Criminological Theory

As ciências criminais - criminologia, direito penal e política criminal - têm assumido distintas configurações desde a proposta de Franz von Liszt no início do séc. XX. O direito penal já foi a principal ciência que contava com o auxílio de ciências assessórias. Mais adiante, transformou-se no instrumento jurídico da política-criminal. Atualmente, existe a tendência a ver as disciplinas numa condição de igualdade com autonomia científica. As qualidades científicas próprias da criminologia e do direito penal constam insuficientemente sublinhadas, impedindo o melhor funcionamento complementar no entendimento e no tratamento do fenômeno desviante. O presente estudo busca descrever quatro diferenças essenciais entre a criminologia e o direito penal.

This study examines the extent to which the symmetry-asymmetry distinction and offense aggregation bias obfuscate the relationship between economic conditions and crime. Specifically, we use ARIMA techniques to assess the impact of incremental and abrupt changes in oil prices on counts of total, commercial, and residential burglaries in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Taken together, the bivariate and interrupted time series analyses indicate that the causal impact of oil prices on burglary is asymmetrical and varies across the two subcategories of breaking and entering.

This article establishes a state-of-the-art review about the contribution of the community factors in the study of developmental trajectories of antisocial and criminal behavior. It aims to clarify and organize what the scientific discourse says about the relationships between community and behavioral trajectories. With this purpose, divided in two directions it presents, analyzes and discusses the most relevant: (1) theoretical perspectives and (2) empirical studies that can be found within the subject of Developmental Criminology. Before that, a brief passage through the theoretical foundations of this theme – historically speaking, they precede Developmental Criminology (DC) but DC actualizes them – towards a wider theoretical comprehension of the origins and conceptual and empirical games at stake in the present. We will jump towards this review with a starting shot built upon the following questions – to be answered along the article: Which community factors have an impact on antisocial development/life paths and how much do they matter? What interactions do they have with other systems of influences? At what periods in individual’s lives (timing) do communities make an impact? Does the weight of its influence vary across developmental stages or age?



Este artigo realiza uma revisão teórica da contribuição dos fatores comunitários para as trajetórias de desenvolvimento antissocial e criminal. Procura esclarecer e organizar o que diz o discurso científico sobre as relações entre comunidade e trajetórias comportamentais. Para isso, apresenta, analisa e discute, por um lado, as perspetivas teóricas e, por outro, os estudos empíricos mais relevantes encontrados na disciplina da Criminologia Desenvolvimental. Antes disso, faz uma breve passagem pelas fundações teóricas do tema que precedem historicamente esta subdisciplina da Criminologia – que vai beber deles – para uma mais abrangente compreensão teórica das origens e jogos conceituais e empíricos que se observam no presente. Saltaremos para este “estado da arte” com um tiro de partida que se formula pelas seguintes perguntas – a que se procura dar resposta ao longo do artigo: quais os fatores comunitários que impactuam nas trajetórias antissociais/percursos de vida e qual o seu peso? Que interações tecem com outros sistemas de causação? Em que períodos da vida dos indivíduos (timing) surtem as comunidades a sua influência? A magnitude do impacto comunitário varia consoante o estágio desenvolvimental ou idade?

Erving Goffmans Beschreibung „totaler Institutionen“ ist eine der folgenreichsten sozialwissenschaftlichen Auseinandersetzungen mit geschlossener Unterbringung und ihren Folgen. Erstmals 1961 als Monografie veröffentlicht, avancierte die Studie zu einem Klassiker, an den vielfach angeschlossen wird. Allerdings teilt das Buch das Schicksal anderer prominenter Werke, insofern sie z. T. eher zitiert als in ihrer Differenziertheit wahrgenommen werden. Bis heute lohnt es sich allerdings, so unsere Annahme, sich mit den Kernthesen Goffmans gerade in ihrer Vielschichtigkeit zu befassen. Um dies zu verdeutlichen, schildern wir zunächst Goffmans Anliegen und einige seiner zentralen Argumente. Anschließend verorten wir diese in neueren Debatten zu Gefängnis und Inhaftierungen, um auf dieser Basis wieder zu Goffman mit der Frage zurückzukehren, welche Aktualität seine Vorgaben gegenwärtig noch besitzen.

