About the Book

Designed for undergraduate criminology courses, this book actively involves students in the literature of the discipline, presents the field in a format that is accessible, understandable, and enjoyable, and is edited by well-known scholars who are experienced researchers and teachers. The readings in this anthology have been very carefully edited and pruned by the Editors so that undergraduate students can easily read them without getting bogged down or confused and lost in the technical, methodological details.

Table of Contents:
Foreword - Ross L. Matsueda Foreword - Marvin E. Wolfgang Preface - the Editors Introduction: On Crime, Criminals, and Criminologists - James F. Short, Jr. Part I: What Is Criminology? The History and Definitions of Crime and Criminology Defining Crime: An Issue of Morality - John Hagan Historical Explanations of Crime: From Demons to Politics - C. Ronald Huff Part II: How Do We View Crime? Images of Crime, Criminality, and Criminal Justice A Youth Violence Epidemic: Myth or Reality? - Franklin E. Zimring Realities and Images of Crack Mothers - Drew Humphries Breaking News: How Local TV News and Real-World Conditions Affect Fear of Crime - Ronald Weitzer and CHaris E. Kubrin The Politics of Crime - Katherine Beckett and Theodore Sasson Part III: Enduring and Changing Patterns of Crime Youth Gangs and Troublesome Youth Groups in the United States and the Netherlands: A Cross-National Comparison - Finn-Aage Esbensen and Frank M. Weerman Specialization and Persistence in the Arrest Histories of Sex Offenders: A Comparitive Analysis of Alternative Measures and Offense Types - Terance D. Miethe, Jodi Olson, and Ojmarrh Mitchell The Novelty of ′Cybercrime′: An Assessment in Light of Routine Activity Theory - Majid Yar How Does Studying Terrorism Compare to Studying Crime? - Gary LaFree and Laura Dugan Part IV: How is Crime Measured? The Observation and Measurement of Crime Locating the Vanguard in Rising and Falling Homicide Rates across U.S. Cities - Steven F. Messner, Glenn D. Deane, Luc Anselin, and Benjamin Parson Nelson Reconciling Race and Class Differences in Self-Reported and Official Estimates of Delinquency - Delbert S. Elliot and Suzanne S. Ageton Gender and Adolescent Relationship Violence: A Contextual Examination - Jody Miller and Norman A. White The Criminology of Genocide: The Death and Rape of Darfur - John Hagan, Wenona Rymond-Richmond, and Patricia Parker Part V: Who Are the Criminals? The Distribution and Correlates of Crime Neighborhood Disadvantage and the Nature of Violence - Eric Baumer, Julie Horney, Richard Felson, and Janet L. Lauritsen Explaining Racial and Ethnic Differences in Adolescent Violence: Structural Disadvantage, Family Well-Being, and Social Capital - Thomas McNulty and Paul E. Bellair Age and the Explanation of Crime - Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson Juvenile Delinquency and Gender - Josine Junger-Tas, Denis Ribeaud, and Maarten J. L. F. Cruyff Part VI: How Do We Explain Crime? Foundational Theories of Modern Criminology, Part I Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas - Clifford R. Shaw and Henry McKay Neighborhood Inequality, Collective Efficacy, and the Spatial Dynamics of Urban Violence - Jeffrey D. Morenoff, Robert J. Sampson, and Stephen W. Raudenbush A Theory of Crime: Differential Association - Edwin Sutherland Differential Association in Group and Solo Offending - Andy Hochstetler, Heith Copes, and Matt DeLisi Social Structure and Anomie - Robert K. Merton Poverty, Socioeconomic Change, Institutional Anomie, and Homicide - Sang-Weon Kim and William Alex Pridemore Part VII: How Do We Explain Crime? Foundational Theories of Modern Criminology, Part II The Subculture of Violence - Marvin E. Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti Exposure to Community Violence and Childhood Delinquency - Justin W. Patchin, Beth M. Huebner, John D. McCluskey, Sean P. Varano, and Timothy S. Bynum Causes and Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency - Travis Hirschi Exploring the Utility of Social Control Theory for Youth Development: Issues of Attachment, Involvement, and Gender - Angela Huebner and Sherry Betts Labeling Criminals - Edwin Schur Official Labeling, Criminal Embeddedness, and Subsequent Delinquency: A Longitudinal Test of Labeling Theory - Jon Gunnar Bernburg, Marvin D. Krohn, and Craig J. Rivera Crime and Subcultural Contradictions - William J. Chambliss Vigilantism, Current Racial Threat, and Death Sentences - David Jacobs, Jason T. Carmichael, and Stephanie L. Kent Part VIII: How Do We Explain Crime? Contemporary Theories and Research, Part I The Nature of Criminality: Low Self-Control - Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi The Stability and Resiliency of Self-Control in a Sample of Incarcerated Offenders - Ojmarrh Mitchell and Doris Layton Mackenzie Toward an Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control - Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub Does Marriage Reduce Crime? A Counterfactual Approach to Within-Individual Causal Effects - Robert J. Sampson, John H. Laub, and Cristopher Wimer Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach - Lawrence E. Cohen and Marcus Felson Traveling to Violence: The Case for a Mobility-Based Spatial Typology of Homicide - George Tita and Elizabeth Griffiths Foundation for a General Strain Theory of Crime and Delinquency - Robert Agnew A Test of General Strain Theory - Lisa M. Broidy Part IX: How Do We Explain Crime? Contemporary Theories and Research, Part II The Code of the Streets - Elijah Anderson Structure and Culture in African-American Adolescent Violence: A Partial Test of the Code of the Street Thesis - Eric A. Stewart and Ronald L. Simons Beyond White Man′s Justice: Race, Gender and Justice in Late Modernity - Barbara Hudson An Argument for Black Feminist Criminology: Understanding African-American Women′s Experiences With Intimate Partner Abuse Using an Integrated Approach - Hillary Potter A Bio-Psychological Theory of Choice, from Crime and Human Nature - James Q. Wilson and Richard Hernstein Human Ecology, Crime, and Crime Control: Linking Individual Behavior and Aggregate Crime - Joanne Savage and Bryan Vila Males on the Life-Course-Persistent and Adolescence-Limited Antisocial Pathways - Terrie E. Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi, Honalee Harrington, and Barry J. Milne The Relationships Among Self-Blame, Psychological Distress, and Sexual Victimization - Kimberly Hanson Breitenbecher Part X: How Do We Control Crime? Crime and Social Control Strengthening Institutions and Rethinking the American Dream - Steven F. Messner and Richard Rosenfeld Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety - James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling The Changing Nature of the Death Penalty Debates - Michael L. Radelet and Marian J. Borg Abolish the Juvenile Court: Youthfulness, Criminal Responsibility, and Sentencing Policy - Barry C. Feld The Impact of Restorative Interventions on Juvenile Offenders - Mara F. Schiff Beyond Crime and Punishment: Prisons and Inequality - Bruce Western and Becky Pettit