Research Catalog

Title

Essential criminology / Mark Lanier, Stuart Henry.

Author

Lanier, Mark.

Publication

Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, 1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Henry, Stuart.

Description

xiii, 354 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

Designed as an alternative to overly comprehensive, lengthy, and expensive introductory texts, Essential Criminology is, as its title implies, a concise overview of the field. The book guides students through the various definitions of crime and the different ways crime is measured. It then covers the major theories of crime, from individual-level, classical, and rational choice to biological, psychological, social learning, social control, and interactionist perspectives. More sociocultural theories, beginning with social ecology theory and moving on to strain/subcultural theory, conflict, Marxist, and anarchist approaches, are also treated. In the last chapter, Mark Lanier and Stuart Henry examine new directions in criminology, including left realist, feminist, integrative, and post-modern/constitutive theory. Among the several unique, student-friendly features in Essential Criminology are an original, integrated, prismatic definition of crime; "equal time" examples from both white-collar (suite) and conventional (street) crime; chapter-by-chapter discussion of criminal justice policy implications; summary empirical research charts for each of the theories; and summary concept tables.

Subject

Criminology

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-343) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

What is criminology? The study of crime, criminals, and victims -- Defining crime -- Measuring crime: how criminologists obtain data on the extent of crime -- classical, neoclassical, and rational choice theories -- Born to be bad: biological, physiological, and biosocial theories of crime -- Criminal minds: psychiatric and psychologicla explanations for crime -- Learning criminal behavior: social process theories -- Failed socialization: control theory, social bonds, and labeling -- Crimesof place: social ecology and cultural theories of crime -- The sick society: anomie, strain, and subcultural theory -- Capitalism as a criminogenic society: conflict and radical theories of crime -- Critical criminologies for the twenty-first century.

ISBN

• 0813331366 (alk. paper)
• 0813331374 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^97036850^

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library