This panel set out to explore the popular and scholarly literature on graffiti and street art, to assess what has been accomplished in these fields, and where scholarly research in the fields of criminology, criminal justice and allied social sciences and humanities must go to better understand these largely urban phenomena.

Theory matters in crime prevention. Indeed, but this is hardly the full story. Crime prevention is oftentimes viewed as atheoretical—not grounded in the etiology of crime and offending. Reasons abound for this view, and the recent interest in an evidence-based approach to policy-making has been at the forefront. This article reviews the role that theory plays in modern day crime prevention, with a special focus on the three main crime prevention strategies: developmental, community, and situational. The review identifies a number of key challenges and opportunities for making theory more central to crime prevention. It suggests that the classification system employed in situational crime prevention has allowed for a more explicit connection between sound theory and prevention techniques, and may provide important lessons for developmental and community crime prevention.

The global production of knowledge is grossly skewed to the northern Anglophone world (Hogg et al. in International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 6(1), 1– 7, 2017; Connell 2007). It should be no surprise therefore that criminology's origin stories are derivative of northern experiences, yet generalised as universal theories of crime causation. In this article, we argue that the origin stories of criminological theory translated the 'darker', 'hairier' and 'muscular' masculinities of the global south into prototypes of dangerousness. These prototypes were first articulated as scientific claims in the nineteenth century works of Lombroso, but have been refined and embedded in mainstream criminological discourses well into the present, mainly through the quantitative study of social disorganisation, 'race' and racialised masculinities as variables in crime causation. The paper concedes that while deeply troubling expressions of violent masculinity exist now and in the past in the global south, it is mistaken to conceive this violence simply as expressions of atavism or social disorganisation associated with a less civilised world. On the contrary, this paper argues that the violence of colonality itself has had, and continues to have, a criminogenic impact on the present.

Given the complexities of our time, it is not surprising that criminological models, theories and perspectives often fall short of providing complete and satisfactory explanations of complex phenomena.  Organised crime and terrorism, and the emerging crime-terror nexus, are examples of such phenomena.  If they were simple, they would be easy to understand and prevent, but they are not.  Complexity science (‘complexity’) studies complex phenomena.  Given the nature of organised crime, terrorism and the crime-terror nexus, one would expect that the family of complexity, including chaos theory, might lend itself to furthering our understanding and knowledge of these phenomena.  Drawing on the natural and social sciences, this thesis explores the notion.  In doing so, a new complexity model, using borrowed science, is developed to apply complexity in a criminological context, and to critically examine organised crime, terrorism and the crime-terror nexus through a complexity lens.  The new complexity model is tested using the case study method and considers whether the new model furthers our understanding and knowledge of these complex phenomena, together with practical and policy implications.  The thesis also considers whether the new complexity model adds a new tool to the criminologist’s toolbox to provide fresh and novel insights into complex problems.

O que fez com que hoje nós não tenhamos a correta noção de como lidar com o fenômeno “crime”? O que faz com que tenhamos hoje um quadro gravíssimo de insegurança pública, mesmo tendo nossos governos investido tantos recursos nessa área nas últimas décadas? O que faz pensar que encarcerando uma parcela maior da sociedade estaremos combatendo eficazmente a criminalidade? O que ocasionou a nossa sociedade clamar por punições medievais e legitimá-las e as condições desumanas dos nossos cárceres, mesmo em pleno século 21? O que naturalizou e banalizou a violência cometida pelo Estado através de suas forças oficiais? Por que a Academia não consegue explicar e propor soluções viáveis a todo esse caos? E, ainda, quando são apresentadas tais soluções, por que não há utilização destas por parte dos agentes e agências (políticas) de poder? Onde foi que nós erramos?

No definitive relationship between the underlying causes of the PoP have thus far been established. Paedophilia is becoming an increasing criminological issue. The identity of a paedophile is one who is susceptible to paraphilias, specifically prepubescent children. However, the majority of paedophiles do not act accordingly to their sexual desires. Nonetheless, in recent years, there has been an escalation in the reporting of victims of CSA in the UK. This paper uses secondary quantitative data to create a Literature Review which explores the implementation of criminological, bio-sociological, psychological and sociological theories, and a further Systematic Review of the current understandings of the PoP, and treatment methods and techniques associated with decreasing paedophilic offending. Results indicate that biological factors such as the role of hormones and the brain are the underlying causes of the PoP, with the influence of sociological elements. Contemporary treatment methods are perceived as unethical, except those practiced within the UK. Therapeutic approaches are the suggested methods for decreasing paedophilic offending. Further suggestions into the underlying causes of the PoP involve the integration of criminology and science, specifically into the biological underlying causations of the PoP, to increase public and scientific understandings.

Abstract: We all know that Lombroso was not always correct in his conclusions, that his methods were flawed and that he can be seen as both misogynist and racist. Even if many of these problematic areas are due to the social, political and geographical context in which he worked, they are still open for criticism and they still deserve a study. In reading Lombroso’s Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman (in a new, more complete, translation by Hahn Rafter and Gibson from 2004) it is interesting to see not only his general conclusion about the superiority of men, it is also interesting to see how he set about proving his claims of the inferiority of women in general, and criminals and prostitutes in particular. He tried to introduce science into what was later to become criminology, one major contribution was the introduction of a control group (of normal women), but the indicators he used for establishing certain facts are anything but uncomplicated and often not very scientific at all and sometimes quite controversial, at least for the modern criminologist. This paper will provide a reading of Lombroso’s Criminal Woman… and a scrutiny of his arguments. It is not only important to know his general ideas; it is as important and, not least, interesting, to see how he actually argued his case.

William J. Chambliss (Bill) is well-known for his path-breaking theories of lawmaking and for his innovative research on state-organized crime. However, the fact that his study of the original vagrancy laws marked the birth of rural critical criminology has gone unrecognized by criminologists. The main objective of this article is twofold: (1) to show how Bill helped shape contemporary rural critical criminology and (2) to provide suggestions for further critical theoretical and empirical work on rural crime and social control.

John Wayne Gacy was once referred to as America’s most prolific serial killer and still is in some circles. Gacy’s killings occurred between 1972-1978. A 2020 report by Team Seven still refers to Gacy as America’s most prolific serial killer. However, his victim numbers have since been eclipsed by others, such as Samuel Little. Gacy was convicted of killing 33 young males (Team Seven 2020, Warden 2015, Biography 2019). Little was convicted of killing 50 females but has confessed to killing 93 females (Musumeci, 2019). Warden noted that 32 bodies were found underneath Gacy’s house. However, a 33rd Gacy victim was found in a nearby river (O’Neil, 2018). Much has been written about Gacy and his victims, including television presentations. One of the main focuses of such reports is that Gacy would work as a clown. Gacy explained this by stating “Nobody ever questions what clowns do,” and “Hell, clowns can go up to broads on the sidelines and squeeze their tits, and all the women do is giggle.” You know, clowns can get away with murder” This article explores Gacy’s biography from youth to serial killer, including victim choice, methods used, and disposal. It will also examine various criminological theories that may apply to or explain Gacy’s behavior.

There are many theories that have been developed which attempt to explain the causes of criminal behaviour, including explanations of crime which focus on the individual – his or her thought process, biological factors, and psychological factors; and explanations of crime which focus on factors external to the individual – the surrounding environment, others who influence the individual, and society as a whole. These two areas of criminology are often seen to be in direct conflict with each other. Nowadays most criminologists agree that it isn't an either-or situation – internal factors and social factors both play a part in determining one's behaviour. This essay takes the same view and argues that both sides of criminology have their strengths and weaknesses in explaining crime, and the notion that only internal or external factors can be the cause for an individual being criminal is outdated. To demonstrate that neither explanations of crime are more convincing than the other, this essay will examine both biological theories and ecological theories and compare them against each other. In doing so, each theory and their origins will be explained, the weaknesses of each theory will be explored, and the crimes that each theory can explain will be stated. Biological theories are interested in the inherited genetics of the individual to determine their predisposition to antisocial behaviour (Hirschi & Gottfredson 1990, p. 414). Cesare Lombroso, dubbed " the father of modern criminology " , popularised biological positivism during the nineteenth century. His general theory proposed that 'the criminal was born, not made' – he believed that atavistic criminals (people who are biologically inferior) were a reversion of the human specimen, having physical features similar to that apes and early man – such a person could be identified by examining their appearance and noting any physical abnormalities or 'stigmata' (White, Haines & Asquith 2012, p. 49).

