare somehow organized to preventdeviant acts from occurring or to "cure" deviant offendersof theirmisbehavior.'0 This in turnmight suggestthat our present models of the social system, with theirclear emphasis on harmony and symmetry in social relations,only do a partialjob of representingreality. Perhaps two different(and oftenconflicting)currentsare foundwithinany well-functioningsystem: those forces which promote a high over-all degree of conformityamong human actors, and those forceswhichencouragesome degreeof diversityso thatactorscan be deployed throughoutsocial space to 10 Albert K. Cohen, for example, speaking for most sociologists, seems to take the question for granted: "It would seem that the controlof deviant behavior is, by definition,a culture goal." In "The Study of Social Disorganizationand Deviant Behavior," Merton, et al., editors, Sociology Today. New York: Basic Books, 1959, p. 465. This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Notes on the Sociologyof Deviance 313 mark the system'sboundaries. In such quiry altogether.Perhaps the stability a scheme,deviant behavior would ap- of some social units is maintainedonly pear as a variation on normative if juvenile offendersare recruitedto themes,a vital formof activitywhich balance an adult majority; perhaps outlines the area within which social some families can remain intact only if one of their members becomes a life as such takes place. As Georg Simmel wrote some years visible deviant or is committedto a ago: hospital or prison. If this supposition to be a useful one, sociologists proves An absolutely andharmonious centripetal not onlyis should be interested in discovering group,a pure "unification," unreal,it couldshowno real how a social unit manages to differenempirically life process.. . Justas the universe tiate the roles of its membersand how needs"love and hate,"thatis, attractive to play and repulsiveforces,in orderto have certain persons are "chosen" any format all, so society, too,in order the more deviant parts. to attaina determinate shape,needssome Second, it is evident that cultures ratioof harmonyand disquantitative of association and competition,vary in the way they regulate traffic harmony, of favorable and unfavorable tendencies. moving back and forthfromtheirde. . . Society,as we knowit, is the re- viant boundaries. Perhaps we could sult of both categoriesof interaction, whichthusbothmanifest as begin with the hypothesis that the themselves trafficpatternknown in our own culwhollypositive.11 ture has a marked Puritan cast: a deV finedportion of the population,largeIn summary,two new lines of in- ly drawn fromyoung adult groups and quiry seem to be indicated by the from the lower economic classes, is stabilizedin deviant roles and generalargumentpresentedabove. First, this paper attemptsto focus ly expected to remain therefor indefiour attentionon an old but still vital nite periods of time. To this extent, sociological question: how does a so- Puritan attitudesabout predestination cial structurecommunicateits "needs" and reprobationwould seem to have or impose its "patterns" on human retained a significantplace in modern actors? In the presentcase, how does criminal law and public opinion. In a social structureenlist actors to en- otherareas of the world,however,difgage in deviant activity? Ordinarily, ferenttraffic patternsare known.There the fact that deviant behavior is more are societiesin which deviance is concommon in some sectors of society sidereda naturalpursuitforthe young, than in others is explained by declar- an activitywhich theycan easily abaning that somethingcalled "anomie" or don when they move throughdefined "disorganization" prevails at these ceremonies into adulthood. There are sensitive spots. Deviance leaks out societies which give license to large where the social machineryis defec- groups of personsto engage in deviant tive; it occurs where the social struc- behavior for certain seasons or on ture fails to communicateits needs to certaindays of the year.And thereare human actors. But if we consider the societies in which special groups are possibilitythat deviant persons are re- formed to act in ways "contrary"to sponding to the same social forcesthat the normalexpectationsof the culture. elicit conformityfromothers,then we Each of these patterns regulates deare engaged in another order of in- viant traffic yet all of them differently, provide some institutionalizedmeans 11 Georg Simmel,Conflict (translatedby for an actor to give up a deviant Kurt H. Wolff), Glencoe: The Free Press, "career" without permanent stigma. The problem forsociological theoryin 1955, pp. 15-16. This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 314 SOCIAL PROBLEMS to learnfromthosecultures generalmightbe to learnwhetheror anything intonormalsonot thesevaryingpatternsare func- whichpermitre-entry tionallyequivalentin some meaning- cial life to personswho have spenta ful sense; the problemfor applied periodof"service" on society's boundasociologymightbe to see if we have ries. COMPONENTS OF VARIATION IN CITY CRIME RATES KARL SCHUESSLER Indiana University Introduction.A persistentissue in peripheral to thatproblemby a correwhether is the is crime lational criminology analysisof selectedcrimerates of all Ameriwhich and socialcharacteristics productof generalsocialfactors can of its determine the rate 100,000 cities, populationor more, universally or theconsequenceof cir- 1950. The immediateobjectivewas occurrence; whether thevariationin cumstances specificto a given social to determine and wantingin generality. This thecrimerateof these105 largecities setting explainedby a problemfindsinformalexpressionin could be statistically suchquestionsas "Does crimevaryas small numberof generalfactors,or would of factors a multiplicity "as whether conflict?" thedegreeof normative the degreeof social deprivation?" "as be required.A secondtask of equal was but greaterdifficulty the degreeof economicneed?"-as if importance ifpossible,thesociological crimewerea simple,mechanicalfunc- to establish, factorsthat tion of normativedisorder,thwarted meaningof any statistical social ambition,or economicinsuffi-mightemergein theanalysis. ciency. Such broad questions have Data. The crimerateswerebased on servednotonlyas a pointof departure knownto thepofor numerousempiricalstudies,but recordsof "offenses in UniformCrimeReas given lice," well occasion for have been as the in the grandmanner ports; and the social and economic muchtheorizing from of Ferri,Garofalo,and Bonger.Al- data were obtainedprincipally AdCensus United States publications. are currently though criminologists data are fallible-in these mittedly, moreabsorbedby theoriesapplicable thepolicerecords-butstill to a limitedrange of facts,such as particular, as to be unworthy of unreliable not so and lower theoriesof embezzlement class delinquency,they have always analysis. For each city,averageannualrates been intriguedby the possibilityof 100,000population,15+, forthe per common social elements to discovering 1949-51,were computedfor period all crime. seven major offenses,listed below Purpose.This studyprovidesevidence (Table 1) along with corresponding mediansand extremevalues.' Next listed (Table 2) are the 20 Read before Criminology Section of variables,which, aside independent Annual Ohio Valley Sociological Society, weresefrom their readyavailability, Meeting, April 21-22, 1961, Cleveland, Ohio. The author is indebted to Lelah Padilla, Gerald Slatin, Roland Chilton,and Cherry Carter who assisted in various phases of the statisticalwork; also to the Graduate School of Indiana Universityfor financialassistance. 1 The decision to analyze offense-specific rates ratherthan a general crime rate reflectsthe assumptionthat crime is not a unitary phenomenon, and that different causes. kinds of crime have different This content downloaded from 151.12.58.2 on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:05:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions