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This paper outlines the career of Maurice F. Parmelee, sociologist, government official, nudist, and author of thirteen books, including the first American criminology text (1918). The contents of the latter are examined and contrasts with contemporary textbooks are noted. Parmelee's career is an anomoly, for although he published abundantly, he faded into sociological obscurity. Some conjecture is offered about scholarly career paths generally, drawn out of the Parmelee case. Finally, the paper argues that historical accounts of the development of American criminology are incomplete, for they fail to mention a number of early figures, including Parmelee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurrent flaw marks the work on the impact of executions on homicide: awareness of executions usually is left unmeasured. The present study addresses this, inspecting the effect of publicized executions on homicide. Data from South Carolina are employed. Homicide drops 17.5% in months with publicized executions. In contrast, little publicized executions are unrelated to homicide. The effect is reduced when publicized executions for rape enter the analysis. Alternative assumptions regarding the length of the effect are tested: the death dip decreases with the use of an instantaneous effect period; it becomes nonsignificant with a lengthy incubation period. The findings, however, can be interpreted from several different theoretical perspectives: deterrence, normative validation, and victim mobilization. Hence, policy implications remain tenuous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]