NCJ Number
84231
Date Published
1981
Length
291 pages
Annotation
State-of-the-art assessments are provided in the areas of theoretical approaches to crime and deviance, forms of delinquent and criminal behavior, punishment and correction, interdisciplinary and comparative research in criminology, and special issues in criminology.
Abstract
Essays on theoretical approaches to crime and deviance consider (1) the tenets of classical criminology; (2) the revival of humanistic social science, an increased interest in symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, and ethnomethodology, and the rise of neo-Marxist sociology: (3) ethnomethodology and its contributions to an 'interpretive criminology;' and (4) an analysis of other alternatives to mainstream positivism. Eight essays on the forms of delinquent and criminal behavior cover delinquency prevention, the containment theory of deviance, female criminality, efforts to determine dangerousness, homicide in America, reactions to the questioning of the Mafia myth, recent developments in white-collar crime, and the pawnbroker as banker of the poor. The section on punishment and correction deals with the state-of-the-art in juvenile corrections and a review of recent research on the death penalty and deterrence. Essays on interdisciplinary and comparative research in criminology and deviance focus on sociopathic and other mentally ill offenders, services to schizophrenics, and psychiatric aspects of terrorism in Italy. The special issues in criminology considered are the sociology of law, the dismantling of an Ohio exemplary project using ex-offender parole aides, and a case for undergraduate experimental education in criminology and criminal justice. Notes accompany each chapter, and a subject index is provided. For individual entries, see NCJ 84232-43.