Demise of the Criminological Imagination - A Critique of Recent Criminology

• NCJ Number: 96367
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1984) Pages: 91-106
• Author(s): F P Williams
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1983 annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology.

Annotation

While there have been some imaginative theoretical works in the past decade, little of that work has become accepted by the criminological field. Instead, the focus has been on the development of methodological and technical tools, even to the extent that theory development itself has been tied to the general movement. The argument presented here is that more useful and insightful theories are products of imagination and speculation.

Abstract

Thus, the current movement is largely useful for testing theories of the past, but not for developing theories of the future. Three general explanations for this state of affairs are provided: the specificity of empirical theory, the implications of the sociologies of the 1960's, and the rise of criminal justice vis-a-vis criminology. The answer to this problem lies in the development of critical and creative thought within our field and graduate schools in particular. Forty references are provided. (Author abstract modified)