404 Pages
    by Routledge

    404 Pages
    by Routledge

    The science of criminology is at a crossroads. Despite accumulating a dizzying array of facts about crime, the field has yet to identify a body of theories that allows for the adequate prediction, explanation, and control of phenomena of central interest to criminologists. Mechanistic Criminology locates this problem within the field’s failure to conform to the expectations of scientific fields and reliance on antiquated methods of theory construction. The authors contend that this failure has resulted in an inability of criminologists to engage in theory falsification and competition—two central activities of science—that produce the forms of reliable knowledge that are unique to scientific fields.

    Mechanistic Criminology advocates for the adoption of a mechanistic mode of theorizing to allow criminologists to engage in theory falsification and competition and ignite rapid scientific discovery in the field. The proposed method is the same one employed within the biological sciences, which is responsible for their rapid scientific progress in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Should criminologists adopt this mechanistic approach, criminology could experience the same scientific revolution that is occurring in the biological sciences, and criminologists would generate the knowledge necessary for the prediction, explanation, and control of crime.

    List of Figures and Tables
    Acknowledgements

    Part I: Scientific Criminology

    Chapter 1: What is Science

    Chapter 2: Assessing the Properties of Scientific Criminology

    Chapter 3: Progress within Scientific Fields

    Chapter 4: Scientific Progress Within Criminology

    Part II: Mechanistic Science

    Chapter 5: Mechanistic Explanations

    Chapter 6: Mechanism Schemas

    Chapter 7: Biosocial Criminology

    Chapter 8: Analytical Criminology

    Part III: Mechanistic Translations of Criminological Theories

    Chapter 9: Social Learning Theory

    Chapter 10: Social Control Theory

    Chapter 11: General Strain Theory

    Part IV: Mechanistic Criminology

    Chapter 12: Nondeclarative Memory

    Chapter 13: Declarative Memory

    Chapter 14: Theory of Mind

    Chapter 15: Conclusion

    References
    Subject Index
    Author Index

    Biography

    K. Ryan Proctor is Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Avila University. His current research focuses on the development and application of theoretical methods to promote scientific progress within the social sciences, as well as understanding how technological advances alter social structures in ways that facilitate or inhibit crime.

    Richard E. Niemeyer is a co-founder and former Deputy Director of the Institute for the Applications of Mathematics and Integrated Science at the University of California, Riverside. His research broadly focuses on increasing systemicity between mathematics, the life sciences, and the social sciences. He currently lives in Denver, Colorado.