Robert Merton's (1957) theories of anomie is the most widely examined theory of criminality. Merton's theory of anomie explains how people may involve in criminal activities by illegitimate opportunities for achieving desired goals in a society.

In Crime and the American Dream, Messner and Rosenfeld contend that culturally and structurally produced pressures to secure monetary rewards, coupled with weak controls from noneconomic social institutions , promote high levels of instrumental crime. Empirically, they suggest that the effects of economic conditions on profit-related crime depend on the strength of noneconomic institutions. This investigation evaluates this proposition with cross-sectional data for U.S. states. In brief; the nonlinear models show considerable, indirect support for Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory, revealing that the effects of poverty on property crime depend on levels of structural indicators of the capacity of noneconomic institutions to ameliorate the criminogenic impact of economic deprivation. The implications of these findings are discussed.

This article conducts a critical appraisal of ultra-realist criminology, an ambitious theoretical perspective seeking to offer a new epistemological grounding for criminological research. Heavily indebted to Jacques Lacan, Slavoj Žižek, and Adrian Johnston's psychoanalytic theory, ultra-realism, its proponents argue, also builds upon the ontological and epistemological principles of critical realism. This article contests this central claim, asking: what is realist about ultra-realist criminology? Through excavating the real(ism) of ultra-realist criminology, I argue that the project is characterised by key shortcomings pertaining to the espousal of Lacanian/Žižekian theory in its 'transcendental materialist' framework. Drawing on the principles of critical realism, I critique ultra-realism on three key grounds: (a) its construction of a reductive totalizing discourse where all crime can be traced back to a political economic center; (b) its failure to offer a truly stratified account of the criminogenic conditions that produce crime; and (c) its inability to escape the epistemic subjectivism of its key theoretical influences.

İnsanların neden suç işledikleri veya neden suçun dışında kal-dıkları suç teorisyenleri tarafından yıllardır tartışılmaktadır. Suç teorisyenleri (kriminolog), bu sorulara cevap arayarak suça etki eden temel sebepleri belirlemek ve suçları önlemek için politika önerileri geliştirmektedir. Kriminoloji, ceza adalet sistemi ve sis-temdeki aktörlerin işleyişini anlamaya yardımcı olur. Suç, sosyal bir davranış olarak bireyin içerisinde ve dışında gelişen çok yönlü mikro ve makro seviyede oluşan bir davranışlar bütünüdür ve suç teorileri bu bağlamda çevremizdeki dünyayı anlamak ve açıkla-mak için kullanılan yardımcı ve yararlı araçlardır. Suç teorilerin-den bir bölümü mikro düzeyde (birey) suç olgusunu açıklamaya çalışırken bazıları ise makro düzeyde (grup, topluluk, il) cevap aramaktadır. Suç hiç şüphesiz çok yönlü ve boyutlu olarak tartışılması gereken bir olgudur. Tek yönlü düz bir kuram suç olgusunu yeteri kadar açıklayamaz. Suça etki eden faktörler teorik olarak değerlendi-rildiğinde, bireysel faktörler (eğitim, gelir, vb.), ekonomik faktör-ler (gelir, işsizlik, vb.), ailesel faktörler (ailenin durumu, çocuk sayısı, sağlam bir aile yapısı, vb.), çevresel faktörler (yaşanan yer, göç, sanayileşme, azınlık olup olmadığı, vb.) yer almaktadır. Ülkemizde uzun süredir terör ve terörizm konuları gündemde ol-duğundan dolayı asayiş suçları çok tartışılmamış ve bu konuda çalışmalar oldukça kısıtlı sayıda kalmıştır. Elinizdeki bu eser bu çalışmalara katkı sağlamayı amaçlamaktadır.

