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 CONTENTS

Preface

CHAPTER 1 THEORY AND CRIME

Spiritual Explanations
Natural Explanations
Scientific Theories
Causation in Scientific Theories
Three Categories of Criminological Theories
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 2 THEORY AND POLICY IN CONTEXT

Crime in the United States: The Past Half-Century
Two Opposing Narratives of the Crime Wave
Explaining the 1990s Decline
The City That Became Safe
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 3 CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY

The Social and Intellectual Background of Classical
Criminology
Beccaria and the Classical School
The Neoclassical School
From Classical Theory to Deterrence Research
 Nagin’s Review of Deterrence Research
Rational Choice and Offending
Routine Activities and Victimization
Focused Deterrence: Operation Ceasefire
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 4 BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND CRIMINAL

BEHAVIOR
Background: Physical Appearance and Defectiveness
Lombroso, the Born Criminal, and Positivist Criminology
Goring’s Refutation of the Born Criminal
Body Type Theories
Family Studies
Early Twin and Adoption Studies
Maoa: The Warrior Gene
Hormones
The Central Nervous System
The Autonomic Nervous System
Environmentally Induced Biological Components of
Behavior
Epigenetics and the Role of Heritability Studies in Biosocial
Criminology
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 5 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AND

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR
Intelligence and Crime: Background Ideas and Concepts
 IQ Tests and Criminal Behavior
Delinquency, Race, and IQ
Interpreting the Association Between Delinquency and IQ
Personality and Criminal Behavior—Sigmund Freud and
Psychoanalysis
Research Using Personality Tests
Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder
Clinical Prediction of Future Dangerousness
Actuarial Prediction of Later Crime and Delinquency
Depression and Delinquency
Impulsivity and Crime
Moffitt’s Life-Course-Persistent Offenders
Policy Implications of Personality Research
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 6 DURKHEIM, ANOMIE, AND

MODERNIZATION
Emile Durkheim
Crime As Normal in Mechanical Societies
Anomie as a Pathological State in Organic Societies
Durkheim’s Theory of Crime
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 7 STRAIN THEORIES

Robert K. Merton and Anomie in American Society
Cohen’s Middle Class Measuring Rod
 Cloward and Ohlin’s Typology of Gangs
1960s Strain-Based Policies
The Decline and Resurgence of Strain Theories
Agnew’s General Strain Theory
Messner and Rosenfeld’s Institutional Anomie Theory
Conclusion
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 8 NEIGHBORHOODS AND CRIME

The Theory of Human Ecology
Research in the Delinquency Areas of Chicago
Policy Implications
Residential Succession, Social Disorganization, and Crime
Sampson’s Theory of Collective Efficacy
Crime in Public Housing
Social Disorganization and Crime in Rural Areas
Expanding Interest in Neighborhood Social Processes
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 9 LEARNING THEORIES

Basic Psychological Approaches to Learning
Tarde’s Laws of Imitation and Bandura’s Social Learning
Theory
Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory
Research Testing Sutherland’s Theory
The Content of Learning: Cultural and Subcultural Theories
The Learning Process: Akers’s Social Learning Theory
 Assessing Social Learning Theory
Athens’s Theory of Violentization
Katz’s Seductions of Crime
Labeling Theories
Implications
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 10 CONTROL THEORIES

Early Control Theories: Reiss to Nye
Matza’s Delinquency and Drift
Hirschi’s Social Control Theory
Assessing Social Control Theory
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s A General Theory of Crime
Assessing Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 11 CONFLICT CRIMINOLOGY

Early Conflict Theories: Sellin and Vold
Conflict Theories in a Time of Conflict: Turk, Quinney, and
Chambliss and Seidman
Black’s Theory of the Behavior of Law
A Unified Conflict Theory of Crime
Values And Interests in Complex Societies
Patterns of Individual Action
The Enactment of Criminal Laws
The Enforcement of Criminal Laws
 The Distribution of Official Crime Rates
Testing Conflict Criminology
Minority Threat Theory
The Processing of Individuals Through the Justice System
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 12 MARXIST, POSTMODERN, AND GREEN

CRIMINOLOGY
Overview of Marx’s Theory
Marx On Crime, Criminal Law, and Criminal Justice
The Emergence of Marxist Criminology
Marxist Theory and Research On Crime
Overview of Postmodernism
Postmodern Criminology
Green Criminology
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 13 GENDER AND CRIME

The Development of Feminist Criminology
Schools of Feminist Criminology
Gender in Criminology
Why are Women’s Crime Rates So Low?
Why Are Men’s Crime Rates So High?
The Narrowing of the Gender Gap in Violence
Conclusions
Key Terms
 Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 14 DEVELOPMENTAL AND LIFE-COURSE

THEORIES
The Great Debate: Criminal Careers, Longitudinal Research,
and the Relationship Between Age and Crime
Criminal Propensity Versus Criminal Career
The Transition to Developmental Criminology
Three Developmental Directions
Thornberry’s Interactional Theory
Sampson and Laub’s Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social
Control
Tremblay’s Developmental Origins of Physical Aggression
Future Directions in Developmental and Life-Course
Criminology
Conclusions
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 15 INTEGRATED THEORIES

Elliott’s Integrated Theory of Delinquency and Drug Use
The Falsification Versus Integration Debate
Braithwaite’s Theory of Reintegrative Shaming
Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
Differential Social Support and Coercion Theory
Bernard and Snipes’s Approach to Integrating Criminology
Theories
Agnew’s General Theory
Robinson’s Integrated Systems Theory
Conclusions
Key Terms
 Discussion Questions

CONCLUSION
What is the State of Criminological Theory?
How Should Theory Be Most Relevant to Policy?

