Abstract :
The editors begin the book by acknowledging that there is a wealth of theoretical imagination in the field of criminology. Francis Cullen and Robert Agnew then assemble an impressive fifty-chapter anthology, which sequentially explores the criminological theory from the past to present in a way that is sure to shape future thinking regarding crime causation. The book is organized into five sections, namely, (i) In Search of Criminal Man, (ii) The Rise and Growth of American Criminology, (iii) Rethinking Criminology, (iv) Choice, Opportunity, and Punishment, and (v) The Future of Criminology. Section one comprises two parts that incorporate, the origins of modern criminology and the role of individual traits in crime causation. In this section, the editors put together finely selected readings that include Cesare Beccaria’s essay on crimes and punishment; Cesare Lombroso’s criminal man; and Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck’s unraveling juvenile delinquency. Included here are also the gene-based evolutionary theories in criminology by Lee Ellis and Anthony Walsh; David Rowe’s biological characteristics and criminal disposition; and the role of personality in crime by Avshalom Caspi et al.