In the spirit of Jean Baudrillard's Forget Foucault this article offers a step-by-step critique of the 'moral panic' concept. It begins with a short review of Cohen's original thesis and its gradual evolution before addressing its remarkable popularity and ascent to the stature of a domain assumption. The rest of the article uses and extends the existing critique of moral panic theory before suggesting that the entire conceptual repertoire, rather than undergo another period of adaptation, should be ditched to make way for much-needed innovation.

In spite of its widespread use within criminology, the term ‘criminological imagination’, as derived from C. Wright Mills’ classic The Sociological Imagination, has yet to be fully developed and clarified as an analytic concept capable of guiding theorizing or empirical enquiry. This volume, with a preface by Elliott Currie, engages with and reflects on this concept, exploring C. Wright Mills’ work for criminological enquiry.

Bringing together the latest work of leading scholars in the fields of criminology and sociology from around the world, C. Wright Mills and the Criminological Imagination investigates the emergence and lineage of a criminological concept indebted to Mills’ thought, adapting and applying it to a specifically criminological context.

With attention to theoretical concerns and, as well as the application of the criminological imagination in concrete empirical research, this volume sheds new light on the methodological and analytical aspects of the criminological imagination as a multifaceted concept and explores the possibilities that it offers for the emergence of an imaginative criminological practice. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in sociology and social theory, criminology, criminal justice studies, law and research methods.

CONTENTS: Foreword, Elliott Currie; C. Wright Mills and the criminological imagination: introductory remarks, Jon Frauley. Part I Mills, the Criminological Imagination, and the Criminological Field: For a refractive criminology: against science machines and cheerful robots, Jon Frauley; The demise of the criminological imagination: thirty years later, Frank P. Williams III; Contemporary criminology and the sociological imagination, Eamonn Carrabine; The criminological imagination in an age of global cybernetic power, Stephen Pfohl. Part II The Criminological Imagination, Theoretical Insights, Empirical Implications: The implications of the sociology of C. Wright Mills for modern criminological theory revisited, Joseph Scimecca; Sympathy and the criminological imagination, Melanie White; Re-imagining social control: G.H. Mead, C. Wright Mills, and beyond, Nicolas Carrier. Part III The Criminological Imagination, Empirical Insights, Theoretical Implications: Critical research values and C. Wright Mills ‘sociological imagination’: learning lessons from researching prison officers, David Scott; Neo-liberalism, higher education and anti-politics: the assault on the criminological imagination, Alana Barton and Howard Davis; Imagining the unthinkable: climate change, ecocide and children, Rob White; The criminological imagination and the promise of fiction, Stephanie Piamonte; Imagining transnational security projects, David Nelken. Index.


REVIEWS: ‘The critical humanism of C. Wright Mills is only rarely encountered in criminology, which remains a field of study characterised by an undeveloped imagination. For anyone who wants to see how enriching Mills’s intuitions can be to criminology, this is an essential book. From now on, when administrative or realist colleagues ask the trite, prosaic question “what are the policy implications of your theory?”, we are allowed to retort “what are the theoretical implications of your policy?”’
~Vincenzo Ruggiero, Middlesex University, UK


‘To build a creative and critical criminology for the 21st century will require a major effort of innovative, critical and even speculative scholarship. Drawing on C. Wright Mills’ vision of the sociological imagination, this book provides both a vital stimulus and key pointers - new ways of thinking summed up in the idea of “the criminological imagination” - towards how such an enterprise can be brought into being.’
~Pat O’Malley, University of Sydney, Australia

Nordic noir is a popular crime genre associated with a region (Scandinavia), a narrative style (un-pretentious/socially critical) and a particular aesthetic look (dark/foreboding). Renowned for its psychologically complex characterization and gloomy Mise-en-scène, and spanning best-selling crime fiction, film, and globally successful television drama, Nordic noir has mushroomed from regional niche market to international phenomenon in little more than a decade. A review of both popular and academic accounts of the genre suggest that much of Nordic noir's appeal comes from its supposed 'gritty' or 'realist' account of Scandinavian society. This paper, however, adopts a different perspective. Drawing on cultural criminology, ultra-realism and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, we argue that, rather than accurately reflecting the complex social and political problems currently confronting late modern Scandinavian welfare societies, Nordic noir has lost its grip on realism and any meaningful association with actual/established Scandinavian values. Instead, Nordic noir is now functioning as a displacement narrative, a form of cultural expression that allows artists, producers and their audiences to push the region's social problems outside the realm even of the Imaginary.

