This volume is a statistical and sociological analysis of one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Combining original research and a review of all major previous studies on criminal homicide in America, this study attempts to discover and to analyze patterns in criminal homicide from among almost six hundred cases that occurred in the city of Philadelphia between January 1, 1948, and December 31, 1952. The primary source of data utilized by Marvin E. Wolfgang was the files of the Homicide Squad of the Philadelphia Police Department. Answers were sought to a series of questions regarding 588 victims and 621 offenders involved in criminal homicide with respect to the following: race, sex, and age differences; methods and weapons used to inflict death; seasonal and other temporal patterns; spatial patterns; the relationship between the use of alcohol and homicide; the degree of violence in homicide; motives; the interpersonal relationship between victim and offender; homicide occurring during the commission of another felony; victim-precipitated homicide; homicide-suicide; unsolved homicide; the tempo of legal procedure; court disposition; and insanity as a factor in homicide. The broad range of material examined in this volume makes it one of the most comprehensive studies undertaken in recent years. Although dealing basically with records of homicide accumulated in Philadelphia, Patterns in Criminal Homicide has implications that hold true for every large urban community. It is a work of utmost importance to the student of sociology because of its general sociological perspective; to all students of criminology; to the police, especially the homicide division of any police department; to law students, lawyers, and judges; and to those agencies in the community concerned with the control and prevention of violent crime.
The major theme of this Festschrift will be state-of-the-art criminology at the millennium and its impact into the 21st century. The editors have solicited major figures in contemporary criminology to elucidate the current state and future prospects of criminology at the turn of the century. It is appropriate that such a volume be produced in honor of Marvin E. Wolfgang, the most influential criminologist in the English-speaking world. Those invited to contribute were students or colleagues of Professor Wolfgang and are themselves distinguished criminologists. They represent criminology both of the past and the future. The appeal of the current book is not that it honors Marvin Wolfgang, but rather that it provides an accounting of where the discipline of criminology currently stands and its future directions. Professor Marvin E. Wolfgang was unsurpassed as a criminologist, distinguished mentor, and gentleman. A book designed to contribute to the most contemporary debates in criminology is a most fitting tribute.
This is a reprint of Wolfgang's pioneering attempt to develop a interdisciplinary approach in criminology. It presents a comprehensive survey and analytical discussion of sociological, psychological, psychiatric, and physiological research and theory concerning the values, norms and behavior associated with violence. The concept of a sub-culture of violence provides a theoretical framework to organize the data.
Delinquency in a Birth Cohort is a turning point in criminological research in the United States," writes Norval Morris in his foreword. "What has been completely lacking until this book is an analysis of delinquency in a substantial cohort of youths, the cohort being defined other than by their contact with any part of the criminal justice system." This study of a birth cohort was not originally meant to be etiological or predictive. Yet the data bearing on this cohort of nearly ten thousand boys born in 1945 and living in Philadelphia gave rise to a model for prediction of delinquency, and thus to the possibility for more efficient planning of programs for intervention. It is expert research yielding significant applications and, though largely statistical, the analysis is accessible to readers without mathematical training. "No serious scholar of the methods of preventing and treating juvenile delinquency can properly ignore this book."—LeRoy L. Lamborn, Law Library Journal "The magnitude of [this] study is awesome. . . . It should be a useful guide for anyone interested in the intricacies of cohort analysis."—Gary F. Jensen, American Journal of Sociology "A book the student of juvenile delinquency will find invaluable."—Criminologist
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