Abstract
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first volume of the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency (JRCD). In a foreword to the first issue, published in February 1964, Editor Lloyd Ohlin laid out the rationale for JRCD, noting: The primary objective of a new research journal is to provide a useful means of communication among research workers in criminology …. Our journals in criminology do not meet this need since they deal primarily with the programmatic concerns of different practitioner groups. Only occasional research communication of research results; reports appear in them, and there is limited tolerance for the specialized language of research. (p. 3)
The first issue of JRCD presented seven articles by scholars whose research influenced the field for years to come: Albert J. Reiss, Jr., and A. Lewis Rhodes, “An Empirical Test of Differential Association Theory.” Leslie T. Wilkins and P. Macnaughton-Smith, “New Prediction and Classification Methods in Criminology.” Herbert C. Quay, “Personality Dimensions in Delinquent Males as Inferred from the Factor Analysis of Behavior Ratings.” Ronald L. Akers, “Socio-Economic Status and Delinquent Behavior: A Retest.” Walter R. Burkhart and Arthur Sathmary, “An Evaluation of a Treatment Control Project for Narcotics Offenders: Phases I & II.” Lyle W. Shannon, “Types and Patterns of Delinquency in a Middle-sized City.” Jerome Rabow, “Research and Rehabilitation: The Conflict of Scientific and Treatment Roles in Corrections.”
Some of these titles could just as easily appear in the dozens of research journals now published in the United States and other countries, 50 years after the first issue of JRCD.
To commemorate the first 50 years of JRCD, members of the editorial board and I invited contributions on a variety of topics. Some invitations were open ended, asking scholars to reflect on what has appeared in JRCD over 50 years and prepare either empirical or conceptual articles that picked up on recurring themes, or proposed new directions for research that was nonetheless rooted in the Journal’s past. Others were asked to prepare essays on more specific topics. What has resulted is a collection of articles that describes something of our past and suggests directions for future work.
This approach to a special issue stems mostly from a routine submission by Hans Toch and Kathleen Maguire. In updating research on public opinion by Michael Hindelang, Toch and Maguire ask what has changed, both with respect to public opinion and research on public opinion. Apart from this article, the most reflective is by Todd Clear and Aaron Ho, commenting on how JRCD was planned partly as an outlet for research promoted by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Clear and Ho also examine the parallel development of criminal justice policy and research published in JRCD.
Michael Hindelang and JRCD are partly known for research on questions of measurement in criminology. Christopher Sullivan and Jean McGloin argue for renewed attention to measurement and suggest some directions for future research. Alex Piquero, Carol Schubert, and Robert Brame examine what’s been learned about self-reported offending as a measure of crime. Reviewing manuscripts submitted for publication, I am frequently struck by how often authors cite early research by Hindelang and by Joseph Weis. Piquero and associates have now contributed an important article to what's known about different ways to measure crime.
Shane Johnson and Elizabeth Groff link theory and measurement by suggesting how agent-based modeling can test elements of criminological theory when suitable data are not readily at hand. This represents an important alternative to secondary data analysis that too often relies on imperfect measures because they are the best available.
Three articles center on research findings that have become especially prominent in the last 20 years or so—the spatial and developmental clustering of delinquency and crime. The concentration of crime in time and place is an increasingly recognized pattern, but less consensus exists regarding explanations for such patterns. Anthony Braga and Ronald Clarke describe the role of opportunity theory, framing their article against a recently published book by David Weisburd, Elizabeth Groff, and Sue-Ming Yang. In a response, Weisburd, Groff, and Yang agree with Braga and Clarke that further research on micro-places is important to assess the complementary roles of social disorganization and opportunity theories.
Edward Mulvey argues that criminologists heed growing evidence on developmental factors at work in delinquency. In some ways, Mulvey's article recalls the first issue of JRCD—its contents (listed previously) and Ohlin’s introductory essay. [N]ew research contributions are coming from several different disciplines. The reports are scattered throughout a variety of journals which service these disciplines. The result is that communication among research workers on related problems is inhibited. (p. 3)
A few words on process. All articles published here were subject to the Journal's peer review routine, with a slight modification. Each manuscript was reviewed by a member of the editorial board and by one outside reviewer. Two additional submissions were not accepted for publication.