An Introduction to Criminological Theory, 3rd Edition

425 Pages·2009·2.59 MB·English

by  Roger Hopkins Burke

Crimtheory3edv6.qxd 12/5/09 21:57 Page 1
An Introduction to CA
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Criminological Theory i
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Third edition no
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ROGER HOPKINS BURKE u
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This third edition of An Introduction to Criminological Theory comprises a substantially revised t
and expanded, comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to criminological theory worldwide. gio
Each chapter has been revised to take account of recent theoretical developments and the in An Introduction to
enduring validity of established theories has been explored through application to crucial c

contemporary criminological issues. This edition introduces new themes in a fifth part that at
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addresses crime and criminality in the contemporary age of moral uncertainty.
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Criminological

The text is divided into five parts. The first three parts address an identified model of criminal T
behaviour – the rational actor, the predestined actor and victimised actor models – that have
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each professed to explain crime and criminal behaviour. The fourth part reviews more recent
attempts to integrate theoretical elements from both within and across models of criminal e
Theory
behaviour. The fifth part addresses a range of contemporary issues including constitutive
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criminology, anarchist criminology, cultural criminology and the schizophrenia of crime, new
modes of governance, the risk society, globalisation theories, terrorism and state violence, and r
communitarianism. y
This is an interdisciplinary text that recognises the value of legal, biological, psychological and
sociological explanations of crime and criminal behaviour, and the increasingly more sophis-
e Third edition
ticated attempts to integrate these theories. Theories are placed in the socio-political context T
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in which they arose and the whole text is located in the context of contemporary debates ih
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about modernity and postmodernity, now substantially revised at a time when the world is ir
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undergoing the seismic shock of perhaps the greatest economic crisis ever encountered and n
the criminogenic conditions likely to be produced as a consequence.
This book covers the entire syllabus for the vast majority of contemporary university crimino-
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logical theory courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level while continuing to gently O

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expand the parameters of debate. It is nevertheless written in an accessible and non-esoteric
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fashion and provides an excellent introduction to how crime and criminal behaviour has been R
variously explained for all students of criminology. H
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The author K
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Roger Hopkins Burke is Criminology Subject Leader, Division of Criminology, Public Health
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and Policy Studies, Nottingham Trent University. His current research interests are the
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development of criminological theory and young people and crime. Recent publications U
include Young People, Crime and Justice (Willan Publishing, 2008). R
K
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Academic and Professional
Publisher of the Year 2008
International Achievement
of the Year 2009
ROGER HOPKINS BURKE
www.willanpublishing.co.uk
An Introduction to Criminological Theory
For Kristan, Thomas and Oliver
An Introduction to
Criminological Theory
Third Edition
Roger Hopkins Burke
Published by
Willan Publishing
Culmcott House
Mill Street, Uffculme
Cullompton, Devon
EX15 3AT, UK
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.willanpublishing.co.uk
Published simultaneously in the USA and Canada by
Willan Publishing
c/o ISBS, 920 NE 58th Ave, Suite 300,
Portland, Oregon 97213-3786, USA
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.isbs.com
© Roger Hopkins Burke 2009
The rights of Roger Hopkins Burke to be identified as author of this book have been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting
copying in the UK issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby
Street, London EC1N 8TS.
First published 2001
Second Edition 2005
Third Edition 2009
ISBN 978-1-84392-407-4 paperback
ISBN 978-1-84392-569-9 hardback

British Library Cataloguing-in -Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Project managed by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock, Devon
Typeset by GCS, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, LU7 1EU
Printed and bound by T.J. International, Padstow, Cornwall
Contents
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction: crime and modernity 1
Pre-modern crime and criminal justice 1
The rise of modern society 3
Defining and the extent of crime 5
The structure of the book 7
Suggested further reading 20
Part One: The rational actor model of crime and criminal behaviour 21
2 Classical criminology 27
The Classical theorists 27
The limitations of Classicism 31
The neo-Classical compromise 31
The enduring influence of Classicism 33
Suggested further reading 35

3 Populist conservative criminology 36
The rise of the political new right 36
James Q. Wilson and ‘right realism’ 37
Right realism and social control 41
A critique of right realism 42
Suggested further reading 44
4 Contemporary rational actor theories 46
Contemporary deterrence theories 46
Rational choice theory 49
Routine activities theory 53
The rational actor reconsidered 56
Suggested further reading 59

