The standard text in the field, Vold's Theoretical Criminology is universally known by scholars in the discipline. Taking a largely historical approach, it discusses both classic and contemporary theories, presenting historical context and empirical research for each one.

Vold's is a classic, trusted for decades as the definitive, comprehensive source of criminological theories. One of the marks of its success is that its usage spans introductory and upper level courses; it is even used in graduate-level courses. The writing style is crisp, clear, easy to understand but not watered down.

The eBook offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features and links that offer extra learning support: Find the eBook on VitalSource.

Cover Page
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication
Contents
Preface

Chapter 1 Theory and Crime

1.1 Spiritual Explanations
1.2 Natural Explanations
1.3 Scientific Theories
1.4 Causation in Scientific Theories
1.5 Three Categories of Criminological Theories
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 2 Classical Criminology

2.1 The Social and Intellectual Background of Classical Criminology
2.2 Beccaria and the Classical School
2.3 The Neoclassical School
2.4 From Classical Theory to Deterrence Research
2.5 Nagin’s Review of Deterrence Research
2.6 Rational Choice and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
2.7 Routine Activities and Victimization
2.8 Focused Deterrence: Operation Ceasefire
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 3 Biosocial Criminology

3.1 Background: Physical Appearance and Defectiveness
3.2 Lombroso, the Born Criminal, and Positivist Criminology
3.3 Goring’s Refutation of the Born Criminal
3.4 Body Type Theories
3.5 Family Studies
3.6 Twin and Adoption Studies
3.7 Epigenetics and the Role of Heritability Studies in Biosocial Criminology
3.8 MAOA: The Warrior Gene
3.9 Hormones
3.10 The Neural Basis of Crime
The Central Nervous System
The Autonomic Nervous System
3.11 Environmentally Induced Biological Components of Behavior
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 4 Psychological Factors and Criminal Behavior

4.1 Intelligence and Crime: Background Ideas and Concepts
4.2 IQ Tests and Criminal Behavior
4.3 Delinquency, Race, and IQ
4.4 Interpreting the Association Between Delinquency and IQ
4.5 Personality and Criminal Behavior: An Overview
4.6 Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
4.7 Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder
4.8 Depression and Delinquency
4.9 Trait Perspectives and the Five-Factor Model of Personality
4.10 Impulsivity and Crime
4.11 Moffitt’s Life-Course-Persistent Offenders
4.12 Clinical Prediction of Future Dangerousness
4.13 Actuarial Prediction of Later Crime and Delinquency
4.14 Policy Implications of Personality Research
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 5 Durkheim, Anomie, and Modernization

5.1 Emile Durkheim
5.2 Crime as Normal in Mechanical Societies
5.3 Anomie as a Pathological State in Organic Societies
5.4 Durkheim’s Theory of Crime
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 6 Strain Theories

6.1 Robert K. Merton and Anomie in American Society
6.2 Cohen’s Middle-Class Measuring Rod
6.3 Cloward and Ohlin’s Typology of Gangs
6.4 1960s Strain-Based Policies
6.5 The Decline and Resurgence of Strain Theories
6.6 Agnew’s General Strain Theory
6.7 Messner and Rosenfeld’s Institutional Anomie Theory
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 7 Neighborhoods and Crime

7.1 The Theory of Human Ecology
7.2 Research in the Delinquency Areas of Chicago
7.3 Policy Implications
7.4 Residential Succession, Social Disorganization, and Crime
7.5 Sampson’s Theory of Collective Efficacy
7.6 Neighborhood Disorder, Crime, and Policing
7.7 Crime in Public Housing
7.8 Social Disorganization and Crime in Rural Areas
7.9 Expanding Interest in Neighborhood Social Processes
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 8 Learning Theories

8.1 Basic Psychological Approaches to Learning
8.2 Tarde’s Laws of Imitation and Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
8.3 Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory
8.4 Research Testing Sutherland’s Theory
8.5 The Content of Learning: Cultural and Subcultural Theories
8.6 The Learning Process: Akers’s Social Learning Theory
8.7 Assessing Social Learning Theory
8.8 Athens’s Theory of Violentization
8.9 Katz’s Seductions of Crime
8.10 Labeling Theories
8.11 Implications
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 9 Control Theories

9.1 Early Control Theories: Reiss to Nye
9.2 Matza’s Delinquency and Drift
9.3 Hirschi’s Social Control Theory
9.4 Assessing Social Control Theory
9.5 Gottfredson and Hirschi’s A General Theory of Crime
9.6 Assessing Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 10 Conflict Criminology

10.1 Early Conflict Theories: Sellin and Vold
10.2 Conflict Theories in a Time of Conflict: Turk, Quinney, and Chambliss and Seidman
10.3 Black’s Theory of the Behavior of Law
10.4 A Unified Conflict Theory of Crime
Values and Interests in Complex Societies
Patterns of Individual Action
The Enactment of Criminal Laws
The Enforcement of Criminal Laws
The Distribution of Official Crime Rates
Testing Conflict Criminology
10.5 Minority Threat Theory
10.6 Cumulative Disadvantage in the American Criminal Justice System
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 11 Marxist, Postmodern, and Green Criminology

