ABSTRACT

Aside from some reform-minded activists and professionals, very little public dialogue on crime was occurring in the US during the 19th century. Most writings took the nature and definition of crime for granted as a pathological condition within individuals; criminologists of the day were still heavily influenced by European scholars such as Lombroso. The city of Chicago had experienced rapid social change in the form of immense in-migration from many European countries and from the American South. Using detailed and sophisticated statistical techniques, Shaw and McKay examined links among urban growth, community problems and juvenile delinquency. Revising the concept of anomie from Durkheim, Merton analyzes deviant behavior within the sociological context. Merton's is a brilliant and convincing analysis of the societal roots of deviant behavior, casting responsibility at the foundations of social order. Sutherland conducted a biographical study of a professional thief, Broadway Jones, who was also a former drug addict and ex-convict.