Index
 PREFACE

It is our great pleasure to carry on the tradition of building upon George

Vold’s original Theoretical Criminology. Vold’s Theoretical Criminology is
one of the longest-running texts in the field, with its first edition published
in 1958. This span of sixty years has seen a total of eight editions, with the
following authors and coauthors, in sequence: George Vold, Thomas
Bernard, Jeffrey Snipes, and Alexander Gerould.
As we determined which materials to update, sections to add, and
reorganizations to make, we were informed by the rigorous and highly
specific reviews of the previous edition by fifteen anonymous reviewers;
we are greatly appreciative of their contributions.
The former Chapter 16, on assessing criminology theories, has been
merged with Chapter 1, the introduction to theory and crime. Chapter 2, on
theory and policy in context, now has more information about how crime
data is collected, and a discussion and analysis of trends in crime over the
past five years (covering the period since the seventh edition). Chapter 3
now includes a section on the neoclassical school, has a revamped and
updated section on deterrence theory, and an expansion of routine
activities that includes L-RAT (lifestyle routine activities theory). To
Chapter 4 we added a new section on epigenetics, a promising new area in
line with the biosocial movement in criminology. We include a section on
Freud and psychoanalysis in Chapter 5, and we expanded the section on
research that uses personality tests. Chapter 6 includes a discussion of the
modern applicability of Durkheim.
Chapters 7 and 8 are now reversed in order from the previous edition.
Chapter 7 is now strain theories, and Chapter 8 is on neighborhoods and
crime. Chapter 7 has undergone considerable reorganization, and it
contains a significantly expanded section on Agnew’s general strain theory
and research evaluating it. In Chapter 8, we now discuss micro-places, and
we added a section on social disorganization and crime in rural areas.
Chapter 9 now has a new section on Tarde’s laws of imitation and
Bandura’s social learning theory. It also contains a new section on
assessing Akers’s social learning theory, as well as an expansion of
Athens’s theory of violentization, which includes policy implications he
recently put forth. Zimbardo’s Lucifer effect is no longer included in this
chapter, and labeling theory has been moved here from the chapter on
conflict theory. In Chapter 10 we added a significant amount of new
research that assesses Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime,
which is based on self-control. Chapter 11 is now solely dedicated to
conflict theory, as we moved labeling theory to Chapter 9. This chapter has
a new section on minority threat theory.
Chapter 12 now covers Marxist, postmodern, and green criminology.
Approximately a quarter of the chapter is devoted to green criminology,
which is a new addition to this volume. Chapter 13 includes a new section
on the narrowing of the gender gap in violence, as well as some discussion
of the backlash to feminist criminology. Chapter 14 is renamed
“Developmental and Life-Course Theories.” In this chapter we discuss the
influence of the developmental theorist Glen Elder Jr. on later
developmental and life-course theories of crime; include some discussion
of Laub and Sampson’s follow-up book to Sampson and Laub’s age-graded
theory; and we have a new section on future directions in developmental
and life-course theory, which is largely spent discussing desistance from
criminal behavior. Chapter 15 has updated several integrated theories with
recent research evaluating their hypotheses. A new, brief conclusion
examines the proliferation of theory in criminology, and assesses the
policy relevance of the multitude of criminological theories.
New to this edition is a supplement, which includes a bank of test
questions useful for all instructors, especially for those who use this
volume in undergraduate courses.
Vold’s Theoretical Criminology
 CHAPTER 1

Theory and Crime

Criminology as a field of study has been well documented by a long line

of excellent and distinguished textbooks going back many decades.1 Most
of these texts concentrate on presenting facts that are known about the
subject of crime. For example, they discuss the extent and distribution of
criminal behaviors in society; the characteristics of criminal law and
procedure; the characteristics of criminals; and the history, structure, and
functioning of the criminal justice system. The theoretical material
presented in these texts is usually somewhat limited. Almost all texts
review the major theories about the causes of criminal behavior, and some
texts present other theoretical material such as sociology of law,
philosophy of punishment, or theories of correctional treatment.
As a text in theoretical criminology, this book does not concentrate on
presenting the facts known about crime, although at least some of these
facts are presented in the various chapters. Instead, it concentrates on the
theories that are used to explain the facts. The theories themselves, rather
than the facts about criminality, are the focus of this book.2
Basically, a theory is part of an explanation.3 It is a sensible way of
understanding something, of relating it to the whole world of information,
beliefs, and attitudes that make up the intellectual atmosphere of a people
at a particular time or place. In the broad scope of history, there are two
basic types of theories of crime. One relies on spiritual, or other-world,
explanations, while the other relies on natural, or this-world, explanations.
Both types of theories are ancient as well as modern.