11.1 Overview of Marx’s Theory
11.2 Marx on Crime, Criminal Law, and Criminal Justice
11.3 The Emergence of Marxist Criminology
11.4 Marxist Theory and Research on Crime
11.5 Overview of Postmodernism
11.6 Postmodern Criminology
11.7 Green Criminology
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 12 Gender and Crime

12.1 The Development of Feminist Criminology
12.2 Schools of Feminist Criminology
12.3 Gender in Criminology
12.4 Why Are Women’s Crime Rates So Low?
12.5 Why Are Men’s Crime Rates So High?
12.6 The Narrowing of the Gender Gap in Violence
12.7 Beyond the Gender Gap
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 13 Developmental and Life-Course Theories

13.1 The Great Debate: Criminal Careers, Longitudinal Research, and the Relationship Between Age and Crime
13.2 Criminal Propensity Versus Criminal Career
13.3 The Transition to Developmental Criminology
13.4 Three Developmental Directions
Thornberry’s Interactional Theory
Sampson and Laub’s Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control
Tremblay’s Developmental Origins of Physical Aggression
13.5 New Directions in Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 14 Integrated Theories

14.1 Elliott’s Integrated Theory of Delinquency and Drug Use
14.2 The Falsification Versus Integration Debate
14.3 Braithwaite’s Theory of Reintegrative Shaming
14.4 Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
14.5 Differential Coercion and Social Support Theory
14.6 Bernard and Snipes’s Approach to Integrating Criminology Theories
14.7 Agnew’s General Theory
14.8 Gottschalk’s Theory of Convenience
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions

Chapter 15 Theory and Policy in Context

15.1 Crime in the United States: The Past Sixty Years
15.2 Two Opposing Narratives of the Crime Wave
15.3 Explaining the 1990s Decline
15.4 The City That Became Safe
15.5 Crime in the US During the Pandemic
Conclusions
Notes
Key Terms
Discussion Questions
Conclusion

What Is the State of Criminological Theory?

1 There is an overwhelming abundance of theories in criminology.
2 The discipline is a battleground of theories.
3 Not all theories fit the scientific definition of theory.
4 Despite the fierce competition among theories, there is much overlap.
5 There are three major problems with the testing of theories of crime causation.
6 There are several factors that contribute to the current state of criminological theory.
7 Is it bad to have so many theories, and if so, what should be done?

How Should Theory Be Most Relevant to Policy?

Notes
Index
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Images

Jeffrey B. Snipes, San Francisco State University, UNITED STATES

Thomas J. Bernard

Rick Trinkner, Arizona State University

Jeffrey B. Snipes: Ph.D. SUNY Albany, J.D. Stanford, Professor of Criminal Justice Studies at San Francisco State

Thomas J. Bernard: Ph.D. SUNY Albany, Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Penn State (deceased)

Rick Trinkner, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University Phoenix, AZ

"It is the 'gold standard' regarding theory. I trust it more than any other source. There is nothing wasteful here; no glossy photos that increase the cost of the text; no unnecessary sidebars that pad the book. I used this book nineteen years ago when I first started teaching to draft my lectures. I still use it today; it should be the essential reading text for anyone who takes crime and its control seriously."--Jarrett Lovel, California State Fullerton

"The writing style is easy to read and follow. The author(s) do not use academic jargon, which can be difficult for students to understand. The style is consistent throughout the book. I believe it would generate student interest and sustain it throughout the chapters. This is a great book that covers all the important topics and would be very engaging for students."--Shelly McGrath, University of Alabama

"I have never found a theory book as good as Vold's, so I only use this one. This text is foundational as it covers the central themes in criminology. It provides essential analyses of research as it takes stock with all theories presented in the text. The writing style is more academic and higher-order than most textbooks. But that is exactly why I like it."--Maria Velez, University of Maryland

"I would say it is a great textbook for lower-level criminology courses. Students will find it easy to understand. It is organized well and covers the field of criminology quite well." --Michelle Emerson

"Comprehensive theoretical coverage and now includes an example of theory applied to a major criminal justice debate (crime decline) ...Data driven and empirical assessments of each theory...Fair assessments (among the least biased texts by a leading theorist) ... Vold's is the best upper-level criminological theory book on the market." --Nancy A. Morris

"A well-written, concise primer perfect for an introduction to criminological theory with a rare deep consideration of conflict, critical and radical theory ... From my perspective, the pedagogical approach is quite good. I know some may like more bells and whistles, but I prefer straight, to-the-point text. The key terms and discussion questions are good (and sufficient without going overboard)... I think it's one of the key strengths of the is book that it's wellwritten. Moreover, it's concise and easily digestible (while at the same time offering adequate depth and breadth). From my experience, it definitely generates and sustains student interest." --Scott Vollum, U of Minnesota Duluth

"The writing style is appropriate for my students. It is not so advanced that students will constantly run across unfamiliar words but at the same time it is not 'dumbed down' to a very low level...clear and readable, includes a lot of current research, includes theories not found in other books...The coverage of personality tests is very interesting and includes material that is not usually found in other books." --Ellen Cohn, Florida International U.