ABSTRACT
The central aim of this book has been to promote the adoption of a mechanistic approach within criminology to spur scientific progress within the field. In this final chapter, the authors articulate the theoretical method of mechanistic criminology and discuss its implications for criminology as a basic science. They contend that should criminology explicitly adopt the theoretical method outlined within this book, then rapid scientific progress could occur since criminologists would gain the ability to: (1) falsify existing theories based upon findings present within criminology’s various sources of specific background knowledge; (2) defensibly integrate theories as a consequence of translating existing theories into mechanism sketches that lack contradictory ontological assumptions; and (3) engage in theory competitions that produce a unified understanding of reality through the piecemeal construction of mechanism schemas.
