NCJ Number
139096
Journal
International Annals of Criminology Volume: 27 Issue: 1/2 Dated: (1989) Pages: 57-64
Date Published
1989
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This analysis of contemporary criminological theory agrees with Quensel's sense of what is wrong, while proposing an alternative solution that acknowledges and builds on existing knowledge.
Abstract
The crisis in criminology is part of a crisis in the wider social sciences, involving theory, knowledge, and usefulness in policymaking. Quensel believes that criminology should be dissolved and redeveloped in the direction of the general human sciences. However, criminology operates on three levels: descriptive, theoretical and prescriptive, and critical and reflexive. Although all criminologists work at all three levels, the critical and reflexive level is superior in the sense that it includes the others. What is needed is a commitment to reshape the theory and policy agenda of criminology to meet the needs of people and the demands of social justice, building on our previous knowledge rather than abandoning it.