Criminal Justice, Sociology of
This article is a revision of the previous edition article by D. Szabo, volume 5, pp. 2954–2958, © 2001, Elsevier Ltd.
Toward a Sociology of Criminological Theory
It is a truism to remind ourselves that scientific theory is a human product subject to many of the same social processes that govern other social acts. Science, however, whether social or natural, pretends to claim a higher mission, a more sophisticated methodology, and more consequential and reliable outcomes than human efforts arising from other spheres. The present paper examines the propagation, ascension, acceptance, and demise of twentieth century criminological theories in the United States. Data from publications in peer reviewed journals over the last 30 years suggest that several non-scientific factors are most influential in determining which theories are tested, cited, and discussed in criminological circles.
Assessing the quality of American doctoral program faculty in criminology and criminal justice, 1991–1995
This article assesses the quality of 299 faculty in 20 American doctoral programs in criminology and criminal justice by counting the number of citations of their work in six major American criminology and criminal justice journals published between 1991 and 1995. The University of Maryland, the University of Cincinnati, Rutgers University, and SUNY-Albany were the institutions with most citations. The individual faculty members most often cited were Francis T. Cullen (University of Cincinnati), Raymond Paternoster, Lawrence W. Sherman and Douglas A. Smith (all University of Maryland). The majority of the most-cited scholars in these six journals, however, were not members of criminology or criminal justice departments.