ABSTRACT
A brief examination of any of the major criminal justice and criminology journals would indicate the present importance of quantitative methods for those of us who study criminal justice. As other chapters in this book indicate, there are excellent arguments for the use of quantitative methods. However, in spite of the seeming dominance of statistical analyses in criminal justice and criminology, I would bet that most academics that study crime and criminal justice could tell you that Stanley, Chick, and Vincent are the subjects of the Jack Roller, Street Corner Society, and The Professional Fence, respectively. For many of us, the case studies by Clifford Shaw, William Whyte, Carl Klockars, and others brought criminal justice studies to life during our days in college. Many of us loved the idea of learning from "criminals" and believed that this was a good way to learn about crime. Even now, it is the case studies mentioned above and more recent studies such as Patricia Adler's study of Dave, a drug smuggler, and Claire Sterk's study of women crack users in an Atlanta neighborhood that bring crime and criminal justice to life for my students and others across the United States.