An Introduction to Criminological Theory
Part Two: The predestined actor model of crime and criminal
behaviour 61
5 Biological positivism 65
Early biological theories 65
Inherited criminal characteristics 68
Genetic structure 72
Criminal body types 73
Psychoses and brain injuries 75
Autistic spectrum disorders 77
Biochemical theories 80
Altered biological state theories 82
Treating the offender 87
Conclusions 88
Suggested further reading 90
6 Psychological positivism 92
Psychodynamic theories 92
Behavioural learning theories 97
Cognitive learning theories 103
Conclusions 108
Suggested further reading 108
7 Sociological positivism 110
Emile Durkheim and social disorganisation theory 110
The Chicago school 116
Robert Merton and anomie theory 119
Deviant subculture theories 126
Conclusions 141
Suggested further reading 141
8 Women and positivism 143
Biological positivism and women 143
Psychological posit ivism and women 146
Sociological positivism and women 152
Conclusions 157
Suggested further reading 157
Part Three: The victimised actor model of crime and criminal
behaviour 159
9 Labelling theories 167
The social construction of crime 167
The recipients of deviant labels 170
The consequences of labelling for the recipients 171
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Contents
Moral panics and deviance amplification 173
Criticisms of labelling theories 175
Labelling theories revisited 176
Suggested further reading 179
10 Conflict and radical theories 180
Conflict theories 180
Criticisms of conflict theories 183
Radical theories 184
Criticisms of radical theories 188
Suggested further reading 190
11 The gendered criminal 191
Perspectives in feminist theory 192
The feminist critique of early explanations of female criminality 195
The impact of feminist critiques 197
Feminism and prostitution 200
Is there a feminist criminology? 202
Crime and masculinities 203
Suggested further reading 205
12 Critical criminology 206
The origins of critical criminology 206
Crimes of the powerful 208
Crimes of the less powerful 210
Critical criminology or ‘left idealism’ 211
Critical criminology and the challenge of zemiology 212
Critical criminology revisited 215
Suggested further reading 216
Part Four: Integrated theories of crime and criminal behaviour 219
13 Socio-biological t heories 223
Biosocial theory 223
Biosocial theory and the ‘new right’ 225
Sociobiological theories of rape 226
Recent sociobiological explanations of childhood delinquency 228
Conclusions 229
Suggested further reading 230
14 Environmental theories 231
Early environmental theories 231
British environmental theories 232
North American environmental theories 233
Environmental design 238
ii
An Introduction to Criminological Theory
Environmental management 242
Suggested further reading 243
15 Social control theories 245
The origins of social control theories 245
Early social control theories 247
Later social control theories 249
Integrated theoretical perspectives 251
A general theory of crime 254
Developments in social control theories 256
Conclusions 260
Suggested further reading 261
16 Left realism 262
The origins of left realism 262
A balance of intervention 266
Left realism and ‘New’ Labour 269
Social exclusion and the ‘underclass’: a case study 270
‘New’ Labour criminal justice policy revisited 272
Left realist theory revisited 275
Suggested further reading 277
Part Five: Crime and criminal behaviour in the age of moral
uncertainty 279
17 Crime and the postmodern condition 287
Constitutive criminology and postmodernity 289
Anarchist criminology 293
Suggested further reading 298
18 Cultural criminology and the schizophrenia of crime 299
The focus of cultural criminology 299
The seductions of c rime 302
The carnival of crime 304
The schizophrenia of crime 304
Crime as normal and non pathological 305
One planet under a groove 307
Suggested further reading 311
19 Crime, globalisation and the risk society 312
New modes of governance 312
Crime and the risk society 313
Globalisation and crime 317
Terrorism and state violence 321
Terrorism and postmodernism revisited 327
Suggested further reading 328
iii
Contents
20 Conclusions: radical moral communitarian criminology 329
The communitarian agenda 333
Radical egalitarian communitarianism 336
The concept of community reconsidered 338
Radical moral communitarian criminology 340
Suggested further reading 341
Glossary of terms 343
References 351
Index 394

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