SPIRITUAL EXPLANATIONS
Spiritual explanations of crime are part of a general view of life in which
many events are believed to result from the influence of otherworldly
powers. For example, primitive people regarded natural disasters, such as
famines, floods, and plagues, as punishments for wrongs they had done to
the spiritual powers.4 They responded by performing sacred rites and
rituals to appease these powers.
A spiritual view of the world was closely tied to the origin and
development of the modern criminal justice system.5 In the Middle Ages
in Europe, crime was a largely private affair in which the victim or the
victim’s family obtained revenge by inflicting a similar or greater harm on
the offender or the offender’s family. But private vengeance had a
tendency to start blood feuds as each side inflicted greater harms on the
other side. These feuds could continue for many years until one or the
other family was completely wiped out. The feudal lords therefore
instituted methods by which God could indicate who was innocent and
who was guilty. The first such method was trial by battle. Both parties
would swear to the truth of their claims in the dispute. Then they, or their
designated representatives, would fight each other. God would give victory
to the righteous person, defeating the one who had just sworn a false oath.
Thus the family of the loser would have no grounds for exacting
vengeance on the winner, and the blood feuds were ended.
The problem with trial by battle was that great warriors (and those who
could afford to hire them as designated representatives) could commit as
many crimes as they wanted because God would always give them victory.
Therefore somewhat later in history, trial by ordeal was instituted. In this
method the accused was subjected to difficult and painful tests, from
which an innocent person (protected by God) would emerge unharmed
while a guilty person would die a painful death. For example, a common
method of determining whether a woman was a witch was to tie her up and
throw her into water that had just been blessed.6 Generally, if the accused
sank, she was considered innocent, but if she floated, she was guilty. Other
forms of ordeal included running the gauntlet and walking on fire. Trial by
ordeal was condemned by the pope in 1215 and was replaced by
compurgation, in which the accused gathered together a group of twelve
reputable people who would swear that he or she was innocent. The idea
was that no one would lie under oath for fear of being punished by God.
Compurgation ultimately evolved into testimony under oath and trial by
jury.
Spiritual explanations of crime appeared in the New World in the
Puritan colony on Massachusetts Bay. During the first sixty years of its
existence, this colony experienced three serious crime waves that were
thought to be caused by the devil. The most serious of these crime waves
occurred in 1692, when the community was thought to have been invaded
by a large number of witches.7
Our modern prison system also originated in association with a
spiritual explanation of crime. Around 1790, a group of Quakers in
Philadelphia conceived the idea of isolating criminals in cells and giving
them only the Bible to read and some manual labor to perform. The
Quakers thought that criminals would then reflect on their past
wrongdoings and repent.8 They used the term penitentiary to describe their
invention, a place for penitents who were sorry for their sins.
Today, many religious individuals and groups explain crime in spiritual
terms. For example, Charles Colson was special counsel to President
Richard M. Nixon and served seven months in prison for his part in the
Watergate affair. As a result of his prison experience, he underwent a
religious conversion and founded Prison Fellowship International, which
now operates in more than one hundred countries to reform criminal
justice and to bring the Christian message to prisoners.9 Colson attributes
crime to sinful human nature and argues that religious conversion is the
only “cure” for crime.10
 NATURAL EXPLANATIONS
Spiritual explanations make use of otherworldly powers to account for
what happens; natural explanations make use of objects and events in the
material world to explain the same things. Like the spiritual approach, the
natural approach to explanation is ancient as well as modern.
The early Greeks developed naturalistic, this-world explanations far
back in their history. For example, Hippocrates (460 B.C.) provided a
physiological explanation of thinking by arguing that the brain is the organ
of the mind. Democritus (420 B.C.) proposed the idea of an indestructible
unit of matter, called the atom, as central to his explanation of the world
around him. With Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle the ideas of unity and
continuity came to the fore, but the essential factors in all the explanations
remained physical and material.
By the first century B.C., Roman thought had become thoroughly
infused with naturalism. For example, Roman law combined the
spiritualism of the Hebrew tradition with the naturalism of the Greek
tradition to provide a natural basis for penalties as well as for rights. The
Hebrew doctrine of divine sanction for law and order merged with Greek
naturalism and appeared in Roman law as a justification based on the
“nature of things.” Later, the rule of kings by divine right became a natural
law that looked to the nature of things for its principal justification.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, writers such as Hobbes,
Spinoza, Descartes, and Leibniz studied human affairs as physicists study
matter, impersonally and quantitatively. Modern social science continues
this naturalistic emphasis. The disagreements among social scientists are
well known, but at least they have in common that they seek their
explanations within observable phenomena that are found in the physical
and material world.

SCIENTIFIC THEORIES
Scientific theories are one kind of natural explanation. In general, they
make statements about the relationships between observable phenomena.11
For example, some scientific theories in criminology make statements
about the relationship between the certainty or severity of criminal
punishments and the volume of criminal behaviors in society. Others make
statements about the relationship between the biological, psychological, or
social characteristics of individuals and the likelihood that these
individuals will engage in criminal behaviors. Still others make statements
about the relationship between the social characteristics of individuals and
the likelihood that these individuals will be defined and processed as
criminals by the criminal justice system. All these characteristics can be
observed, and so all these theories are scientific.
Because they make statements about the relationships among
observable phenomena, a key characteristic of scientific theories is that
they can be falsified.12 The process of attempting to falsify a scientific
theory involves systematically observing the relationships described in the
theory and then comparing the observations to arguments of the theory
itself. This process is called research: that is, the assertions of the theory
are tested against the observed world of the facts.13 If the observations are
inconsistent with the assertions of the theory, then the theory is falsified. If
the observations are consistent with the assertions of the theory, then the
theory becomes more credible, but it is not proved; there are always
alternative theories that may also explain the same observed relationships.
A theory can gain a great deal of credibility if all the reasonable
alternative theories are shown to be inconsistent with the observed world
of facts. At that point, the theory may simply be accepted as true.
However, it is always possible that some new facts will be discovered in
the future that are inconsistent with the theory, so that a new theory will be
required. For example, Newton’s laws of physics were accepted as true for
two hundred years, but they were replaced by Einstein’s theory of
relativity at the beginning of the twentieth century because of the
discovery of some new facts.14
 Six criteria may be used to evaluate a scientific theory:
comprehensiveness (is broad in scope); precision and testability (defines
constructs well, is open to measurement through falsifiable hypotheses);
parsimony (is presented in a simple fashion); empirical validity (accounts
for evidence that disconfirms it, in addition to confirming evidence);
heuristic value (generates intellectual stimulation in other fields); and
applied value (offers solutions to problems).15 When reading the theories
presented in this volume, the reader may wish to consider them along
these dimensions.

