Crime and Criminals Contemporary and Classic Readings in Criminology

by Scarpitti, Frank R.; Nielsen, Amie L.; Miller, J. Mitchell

• ISBN13: 9780195370904
• ISBN10: 0195370902
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-31
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

A vibrant collection of readings designed to provide a comprehensive--and accessible--introduction to criminology, Crime and Criminals: Contemporary and Classic Readings, Second Edition, brings together selections from diverse and dynamic sources, including sociologists, criminologists, andscholars from other related disciplines. Featuring twenty-four new readings, this incisive text addresses the broad range of subjects typically covered in a criminology course, including society's attempts to control crime and criminal behavior. To help students understand the relevance and real-world applications of criminology, new coeditor J. Mitchell Miller has shaped this edition with new selections that address how criminological research directly influences practical responses to crime. Building on the work of coeditors Frank R.Scarpitti and Amie L. Nielsen, these cutting-edge readings reflect exciting developments in contemporary criminology while also preserving the text's original purpose: to compile a set of readings that represent both the breadth and variety of research on the causes of crime, its control, andrelated social policy issues. In addition, this engaging text integrates many helpful pedagogical resources, which draw students into the core concepts and fundamental theories of the field: * An introductory chapter begins each section, providing a survey of the major issues in each area and a helpful context for the readings that follow * An introduction precedes each selection, offering an overview of the article and a discussion of its relevance to students * Lively discussion questions follow each reading An essential resource for criminology courses, the new edition Crime and Criminals explores the dynamic, challenging, and ever-changing realities of crime.

Author Biography

Frank R. Scarpitti is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware.
Amie L. Nielsen is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Miami.
J. Mitchell Miller is Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Table of Contents

Preface

Contributors

Defining Criminology and Crime

Criminology as Social Science

Historical Explanations of Crime: From Demons to Politics

Characteristics of the Criminal Law

The State, the Law, and the Definition of Behavior as Criminal or Delinquent

Observing and Measuring the Nature and Extent of Crime

Are Uniform Crime Reports a Valid Indicator of the Index Crimes? An Affirmative Answer with Minor Qualifications

Reassessing the Reliability and Validity of Self-Report Delinquency Measures

Managing Rape: Exploratory Research on the Behavior of Rape Statistics

A Snowball's Chance in Hell: Doing Fieldwork with Active Residential Burglars

Covert Participant Observation: Reconsidering the Least Used Method

Correlates of Crime

Specifying the SES/Delinquency Relationship

Age and the Patterning of Crime

Explaining the Gender Gap in Delinquency: Peer Influence and Moral Evaluations of Behavior

Intelligence and Criminal Behavior

Family Relationships, Juvenile Delinquency, and Adult Criminality

On Immigration and Crime

Theories of Crime

Formal and Informal Sanctions: A Comparison of Deterrent Effects

The Criminal Man

Does the Body Tell? Biological Characteristics and Criminal Disposition

Personality and Crime: Are Some People Crime Prone?

A Sociological Theory of Criminal Behavior

A Social Learning Theory of Crime

Lower-Class Culture as a Generating Milieu of Gang Delinquency

Code of the Streets

Formal Characteristics of Delinquency Areas

Routine Activity Theory

A Control Theory of Delinquency

The Nature of Criminality: Low Self-Control

Foundation for a General Theory of Crime

Crime and the American Dream

Causes of Crime: A Radical View

Criminological Observations of Crime

Violent Crime in the United States

The Motivation to Commit Property Crimes

Organized Crime

Casinos and Banking: Organized Crime in the Bahamas

Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in White-Collar Crime

Trouble in the Schoolyard: A Study of Risk Factors of Victimization

Researching Dealers and Smugglers

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