Handbooks of Sociology and Social Resear Handbook on Crime and Deviance, (Paperback)

The eldofcrimeanddevianceisextensiveandevergrowing. Asinglecollectionofarticles couldnotcapturethevariousmethods, theories, andissuesthatcomprisethekeyconcernsofthe discipline. Facedwiththevastarrayofpotentialtopicareasthatcouldbelegitimatelyincluded insuchacompendium, wedecidedtouseourownlenstofocusonareasthatwedeemtobeof continuingimportanceandthoseinwhichimportantdevelopmentshaveemerged. Althoughwe recognizethatmuchhasbeenexcludedfromthiscollection, wethinkwhathasbeenincorporated shouldbeofgreatinteresttoscholarsworkinginthe eldandtothosestudentswhoarebecoming acquaintedwithit. Thecompendiumisdividedintofourmajorsections: (1)MethodologicalIssuesinCrime Research;(2)ExplanationsofCrime;(3)CriminalJustice-RelatedIssues;and(4)SpecialTopics inCrime. Withineachsection, wehaveendeavoredtoselectauthorswhoaremajor guresin theareaonwhichtheywriteorareamongthoseyoungscholarswhoaredoingsomeofthe mostimportantworkintheirareasofexpertise. Thisblendofseniorandup-and-comingscholars demonstratesthecontinuingvitalityofthe eldandwehopethatvitalityemanatesfromthe selectionswehavechosen. PartItitled"MethodologicalIssuesinCrimeResearch"containsfourchapters. Theissues thataredealtwithrangefromthosethatarethesourceofcontinuingdebate(arelongitudinal designsworththeexpenseandeffort, anddothebene tsofcomparativestudiesoutweighthe dif cultiesinconductingthem)aswellasissuesthatareonthecuttingedgeofcriminolo- calresearchtoday(theuseofgroup-basedstatisticalmethodologyforanalyzingdevelopmental trajectoriesandtheuseofincident-basedreportingsystems). A Handbook on Crime and DeviancewouldcertainlynotbecompletewithoutaPartII titled"ExplanationsofCrime. "Wehavenotincludedachapteroneverytheoreticalperspective thathasbeenpartofthedisciplinarydialogue. Rather, wehaveselectedsomeofthetheories onwhichtherehasbeensigni cantdevelopmentoverthepast10years. Theauthorswhohave contributedchaptersareclearlyamongthosewhoarecurrentlydoingworktoadvanceeitherthe theoreticaldevelopmentofthoseperspectivesortheresearchagendaonthosetheories, orboth. v vi Preface Theyalsowereinstructedtoemphasizethemorerecentdevelopmentsoftherespectivetheories intheirexpositions. PartIIIcontainschaptersaddressing"CriminalJustice-RelatedIssues. "Thereweream- iadofissuesthatcouldhavebeenaddressedinthispart. Wechosetoseekcontributionsonissues thatrelatetheorytopractice. Althoughweseparatethemfromourtheorysection, thesesel- tionscouldhaveeasilybeenincludedthere. Wealsoincludedessaysontwoissuesthatcontinue tobeamongthosethatareofcontinuingconcern, capitalpunishment, andthein uenceofrace andsexintheprocessingofoffendersinthecriminaljusticesystem. Part IV of the Handbook, "Special Topics in Crime and Deviance", is a compilation of issuesthatcontinuetobeorhavebecome'hottopics'inour eld. Theyrangefromgangs, guns, peers, anddrugstoissuessuchaschildabuseanddomesticviolence, cybercrime, andhatecrime. Thereareexcitingtheoreticalandresearchdevelopmentsintheseareas, manyofwhichhavebeen forwardedbytheauthorsofthesechapters. WhenrepresentativesofSpringeraskedustoassembleacompendium, theyspeci cally instructedustoselectarticlesbasedonourvisionofwhatwashappeninginthe eldtoday. Wehaveendeavoredtodothat. Moreimportantly, insolicitingchaptersfromthecontributing authors, weaskedthemtorelyontheirviewofwhatwasofparticularcurrentinterestintheir areaofexpertise. Wefurtherencouragedthemtoincorporatetheirownworkintheseareasin ordertotakefulladvantageoftheirexpertise. Theresultisacompendiumthatincludesan- to-dateassessmentofthestateofthe eldonanumberofextremelyimportanttopicsinc