CAUSATION IN SCIENTIFIC THEORIES

Causation is one type of relationship among observable variables, and all
scientific theories in criminology make causal arguments of one type or
another. Generally speaking, causation in scientific theories means three
things: correlation, time sequence, and the absence of spuriousness.
However, to be meaningful scientific theories should also have a
theoretical rationale—in this discussion, we also consider the need for
theories to propose mechanisms by which variables may influence each
other.
Correlation means that things tend to vary systematically in relation to
each other. For example, height and weight are correlated: people who are
taller generally weigh more, and people who are shorter generally weigh
less. The relation is not perfect—some short people weigh more, and some
tall people weigh less. But the tendency still exists for more height to go
with more weight and less height to go with less weight. This is called a
“positive” correlation.
A “negative” correlation is when more of one thing tends to be
associated with less of the other. For example, the more miles you have on
your car, the less money it generally is worth. As with height and weight,
the relation is not perfect because some old cars are worth a lot and some
new cars are not worth much. But for cars in general, mileage and price
are negatively correlated.
 Correlation, whether positive or negative, is necessary for causation. If
two things do not vary together in some systematic way, such as height and
IQ, then the one cannot cause the other. But correlation alone is not
sufficient for causation. You also need a good reason to believe that a
causal relation exists. This is the theoretical rationale, the second element
of scientific causation.
For example, some criminologists argue that harsh erratic discipline
by parents increases the likelihood of delinquency in their children.16
There must be a correlation: parents who use such techniques must be
more likely to have children who are delinquent than parents who use
moderate consistent discipline. But there also must be a theoretical
rationale—a coherent explanation of why these techniques by the parents
may cause delinquency in the children.
A theoretical rationale would be that harsh discipline conveys anger,
rather than love, and increases the chance that the child will rebel and
engage in delinquency to get back at the parents. In addition, erratic
discipline means that most of the time there is no punishment for
misbehavior anyway. So in this example, a theoretical rationale exists that,
if coupled with evidence of a correlation, would support a conclusion that
harsh erratic discipline causes delinquency.
But correlation and theoretical rationale are not enough to infer
causation. Imagine, for example, two loving parents who have a delinquent
child. Moderate consistent discipline just does not work, and eventually
when the child gets into trouble, the parents either do nothing (because
nothing works anyway) or use harsh discipline (because they are angry and
frustrated).17 In this scenario, the child’s delinquency causes the parents’
harsh erratic disciplinary techniques.
The problem is the direction of causation: Does the discipline cause
the delinquency, or does the delinquency cause the discipline? The
solution can be found by determining time sequence, the third element of
scientific causation. If the discipline comes first and the delinquency
comes later, then we would conclude that the discipline causes the
delinquency. But if the delinquency comes first and the discipline comes
later, we would conclude that the delinquency causes the discipline.
The fourth and final element of meaningful scientific causation is
called the absence of spuriousness. Suppose that parents in high-crime
neighborhoods are more likely, for social and cultural reasons, to use harsh
erratic discipline even when their children are not delinquent. And suppose
that for the same reasons, children in high-crime neighborhoods are more
likely to engage in delinquency, regardless of the parents’ disciplinary
techniques. It may look like there is a causal relationship between harsh
erratic discipline and delinquency, but in fact both the discipline and the
delinquency could be caused, in one way or another, by the high-crime
neighborhood.
In this example, the relationship between delinquent behavior and
parental disciplinary techniques would be spurious. But suppose the
researchers control for the neighborhood—that is, suppose they compare
parents in the neighborhoods who use harsh erratic discipline with other
parents in the same neighborhoods who use moderate consistent
discipline. Then if they find that delinquency is associated with harsh
erratic discipline, it cannot be because of the neighborhood. In this case, it
is reasonable to conclude that a causal relation exists.
The conclusion that a causal relation exists, however, is always a
statement about probability, never an assertion of certainty. To say that
harsh erratic discipline causes delinquency is like saying that smoking
causes cancer. Most people who smoke do not get cancer. Rather, smokers
have a greater probability of getting cancer than do nonsmokers. Similarly,
if our causal theory is correct, then children who are raised with harsh
erratic discipline are more likely to become delinquent than are children
who are raised with moderate consistent discipline, but there is no
absolute guarantee about this outcome.18
The whole point of causal theories is to gain power and control over
the world in which we live. When we want less of something (such as
crime and delinquency) or more of something (such as law-abiding
behavior), we try to find out the causes of what we desire. Then we try to
influence those causes to get what we want.
Even though causal theories in social science deal only with
probabilities, knowing about the probabilities can be useful for policy
purposes. For example, if harsh erratic discipline actually does increase
the probability of delinquency, even if by a small amount, then it may be
useful to try to affect parenting styles. Special classes could teach
effective disciplinary techniques to parents whose children are otherwise
at risk of becoming delinquent (e.g., because they live in a high-crime
neighborhood). If these classes succeeded in changing the disciplinary
techniques used by parents, then we should end up with less delinquency
in the future. In fact, such classes appear to reduce delinquency by
significant amounts over the long run.19
All scientific theories in criminology make causal arguments, but there
are different categories in which we can classify them. One such
categorization divides criminological theories into those based on
individual differences, structure/process, or the behavior of law.

