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The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory

Why do people offend? This question has motivated a substantial portion of criminological inquiry and has resulted in an abundance of texts devoted to the presentation of the evolution of criminological thought regarding the nature of crime and offending. Traditionally, these texts use a standard presentation and categorization method: first by school of thought and then chronologically. In The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory, editors Francis T. Cullen and Pamela Wilcox break away from this conventional approach and offer a refreshingly different take on the presentation of theoretical ideas. Their approach organizes theories around four key themes currently shaping contemporary criminological discussions: individual and society, contexts of offending, choice and opportunities, and theories of power and punishment. This structure provides authors a platform for wrestling with the complexities of crime such as its varied manifestations over the life course, multilevel influences, and the intersection of internal and external facilitators and barriers to offending. Core criminological theories are reinvigorated through supplementation and elaboration and contrasted with contemporary theories. The chapters within each section take different approaches to the presentation of material; however, a particular strength of this text is the nearly universal inclusion of two features in each chapter: 1) a presentation of key ideas/conclusions in the introduction, and 2) a focus on current research gaps/future pathways. A full discussion of the 35 chapters included in this text is beyond the scope of this review (and the interests of readers); I highlight below a sampling of foci from the substantive chapters. Section I begins by directing attention to individual-level explanations of offending. The inclusion of biological, psychological, and sociological theories illuminates the cross-cutting and interdisciplinary nature of criminology and its enduring pursuit of understanding the factors fostering individual differences in crime. These chapters direct attention to many standard criminological theories and theorists in a way that enlivens ‘‘old’’ ideas and introduces new narratives in familiar theoretical story lines. For example, Matt DeLisi’s chapter, titled ‘‘Revisiting Lombroso,’’ provides an indepth discussion of a well-known historical criminology theory; however, the chapter recasts this narrative in a way that illustrates the evolution of Lombroso’s theorizing over time and clarifies his imprint on contemporary biosocial criminology. In Chapter Six, ‘‘Social Learning and Crime,’’ Emily J. Salisbury revisits the theoretical foundations of Edwin Sutherland and Ronald Akers’ social learning theory extensions but adds to this discussion ideas that developed simultaneously in social psychology. She draws on the work of Don A. Andrews and James Bonta to provide a bridge between sociological and psychological learning theory. Section II focuses on contexts of offending with subsections on peers, communities, and the American experience to understand the ways in which contexts shape behavior. Attending to the motivation of the book, the authors incorporate a variety of theoretical positions to direct the focus on understanding the mechanisms by which contextual factors contribute to variation in individual offending and aggregate crime rates. Importantly, readers are forced to deliberate the collective and cumulative effects of structure and culture on the development and perpetuation of offending. The inclusion of alternative and non-traditional emphases such as the globalization of gangs (Chapter 14, ‘‘Contemporary Gang Ethnographies,’’ by Scott Decker and David Pyrooz), culture viewed through a heterogeneous lens (Chapter 19, ‘‘Street Culture and Crime,’’ by Mark T. Berg and Eric A. Stewart), and crime in suburbia (Chapter 20, ‘‘The Code of the Suburb and Drug Dealing,’’ by Scott Jacques and Richard Wright) were particularly appreciated. The chapters in Section III shine the spotlight on the muddled and often mercurial Reviews 425