Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, and Application, 3d ed.

• Author: Ferrall, Bard R.
• Position: Review

RONALD L. AKERS, CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES: INTRODUCTION, EVALUATION, AND APPLICATION, 3RD ED (Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing Co., 2000) 310pp.

Though "theory" is often cast in a denigrating contrast to "fact," properly developed theoretical explanations relate separate facts to each other to find an interconnection among observed phenomena. The author's purpose is to describe and evaluate the major criminological theories which have been the subject of the leading theory-testing articles in the last part of the 20th Century. Criminology is composed of two types of theories: 1) those concerned with how and why a society criminally sanctions certain conduct; and, 2) why do some members of a society violate its social and legal norms. (Criminological theory of the first type, it should be noted, does not judge what should be the law; rather it attempts to describe the societal processes that establish criminal law.) Most criminological theory falls in the second type, which seeks to explain why people commit crimes. This type may be subdivided into theories focusing on individuals and those focusing on groups. Since explanations of crime also draw from the findings of other sciences of human behavior, such as biology, psychology or sociology, criminological theories may also classified according to whether they treat crime as a biologically, psychologically or sociologically caused phenomenon. Following these schemes of classification, and noting some overlap, the author first looks at classical and modern theories of deterrence as explanations of criminal law formation; these theories assume a general consensus in society about norms. "Conflict theory," on the other hand, finds no general consensus in society about norms, but rather conflict among various groups. A society's criminal law, according to conflict theory, follows from the internal norms of the group that has sufficient power to establish the law; crime is the result of members of other groups following their groups' norms, rather than those of the dominant group. Similar to conflict theories, but differing in important ways, are...