THREE CATEGORIES OF CRIMINOLOGICAL

THEORIES
Some theories focus on characteristics of individuals that are thought to
increase or decrease the probabilities that an individual will engage in
crime. In reviewing these characteristics, it is important to keep two points
in mind. First, none of these characteristics absolutely determines that the
person will engage in crime. Most people with these characteristics do not
engage in crime at all—it is just that people with these characteristics are
somewhat more likely than are other people to engage in crimes.20
Second, while these characteristics may increase the probability that a
particular individual will engage in crime, they may have no effect on
overall crime rates. The following is a list of individual differences
characteristics that are associated with increases in the probability of
committing criminal behavior:
 1. A history of early childhood problem behaviors and of being
subjected to poor parental child-rearing techniques, such as harsh
and inconsistent discipline; school failure; and the failure to learn
higher cognitive skills, such as moral reasoning, empathy, and
problem solving.
2. Certain neurotransmitter imbalances, such as low serotonin;
certain hormone imbalances, such as high testosterone; central
nervous system deficiencies, such as frontal or temporal lobe
dysfunction; and autonomic nervous system variations, such as
unusual reactions to anxiety.
3. Ingesting alcohol, a variety of illegal drugs, and some toxins like
lead; head injuries; and complications during a subject’s
pregnancy or birth.
4. Personality characteristics, such as impulsivity, insensitivity, a
physical and nonverbal orientation, and a tendency to take risks.
5. Thinking patterns that focus on trouble, toughness, smartness,
excitement, fate, and autonomy and a tendency to think in terms of
short-term rather than long-term consequences.
6. Association with others who engage in and approve of criminal
behavior.
7. Weak attachments to other people, less involvement in
conventional activities, having less to lose from committing
crime, and weak beliefs in the moral validity of the law.
8. A perception that there is less risk of punishment for engaging in
criminal behavior.
9. Masculinity as a gender role.

All these factors somewhat differently affect individuals at different ages.

In addition, the following set of differences seems to increase the
probability that a person will be a victim of crime:

10. Frequently being away from home, especially at night; engaging

in public activities while away from home; and associating with
people who are likely to commit crime.
In contrast to individual difference theories, we will also discuss a wide
range of structure/process theories, especially in the later chapters of this
book. These theories assume that some situations are associated with
higher crime rates, regardless of the characteristics of the individuals
within them. The theories therefore attempt to identify variables in the
situation itself that are associated with higher crime rates.
In discussing these theories, it is important to keep several points in
mind. First, these theories tend to be complex and descriptive, and it is
sometimes hard to determine the proposed causes of crime. To the extent
that this is true, the policy recommendations of the theory will be vague.
Second, these theories have often been interpreted and tested at the
individual level. Such testing necessarily involves some variation of the
“ecological fallacy,”21 and it has led to considerable confusion about the
theories themselves. Third, situations with high crime rates often have a
large number of variables, all of which are correlated with each other and
all of which are correlated with crime—for example, poverty, inequality,
high residential mobility, single-parent families, unemployment, poor and
dense housing, the presence of gangs and illegal criminal opportunities,
inadequate schools, and the lack of social services. It can be extremely
difficult to determine which (if any) of these variables is causally related
to high crime rates and which have no causal impact on crime at all.22 In
each theory in this category, there will be some structural characteristic
that is associated with some rate or distribution of crime. This is the
“structure” portion of a structure/process theory. There will also be a
description of the supposed reasons why normal people in this structural
situation may demonstrate a greater probability of engaging in crime than
people in other situations. This is the “process” portion of a
structure/process theory. The following structural arguments describe
societal characteristics that seem to be associated with higher crime rates.

1. Economic modernization and development is associated with a

rise in property crime rates. Property crime tends to increase until
the society is highly developed and then to hold steady at a high
level. The processes that result in this pattern of crime involve
 changes in routine activities and in criminal opportunities, which
eventually are balanced by the increasing effectiveness of
countermeasures.
2. Cultures that emphasize the goal of material success at the
expense of adherence to legitimate means are associated with high
rates of utilitarian crime; an unequal distribution of legitimate
means to achieve material success is associated with an inverse
distribution of utilitarian crime; and in situations without
legitimate means to economic success, the development of
illegitimate means is associated with increased utilitarian crime,
while the lack of such development is associated with increased
violent crime. In these situations, the inability to achieve status by
conventional criteria is associated with status inversion and higher
rates of nonutilitarian criminal behavior. The processes involved
in these structural patterns involve either frustration or the simple
tendency to engage in self-interested behavior.
3. Neighborhoods with high unemployment, frequent residential
mobility, and family disruption tend to have high crime rates. The
processes involve neighborhood anonymity that results in social
disorganization.
4. Media dissemination of techniques and rationalizations that are
favorable to law violation are associated with increased rates of
law violation. The process involves direct learning of techniques
and rationalizations and indirect learning of the consequences that
criminal behaviors have for others.
5. Joblessness and racism can generate an inner-city code of the
street that promulgates normative violence in a variety of
situations. The process includes feelings of hopelessness and
alienation among inner-city residents and the generation of an
oppositional subculture as a means of maintaining self-respect.
6. Increases in the objective certainty of punishments are associated
with reductions in crime rates, but increases in the objective
severity of punishments seem to be associated either with no
changes or with increases in crime rates. In addition, crackdowns
 on certain types of crimes are associated with short-term
reductions in the rates of those crimes that may extend beyond the
life of the crackdown policy itself.
7. Societies that stigmatize deviants have higher crime rates than do
those that reintegrate deviants. The process involves blocked
legitimate opportunities and the formation of subcultures.
8. Societies in which some people control others have higher crime
rates than do societies in which people control and are controlled
by others in approximately equal amounts. The process involves
people’s natural tendency to expand their control.

