ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that social learning theory can be used to explain ecological variations in crime rates. It explores the conditions under which state intervention potentially creates or prevents criminal behavior. The book notes that "neighborhoods show remarkable continuities in patterns of criminal activity"—patterns characterized by the "non-random concentration of crime in certain neighborhoods." It shows that feminist criminology—in large part a by-product of the Women's Movement and the gendering of the field of criminology by a generation of female scholars—has yielded a rich body of theory and research. Serious efforts to "take stock" of criminological theory exist but remain in short supply. The chapter provides a tour across the origins, contents, and future prospects of peacemaking criminology. It reveals that societal reaction in general, and criminal sanctions in particular, potentially have a significant causal role in offending and in persistent reoffending.
