FOUNDATIONS OF THEORY-FORMATION IN CRIMINOLOGY - A METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

• NCJ Number: 19529
• Author(s): C I DESSAUR
• Date Published: 1971
• Length: 165 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research
• Sale Source: Mouton and Co
• Language: English
• Country: Netherlands

Annotation

IN DEFINING CRIMINOLOGY AS AN EXACT EMPIRICAL SCIENCE AND IN DISCUSSING THEORY-FORMATION WITHIN ITS BOUNDS, THE AUTHOR REGARDS CRIMINOLOGY AS A COMBINATION OF THE SOCIOLOGIES OF LAW AND OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR.

Abstract

THE POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY AS A FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE THROUGH THE USE OF THEORETICAL MODELS, INSTEAD OF MAINLY JUDICIAL CLASSIFICATIONS AND INTUITIVE TYPOLOGIES, IS DISCUSSED. ALSO A SURVEY IS GIVEN OF THE MAIN CATEGORIES OF EXPLANATION AND PREDICTION AT PRESENT CURRENT IN CRIMINOLOGY, SOME OF WHICH, LIKE THE PSYCHODYMANIC ONES, ARE SEVERLY CRITICIZED. THE EMPHASIS OF THE BOOK IS ON FINDING A WAY OF ACHIEVING FORMALIZED THEORIES, ESPECIALLY IN THIS PARTICULAR BRANCH OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)