There is no contradiction between structure/process theories and

individual difference theories. Nothing in the structure/process theories
contradicts the assertion that there are some people who are more likely to
engage in crime regardless of their situation. Similarly, nothing in the
individual difference theories contradicts the assertion that there are some
situations in which people, regardless of their individual characteristics,
are more likely to engage in crime. These are separate assertions, and both
types of theories can be integrated into a larger theory of criminal
behavior.
Theories of the behavior of criminal law suggest that the volume of
crime and the characteristics of criminals are determined primarily by the
enactment and enforcement of laws. Most people who are convicted of
crimes are poor, but not because poverty causes crime. Rather, the actions
typical of poor people are more likely to be legally defined as crimes, and
the laws that apply to such crimes are more likely to be strictly enforced.
Consider the death penalty as an example. Criminologists who hold this
view argue that there are differences in the enforcement of laws: wealthy
and powerful people who kill are less likely to be arrested, tried, or
convicted or are convicted of a less serious offense and given a more
lenient sentence. These criminologists also argue that there are differences
in the enactment of laws. Under felony murder laws, an offender is liable
for first-degree murder if a death results from the commission of certain
dangerous felonies, such as robbery or burglary. No intent to kill is
required, because the intent to commit the lesser offense is transferred to
the greater one.23 In contrast, many serious injuries and deaths that are
associated with corporate decision-making occur where there is the intent
to commit a lesser offense (for example, to violate health or safety laws),
combined with the full knowledge that the decision may result in serious
injury and death to a number of innocent people. If a law similar to felony
murder were
applied to white-collar crime, then death row might be filled with
corporate executives.
The following are some assertions about the behavior of criminal law.

1. When the social solidarity of a society is threatened, criminal

punishment increases independent of whether crime increases.
2. The enactment and enforcement of criminal laws reflect the values
and interests of individuals and groups in proportion to their
political and economic power.
3. In addition to stratification, the quantity of law that is applied in
particular cases is influenced by morphology, culture,
organization, and the extent of other forms of social control.
4. Regardless of what other interests are served by the criminal law,
it must serve the economic interests of the owners of the means of
economic production.
5. Actions that involve simple and immediate gratification of desires
but few long-term benefits are exciting and risky but require little
skill or planning and generally produce few benefits for the
offender while causing pain and suffering to the victim are more
likely to be defined and processed as criminal than are other
actions.

Theories of the behavior of criminal law do not contradict theories of

criminal behavior. More than anything else, they ask a different question:
Why are some behaviors and people, but not others, defined and processed
as criminal?
 The chapters in this volume have been organized primarily for the sake
of convenience and clarity; no necessary separateness or mutual
exclusiveness should be inferred. In general, the chapters are organized in
the historical sequence in which the theories originated, so that the earliest
theories are presented first. This organization is intended to provide the
reader with a sense of how the field of criminology has evolved over time.
One exception to this general rule is Chapter 2, which explores the
intersections of theory and policy by examining the recent crime drop in
the United States.
Chapter 3 focuses on the classical and neoclassical schools of
criminology, since this was the origin of criminology itself. It begins with
historical materials on how classical criminology emerged as a field of
study during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and then brings that
discussion up to date by presenting theory and research on deterrence and
routine activities. Chapters 4 and 5 examine biological and psychological
theories, since these were the first types of positivist theory to emerge.
Because later theories and research in criminology focused more strongly
on social factors, they are presented in later chapters. Critical theories
(such as those of the behavior of law) are also included among the later
chapters. Most chapters contain modern as well as historical materials,
beginning with the work of the early theorists and then presenting more
recent theories and research that take the same general point of view. After
all the different types of theories are presented, Chapter 15 discusses
attempts to integrate the different theories into broader approaches. A
brief conclusion offers thoughts on the current state of theorizing in
criminology and its relevance to policy.

KEY TERMS
theory
spiritual explanations
trial by battle
trial by ordeal
compurgation
penitentiary
natural explanations
scientific theories
falsification
causation
correlation
theoretical rationale
direction of causation
time sequence
absence of spuriousness
control
probability
individual difference theories
structure/process theories
theories of the behavior of criminal law

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. In what ways do spiritual, sometimes called demonological,
explanations of crime still enter into the criminal justice system
today?
2. Provide examples of how a correlation, but not causation, can be found
between a given situation and criminality.
3. Using a multifactor approach, create a hypothetical individual with
various biological, psychological, and sociological backgrounds. Alter
the individual’s attributes and, as you do so, assess how you think the
changes would affect the individual’s probability (risk level) of
offending.
 NOTES
1. A large number of. textbooks focus on general criminology, including
Larry J. Seigel, Criminology, 13th ed. (Boston: Cengage, 2018); Frank
Schmalleger, Criminology Today, 8th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2016);
John E. Conklin, Criminology, 11th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2012);
and Freda A. Adler, Gerhard O. W. Mueller, and William S. Laufer,
Criminology, 9th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2017).
2. Some recent texts that focus on criminology theory include J. Mitchell
Miller, Christopher J. Schreck, and Richard Tewkesbury, Criminology
Theory, 4th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2014); Mark M. Lanier and Stuart
Henry, Essential Criminology, 4th ed. (New York: Avalon Publishing,
2014); Ronald Akers, Christine S. Sellers, and Wesley G. Jennings,
Criminological Theories: Introduction, Application, and Evaluation,
7th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016); and Franklin P.
Williams III and Marilyn D. McShane, Criminological Theory, 7th ed.
(New York: Pearson, 2017). Several books of readings also focus on
criminology theories, including Lanier and Henry, eds., The Essential
Criminology Reader (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2004); Francis T.
Cullen, Robert S. Agnew, and Pamela Wilcox, Criminological
Theories, 6th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017); Eugene
McLaughlin and John Muncie, eds., Criminological Perspectives, 3rd
edition (London: Sage, 2013); and Suzette Cote, Criminological
Theories (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002).
3. Arthur L. Stinchcombe, Constructing Social Theories (New York:
Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968), pp. 3–5.
4. Graeme Newman, The Punishment Response (Philadelphia: Lippincott,
1978), pp. 13–25.
5. Harry Elmer Barnes, The Story of Punishment, 2nd ed. rev. (Montclair,
NJ: Patterson Smith, 1972), pp. 7–10.
6. Newman, The Punishment Response, p. 97.
7. Kai T. Erikson, Wayward Puritans (New York: John Wiley, 1966).
8. Harry Elmer Barnes and Negley K. Teeters, New Horizons in
Criminology (New York: Prentice Hall, 1945); and Negley K. Teeters,
Another random document with
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 PLATE DVI.

