Integration of disciplines, theories and research orientations has assumed a central role in criminological discourse yet it remains difficult to identify any concrete discoveries or significant breakthroughs for which integration has been responsible. Concentrating on three key concepts: context, mechanisms, and development, this volume aims to advance integrated scientific knowledge on crime causation by bringing together different scholarly approaches. Through an analysis of the roles of behavioural contexts and individual differences in crime causation, The Explanation of Crime seeks to provide a unified and focused approach to the integration of knowledge. Chapter topics range from individual genetics to family environments and from ecological behaviour settings to the macro-level context of communities and social systems. This is a comprehensive treatment of the problem of crime causation that will appeal to graduate students and researchers in criminology and be of great interest to policy-makers and practitioners in crime policy and prevention.
Author(s): Per-Olof H. Wikström, Robert J. Sampson
Series: Pathways in Crime
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 324
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 11
Tables......Page 14
Contributors......Page 15
Acknowledgments......Page 19
Introduction: Toward a unified approach to crime and its explanation......Page 21
Intellectual background......Page 23
Organization of the book......Page 24
Coda......Page 25
References......Page 26
1 A systemic perspective on crime......Page 28
Systemic alternative to the traditional social philosophies......Page 29
The CESM model of a system......Page 30
The NBEPC schema and the crime spectrum......Page 34
The epistemological problem......Page 36
Some types of explanation of crime......Page 38
Multi-factorial and multi-level models of crime......Page 40
Concluding remarks......Page 43
Appendix: Two quantitative models......Page 44
References......Page 47
2 How does community context matter? Social mechanisms and the explanation of crime rates......Page 51
Definitions and background facts......Page 52
Neighborhood stratification......Page 53
Beyond poverty: social processes and mechanisms......Page 55
"Ecometrics" – advances in research design and measurement......Page 56
A further look at collective efficacy theory......Page 59
Spatial and cross-community networks......Page 62
Summary......Page 64
Selection bias and experimental logic......Page 66
Event-based models......Page 69
Discriminant validity and the role of theory......Page 70
Comparative studies......Page 72
Conclusion and implications......Page 73
References......Page 75
3 Individuals, settings, and acts of crime: situational mechanisms and the explanation of crime......Page 81
What is crime? What a theory of crime causation should explain......Page 82
A general theory......Page 84
Objections to a general theory of crime......Page 85
A scientific approach......Page 86
The need to address the problem of correlation and causation......Page 87
The importance of having a theory of action......Page 89
Classic action theory......Page 90
Desires and beliefs......Page 91
Consequences of action......Page 92
Intentional inaction......Page 93
Moral rule-guidance......Page 94
The process of choice......Page 96
Free will, rational choices, and self-control......Page 97
Two types of choice process: deliberation and habit......Page 98
Perception......Page 101
Perception creates motivation and defines action alternatives......Page 102
Perception of alternatives and process of choice: the situational mechanisms linking individual and setting to action......Page 103
The role of individual differences......Page 104
The environment instigates action processes......Page 106
The problematic notion of selection effects......Page 107
Opportunities and temptations......Page 108
Frictions and provocations......Page 109
Settings as moral contexts......Page 110
The Situational Action Theory of Crime Causation......Page 112
Explaining acts of crime......Page 113
Acts of crime as a result of an individual's moral engagement with a moral context......Page 114
Individual morality......Page 115
Moral perceptions......Page 116
Moral habits......Page 117
Moral judgments......Page 119
The role of self-control......Page 120
The role of deterrence......Page 121
Moral choices......Page 123
Explaining individual differences in crime involvement, area and place differences in crime rates, and crime trends......Page 124
References......Page 125
Why look for causes of antisocial behavior in the family?......Page 128
Antisocial behavior research is stuck in the risk-factor stage......Page 129
How can behavioral-genetic research help?......Page 131
How well do twins and adoptees represent the population?......Page 132
Inference from different types of behaviorial-genetic designs......Page 133
Behavioral-genetic studies of parenting effects on children's aggression......Page 135
Question 1: Is children's aggression wholly accounted for by genetic factors, or does it have non-genetic causes as well......Page 136
Question 2: Do parents' genes influence bad parenting?......Page 138
Question 3: Does an effect of parents' genes on bad parenting confound a cause–effect interpretation of the association between bad parenting and children’s aggression?......Page 140
What research designs can be used to answer this question?......Page 141
Question 4: Does a genetic "child effect" evoke bad parenting to confound a cause–effect interpretation of the......Page 143
Question 5: After all genetic confounds are controlled, does bad parenting have any environmentally mediated effect on children's aggression?......Page 148
Question 6: Testing the hypothesis of interaction between genes and environments......Page 157
References......Page 163
5 A three-dimensional, cumulative developmental model of serious delinquency......Page 173
Escalation and the formulation of developmental pathways......Page 176
Risk factors......Page 181
Dose–response relationship between risk factors and delinquency......Page 188
Promotive factors......Page 193
Do promotive factors offset the impact of risk factors?......Page 199
Toward a three-dimensional model of developmental pathways and developmentally graded risk and promotive factors......Page 201
What is the relevance of the cumulative, developmental model for assessment and the evaluation of preventive and remedial interventions?......Page 204
References......Page 207
Introduction......Page 215
A systemic view of control mechanisms......Page 217
The development of self-control......Page 218
The notion of self-control......Page 220
Quantitative changes......Page 222
Qualitative changes......Page 223
Developmental trajectories......Page 224
The development of social controls......Page 225
The notion of social control......Page 226
Quantitative changes......Page 228
Qualitative changes and trajectories......Page 230
Gottfredson and Hirschi's integrative theory......Page 231
The development of deviant behavior......Page 233
Three complementary perspectives on development......Page 234
The developmental interaction between self and social controls......Page 235
The environmental context of self and social control: the community......Page 246
Conclusion......Page 250
References......Page 252
7 Desistance, social bonds, and human agency: a theoretical exploration......Page 263
Recent research on desistance......Page 264
Ezell and Cohen......Page 265
Laub and Sampson......Page 267
Stouthamer-Loeber et al.......Page 271
Human agency: an introduction......Page 273
Barry Barnes: Agency, sociability, causation, and responsibility......Page 274
Margaret Archer: Agency, the self, emotions, and the enactment of roles......Page 282
Emirbayer and Mische: Agency as a temporally embedded process of social engagement......Page 288
Jeanette Kennett: Weakness of will and self-control......Page 294
Discussion and synthesis......Page 301
"Situated choice" and "promotive factors"......Page 306
Conclusion......Page 307
References......Page 308
Index......Page 311
