Abstract
Why do people offend? This question has motivated a substantial portion of criminological inquiry and has resulted in an abundance of texts devoted to the presentation of the evolution of criminological thought regarding the nature of crime and offending. Traditionally, these texts use a standard presentation and categorization method: first by school of thought and then chronologically. In The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory, editors Francis T. Cullen and Pamela Wilcox break away from this conventional approach and offer a refreshingly different take on the presentation of theoretical ideas. Their approach organizes theories around four key themes currently shaping contemporary criminological discussions: individual and society, contexts of offending, choice and opportunities, and theories of power and punishment. This structure provides authors a platform for wrestling with the complexities of crime such as its varied manifestations over the life course, multi-level influences, and the intersection of internal and external facilitators and barriers to offending. Core criminological theories are reinvigorated through supplementation and elaboration and contrasted with contemporary theories. The chapters within each section take different approaches to the presentation of material; however, a particular strength of this text is the nearly universal inclusion of two features in each chapter: 1) a presentation of key ideas/conclusions in the introduction, and 2) a focus on current research gaps/future pathways. A full discussion of the 35 chapters included in this text is beyond the scope of this review (and the interests of readers); I highlight below a sampling of foci from the substantive chapters.
Section I begins by directing attention to individual-level explanations of offending. The inclusion of biological, psychological, and sociological theories illuminates the cross-cutting and interdisciplinary nature of criminology and its enduring pursuit of understanding the factors fostering individual differences in crime. These chapters direct attention to many standard criminological theories and theorists in a way that enlivens “old” ideas and introduces new narratives in familiar theoretical story lines. For example, Matt DeLisi’s chapter, titled “Revisiting Lombroso,” provides an in-depth discussion of a well-known historical criminology theory; however, the chapter recasts this narrative in a way that illustrates the evolution of Lombroso’s theorizing over time and clarifies his imprint on contemporary biosocial criminology. In Chapter Six, “Social Learning and Crime,” Emily J. Salisbury revisits the theoretical foundations of Edwin Sutherland and Ronald Akers’ social learning theory extensions but adds to this discussion ideas that developed simultaneously in social psychology. She draws on the work of Don A. Andrews and James Bonta to provide a bridge between sociological and psychological learning theory.
Section II focuses on contexts of offending with subsections on peers, communities, and the American experience to understand the ways in which contexts shape behavior. Attending to the motivation of the book, the authors incorporate a variety of theoretical positions to direct the focus on understanding the mechanisms by which contextual factors contribute to variation in individual offending and aggregate crime rates. Importantly, readers are forced to deliberate the collective and cumulative effects of structure and culture on the development and perpetuation of offending. The inclusion of alternative and non-traditional emphases such as the globalization of gangs (Chapter 14, “Contemporary Gang Ethnographies,” by Scott Decker and David Pyrooz), culture viewed through a heterogeneous lens (Chapter 19, “Street Culture and Crime,” by Mark T. Berg and Eric A. Stewart), and crime in suburbia (Chapter 20, “The Code of the Suburb and Drug Dealing,” by Scott Jacques and Richard Wright) were particularly appreciated.
The chapters in Section III shine the spotlight on the muddled and often mercurial decision-making process of offending, shifting the focus from the offender to the criminal event by examining situational influences on the choice to offend (or not), crime type and target selection, and criminal opportunity. For example, Tamara D. Madensen and John E. Eck (Chapter 29, “Crime Places and Place Management”) reveal the persistent pattern of crime in specific micro-locations (durable crime hot spots) and relate this phenomenon to isolation of “proprietary places” from their surrounding contexts and their differential place management.
The final section, “Theories of Power and Punishment,” voices concerns about the byproducts of coercive and/or punitive practices. The section offers brief mention of critical criminology that could (and should) be expanded upon. Michael J. Lynch and Paul B. Streteksy’s chapter on “Green Criminology” is a particularly important reading concerning an emerging criminological concern. The chapter highlights not only direct environmental harms, but the plethora of indirect harms from, and inequitable exposure to, green crimes. This chapter challenges criminology to broaden its definitional boundaries of “crime” and “harm.”
It is hard to believe that 40 years have elapsed since incarceration became one of the leading strategies for controlling crime. Chapter 34, “The Effects of Imprisonment,” by Cheryl Lero Jonson, systematically reviews the evidence on the outcomes of this approach, documenting its limited and likely criminogenic effects. The clear presentation of data linking worsening outcomes to increasingly harsher penal methods is a must-read for the next generation of criminologists and the general public.
The intention of this edited volume was to break away from the static presentation of theories to highlight better the ways in which criminological theories are engaged collaboratively in addressing key concerns in the discipline. With an eye to the future, many of the chapters in this text do not lose sight of the importance of sociohistorical context and foundational theoretical ideas that provide the building blocks for contemporary theories. I believe the editors have succeeded in their goal, and I find this book a welcome alternative to traditional texts.
Despite the many strengths of this work, there is one notable missed opportunity. Criminologists must focus greater attention on the ways in which the interconnectedness of individual identities, including race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and immigrant status, shape offending, victimization, perceptions, and legal system experiences. While not completely absent from this text, chapters that include discussions of gender, class, or racial/ethnic differences do so in isolation; the inclusion of intersectional theory would have complemented and benefited the other chapters as well.
While the text is already information dense, it would have been nice to have an editorial summary (either by section or for the entire volume) to better tie together individual readings, highlight areas of overlapping agreement, identify notable pathways forward, and better bridge theoretical discussions with policy implications. This is particularly important in terms of the theory/policy bridge and the need to strengthen continually the perception that theory and policy/practice are collaborative partners. Though individual chapters focus attention on making this connection (see, e.g., Chapter 11, “Change in Offending across the Life Course,” by Christopher J. Sullivan), a directed discussion would be particularly useful for a text aimed at charting the future for criminological theory.
Overall, this text is a nice addition to the literature; the chapters are approachable, useable in isolation or in combination, and tap into important themes in contemporary criminology. There is a healthy balance of contemporary and historical discussions of the nature of crime and offending. This breadth of coverage makes the book attractive to scholars; the writing makes it accessible to students.