R U E L L I A C R I S TATA .
Crested Ruellia.
CLASS IV. ORDER I.
TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Four Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx 5-partitus. Corolla monopetala, limbo 5-lobo, inæquali. Stamina

biconjugata. Stylus filiformis. Stigma bifidum. Capsula dissepimentis
dentatis, elasticis, dehiscentibus. Semina pauca.
Empalement 5-parted. Blossom one petal: border 5-lobed, unequal. Chives by
pairs. Shaft thread-shaped. Summit two-cleft. Capsule with the partitions
toothed, elastic, and splitting. Seeds few.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Ruellia cristata, spicis terminalibus, tetragonis: corollis coccineis: oris

laciniis inæqualibus, acutis: lacinia inferiore revolutâ: foliis sub-lanceolatis,
acuminatis, undulatisque.
Justicia cristata. Jacq. Hort. Schœn, vol. iii. tab. 320.
Ruellia with crested flowers growing in a terminal four-sided spike.
Blossoms scarlet: the segments of the border are unequal and pointed: the
lower segment is rolled back: the leaves are nearly lance-shaped, pointed,
and undulated.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open.
3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
Of this fine stove plant there is a very good figure in the Hortus
Schœnbrunnensis of Jacquin, under the appellation of Justicia cristata. But
finding the generic character accord much better with the genus Ruellia, we
have, in conformity to the sexual system of Linnæus, given it under that title.
Our figure represents only a side branch of the plant, whose size was
congenial to the dimensions of the work; and although the centre branch
would have been, like Jacquin’s figure, more splendid, it would by no means
have been so picturesque. It flowered for the first time in this country with
A. B. Lambert, esq., and was introduced by Lord Seaforth from the West
Indies.
 PLATE DVII.

P R O T E A A B R O TA N I F O L I A .
Southernwood-leaved Protea.
CLASS IV. ORDER I.
TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Four Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Corolla 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, petalis infra apices insertæ.
Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria.
Blossom four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips linear, inserted into the petals
below the points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Protea foliis bipinnatis, filiformibus, glabris: floribus terminalibus,

umbellatis: pedunculis longis, bracteis magnis, reflexis: corollis carneis,
externe villosis.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Protea with doubly-winged leaves, thread-shaped, and smooth: flowers
terminate the branches in umbels: footstalks are long, with large reflexed
floral leaves: blossom flesh-coloured, and hairy on the outer side.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A leaf.
2. A flower with its bract, one tip magnified.
3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
4. A branch of a slight variety.
This Protea is one of a fine section with small divided leaves, that very much
resemble the southernwood (whence our specific title). We have already four
drawings of distinct species, besides varieties, whose foliage is likewise
characteristic of that shrub. On the same plate we have given part of the
branch of a variety that we think bears too much resemblance to require a
separate figure.
Our drawing was made last July from plants in the Hibbertian collection.
 PLATE DVIII.

CACTUS GRANDIFLORUS.
Large-lowered Cereus.
CLASS XII. ORDER I.
ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. About 20 Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx monophyllus, superus, imbricatus. Corolla multiplex. Bacca

monolocularis, polysperma.
Empalement one-leafed, above, tiled. Blossom of many folds. Berry of one
loculament, many-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Cactus scandens vel repens, ramosus, articulatus, cum radiculis lateralibus:

ramis sex-vel octagonis, aculeos stellatos ferentibus. Calyx radiatus, flavus:
corollis albis. Flores magni, vesperè expansi, odorem fragrantissimum
exhalantes.
Miller’s Icones, tab. 90.
Cereus with a climbing or creeping stem, branching, jointed, with small side-
roots: branches six-or eight-angled, bearing starry prickles. Empalement
rayed and yellow. Blossom white. Flowers large, expanding in the evening,
and breathing a most fragrant odour.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower divested of the petals, and spread open.
This elegant hot-house plant has been figured by several authors, and is well
known by the appellation of the Night-blowing Cereus, and yet but few of
Flora’s lovely train, warmed by the mid-day sun’s refulgent beams, in
splendour can compare with this nocturnal beauty, whose brilliant flowers
expand about sun-set. But, alas! too soon condemned to fade, they close up
early on the following morn. Sometimes they have been found unclosed
almost within an hour of noon: a circumstance that very rarely happens, as it
generally displays its graceful blossoms to Cynthia’s silver beams,
perfuming the still cool air of midnight with its aromatic fragrance.
Our figure was taken from a plant in the collection of the Dowager Lady
de Clifford at Dudley Grove, Paddington.
 PLATE DIX.