Technological advances have increased the reach of offenders as well as the vulnerability of potential victims. However, cybercrime offenders are a hidden and hard-to-access population. Despite the challenges involved, there are a number of innovative studies examining different samples of cybercrime offenders. This body of research indicates that cybercrime offenders are a disparate set. The theory outlined in this chapter encompasses and unites these differences to describe the two different paths that offenders make take towards committing cybercrimes that compromise data and financial security, commonly referred to as ‘hacking’ and ‘fraud’. These pathways account for differences in cybercrime offenders, such as age of onset, technical expertise, gender and life experiences. This theory, which integrates elements from existing criminological theories, also describes why online offenders continue and escalate their behaviours, and why they stop.

This paper addresses the role of cultural criminology as a subfield in academic criminology. Herein, I examine the different ways in which “culture” has been conceptualized in criminology and the relation of those conceptualizations to that of cultural criminology. I go on to trace the main theoretical and methodological approaches that have informed this relatively new subfield of criminological inquiry and briefly discuss some of the perceived limitations of cultural criminology as well as important areas for future inquiry.

İnsanların neden suç işledikleri veya neden suçun dışında kal-dıkları suç teorisyenleri tarafından yıllardır tartışılmaktadır. Suç teorisyenleri (kriminolog), bu sorulara cevap arayarak suça etki eden temel sebepleri belirlemek ve suçları önlemek için politika önerileri geliştirmektedir. Kriminoloji, ceza adalet sistemi ve sis-temdeki aktörlerin işleyişini anlamaya yardımcı olur. Suç, sosyal bir davranış olarak bireyin içerisinde ve dışında gelişen çok yönlü mikro ve makro seviyede oluşan bir davranışlar bütünüdür ve suç teorileri bu bağlamda çevremizdeki dünyayı anlamak ve açıkla-mak için kullanılan yardımcı ve yararlı araçlardır. Suç teorilerin-den bir bölümü mikro düzeyde (birey) suç olgusunu açıklamaya çalışırken bazıları ise makro düzeyde (grup, topluluk, il) cevap aramaktadır. Suç hiç şüphesiz çok yönlü ve boyutlu olarak tartışılması gereken bir olgudur. Tek yönlü düz bir kuram suç olgusunu yeteri kadar açıklayamaz. Suça etki eden faktörler teorik olarak değerlendi-rildiğinde, bireysel faktörler (eğitim, gelir, vb.), ekonomik faktör-ler (gelir, işsizlik, vb.), ailesel faktörler (ailenin durumu, çocuk sayısı, sağlam bir aile yapısı, vb.), çevresel faktörler (yaşanan yer, göç, sanayileşme, azınlık olup olmadığı, vb.) yer almaktadır. Ülkemizde uzun süredir terör ve terörizm konuları gündemde ol-duğundan dolayı asayiş suçları çok tartışılmamış ve bu konuda çalışmalar oldukça kısıtlı sayıda kalmıştır. Elinizdeki bu eser bu çalışmalara katkı sağlamayı amaçlamaktadır.

The theories of social bond, differential association and routine activities were synthesized into one theoretical model to determine its predictive utility in the explanation of juvenile delinquency and victimization. Using cross-sectional data obtained from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) survey, a sample of middle school students was examined. The results indicate that the integrated model moderately predicts delinquent behavior (i.e. property crime, violent crime and alcohol and illegal drug use) and victimization. This study concludes that theoretical integration is necessary in order to develop a more complete crime theory and to increase the current understanding of the crime-victimization relationship.