NCJ Number
206451
Date Published
2004
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents an overview of recent and expected changes in crime, criminals, and criminal justice that will require the formulation of new research questions.
Abstract
Regarding developments in crime and criminal justice, the crime problem of the 21st century differs in nature and extent from that of the 19th century and the first 50 years of the 20th century. Much of the current crime problem -- the growth of transnational organized crime, property crime, violence in cities, and in the prison population -- is apparently drug-related. The revolution in information and communication technology, notably the development of the Internet, and new discoveries in biotechnology have changed and will continue to change behavior and stimulate new forms and methods of crime. The "new" offenders will likely have different trajectories in their criminal careers, probably having a later age of onset of offending. The more successful offenders will increasingly organize themselves into loose criminal networks to commit traditional crimes in cities all over the world. In the area of criminal justice, social-control strategies and law enforcement practices are simultaneously undergoing modernization. Technological developments have increased surveillance opportunities. Social control will be based more and more on risk management and prevention strategies. Regarding developments in criminological theory, more pragmatic approaches are being used in research on crime and delinquency, with attention to what works, rational choice, cost-benefit, and risk-factor perspectives. Special attention should be given to exploring developments in other disciplines in addition to the traditional fields of criminal law, psychology, sociology, and economics. New explanations of contemporary crime will require input from such disciplines as engineering, physics, information technology, life sciences, genetics, communication studies, immigration studies, public finance, and banking sciences. The challenges for criminology and criminal justice should produce an updated research agenda in combination with rigorous research methodology. Criminology must take into account recent developments in crime, criminals, and methods of social control. This chapter concludes with illustrations of some of the challenges for three domains of criminology: criminal justice and punishment, the geography of crime (location and mobility), and developmental criminology (criminal careers). 4 notes, and 35 references