G E N T I A N A F I M B R I ATA .
Fringed-flowered Gentian.
CLASS V. ORDER II.
PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. Five Chives. Two Pointals.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx monophyllus. Corolla monopetala. Capsula bivalvis, unilocularis,

receptaculis duobus longitudinalibus.
Empalement one-leafed. Blossom one petal. Capsule two-valved, one-celled,
with two longitudinal receptacles.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Gentiana corollis quadrifidis, marginibus fimbriatis, colore cæruleo, in sole

tantùm expandentibus, spithamæis: foliis ovato-acuminatis, oppositis,
alternatis.
Habitat in America boreali.
Gentian with blossoms four-cleft, and fringed margins, of a blue colour,
expanding only in the sun, a span high, with ovate-pointed leaves opposite
and alternate.
Native of North America.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open.
3. Seed-bud and pointals.
4. The same spread open.
This new and undescribed species of Gentian possesses many attractions. Its
flowers are of a fine shining purply blue colour, and remain a long time in
perfection, but only expand with the assistance of solar ray. Our figure
represents a group of seedling plants, just as we found them growing in a
small pot in the nursery of Messrs. Whitley and Brames, who inform me
they raised them from seed, and they flowered the second year, but think
they will only prove biennial.
 PLATE DX.

A S PA L AT H U S G L O B O S U S .
Round-flowering Aspalathus.
CLASS XVII. ORDER IV.
DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. Threads in two Sets. Ten Chives.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx quinquefidus. Corolla papilionacea. Legumen ovatum, inaristatum,

sub-dispermum.
Empalement five-cleft. Blossom butterfly-shaped. Pod egg-shaped, beardless,
nearly two-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Aspalathus foliis ramos vestientibus, linearibus, tomentosis: floribus

terminalibus, in capitulo rotundato villoso confertis: corollis fuscis: ramis
longis, gracilibus.
Aspalathus with leaves clothing the branches, linear, and downy: flowers
terminal, crowded together in a round woolly head: blossom brown:
branches long and slender.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower.
2. The empalement spread open.
3. The standard.
4. One of the wings.
5. The keel.
6. The chives.
7. The same magnified.
8. Seed-bud and pointal.
9. The same magnified.
This nondescript species of Aspalathus we have not seen in any collection
but that of G. Hibbert, esq. where in the summer of 1801 it was in fine
bloom, full three feet high, and its long pendulous branches gave it a very
graceful appearance. Its compact globular heads of flowers remained a
considerable time in perfection; but the close soft hair with which they were
surrounded, indicated a delicacy of habit too susceptible of the damps which
have since destroyed the plant, and we believe it is for the present lost to this
country.
 PLATE DXI.

S O L A N U M B E TA C E U M .
Beet-like Solanum.
CLASS V. ORDER I.
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Five Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Corolla rotata. Antheræ subcoalitæ, apice poris geminis, dehiscentes. Bacca

bilocularis.
Blossom wheel-shaped. Antheræ nearly joined together, with holes in pairs at
the point, and splitting. Berry two-locular.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Solanum caule inermi, erecto, maculate, altissimo: foliis radicalibus

permagnis, fœtidissimis: corollis carneis, patentibus, ad apicem sub-reflexis,
qui cucullatus est.
Cavanilles Icones, vol. vi. 15. tab. 524.
Nightshade with an unarmed stem, upright, spotted, and very tall. The
radical leaves are very large, and extremely fetid. Blossoms flesh-coloured,
spreading, and somewhat reflexed at the point, which is hooded.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open.
3. Seed-bud and pointal.
4. A transverse section of the seed-bud magnified.
This gigantic plant is by far the largest species of Solanum at present known.
Our figure represents upper part of a plant that was twelve feet high, and the
only one that ever flowered in this kingdom, in the collection of A. B.
Lambert, esq. who informed me that the radical leaves measured fifteen
inches in breadth and twenty in length. There is but one figure of it extant,
and that is in the Icones of Cavanilles, who knew not whence it was
indigenous: but it is supposed to be a native of South America. It thrives best
against the shelter of a south wall in summer, but in winter requires the
protection of the green-house. We have seen two plants of it in the collection
at Holland-house, the enormous size of whose foliage then indicated an
equal magnitude with our plant when they arrive at a flowering state. At
present it is very scarce, and likely so to continue from the extreme fetidity
of the foliage. Upon burning a piece of the stalk, it displayed such a nitrous
appearance as indicated it to be very strongly impregnated with saltpetre.
 PLATE DXII.

P R O T E A P I N N ATA .
Winged-leaved Protea.
CLASS IV. ORDER I.
TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Four Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Corolla 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, petalis infra apices insertæ.
Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria.
Blossom four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips linear, inserted into the petals
below the points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Protea pinnata: floribus glomeratis, capitatis, terminalibus: corollis rubris,

pilosis.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Protea with winged leaves: flowers grow in round terminal heads: blossoms
red and hairy.
Native of Cape of Good Hope.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The flower prop.
2. A blossom with one tip magnified.
3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
This new species of Protea resembles in its flowers the P. glomerata, in its
foliage the P. argentiflora, but altogether is very different from either. Like
most of the genus, it is slow in growth, and remains a long time in
perfection. Our drawing was made at the Hibbertian collection the summer
before last. We also observed it again last year, very near unfolding its
flowers; but being later in the autumn than usual, most probably prevented
their expansion. We are inclined to think this species is rather tender, and,
like too many of this extensive family, requires great care and attention to
preserve: a circumstance that most likely prevents their being in that request
which their beauty and versatility would otherwise command.