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A large volume of criminological research uses either the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) or the National Crime Surveys (NCS) as a source for data on crime rates. The validity of both these measures, however, has been criticized. In this paper we assess the validity of these two indicators of the crime rate for six different types of crimes by examining their "convergent" and "nomological" validity. We find a moderate to high degree of convergent validity for motor vehicle theft, robbery and burglary. When we compare the UCR and NCS rates in terms of their "nomological" validity, we find that the NCS measure appears to be more valid, if all six crimes are considered as a single group. This finding, however, is based primarily on the crimes of personal larceny and rape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This paper has tried to make as explicit as possible the many problems involved in creating typologies in criminology. Initially the paper presented some logical and methodological requirements for typologies in general and some illustrations of how existing typologies in criminology fail to meet particular requirements. Following this, five typologies of criminality were assessed in detail. The minimal scheme of the criminal, the victim, and the act, presented at the end of the paper, is an effort to find a universal framework for analyzing criminality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of victimization experiences and crime-related variables on act-specific fear of crime are reinvestigated. Perceived risk and vulnerability to crime were expected to mediate the influence of demographic and crime-related variables on fear. The results of this study suggest that fear of property loss is more explainable by crime-related variables than is fear of violent victimization. Perceptual variables diminish the direct impact of victimization experiences and local crime rate on each type of fear of crime. However, particular demographic and crime-related variables have different effects on fear of property loss and fear of violent crime. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research on the social determinants of fear of crime among the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the 1961 annual meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society will be held in Omaha, Nebraska on April 27, 28, and 29. Papers of not more than 25 minutes reading time should be in the hands of the proper chairman not later than January 15, 1961. The papers to be discusses include topics like population, community studies, criminology, family, methods and techniques of research, occupational and industrial sociology and others.

It is not unusual, in fact, it is commonplace, that in the development of a body of knowledge a particular mode of thought, while responsible for the discovery and ordering of important facts, is at the same time responsible for the obstruction of equally important truths. This appears especially to be the case in the sociological study of criminal behavior. There has been the overwhelming conception of criminal behavior (and deviant behavior in general) as behavior that is produced by a variety of impersonal, deterministic forces rather than by voluntaristic, purposive action. The former perspective found in much of criminology today results from a particular conception of man and society. The object of this paper is to explore the possibility of an alternative conception of man and society for criminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extending disorganization and immigrant revitalization perspectives beyond the contexts dominating prior research, this study examines whether and how immigration may be uniquely linked to crime in rural versus urban communities over the 1990–2010 period. Drawing on the Uniform Crime Reports offenses known database and the United States Census, we find that increases in immigration are negatively associated with violence. However, this relationship varies considerably across urban and rural locales. Our analysis reveals that immigration has no effect on crime in the most rural communities, but buffers against it in the most urban ones. Additional regional variation in these urban and rural differences is also revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research finds that Latino immigration reduced violence. We argue that this is because they settled in traditional immigrant areas. But recent migrants settled in new destinations where the immigration-violence link is more complex. Contrary to previous findings, we observe that (1) Latino homicide victimization is higher in new destinations; (2) Latino immigration increases victimization rates, but only in new destinations and only for Latinos entering after 1990, when they fanned out to new destinations; and (3) Latino deprivation increases victimization only in new destinations because, we speculate, these new areas lack the protective social control umbrella of traditional destinations. Thus, the ' Latino paradox' may be less useful than time-honored sociological frameworks for understanding the link between Latino immigration and violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of disparity in sentencing most frequently use general felony court samples. Because of this, little is known about the specific patterns of sentencing disparity among defendants convicted of criminal homicide. Using a sample of defendants adjudicated guilty of homicide in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, over the period 1995–2000, this research seeks to describe and explain patterns of sentencing with reference to legal and extralegal defendant and case characteristics. The findings indicate that it is primarily legally relevant variables that influence sentencing outcomes in homicide cases; however, some evidence is found for case processing effects as well as for the operation of criminal stereotypes in the generation of sentence disparities. Implications of these findings for research designs and theory development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the publication of Taylor, Walton and Young's New Criminology (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972 and New York: Harper Torch Books, 1974), the Quarterly asked Anthony Platt, Richard Quinney and Paul Rock to write reviewessays which were subsequently published in the Quarterly in the Autumn 1973 issue. These reviews elicited the following response by Stephen Mugford. It was circulated to the authors of the New Criminology. who declined to comment, choosing to formulate a general response to the many review comments the book has generated. Mugford's comment was also sent to the original reviewers, and Paul Rock's reply follows. The editor would like to encourage such free interchange, and will attempt to facilitate comment by circulating manuscripts and soliciting commentary. (Perhaps a format similar to that employed by Current Anthropology will emerge). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author replies to the comments of Steven Stack about his article on the relationship between unemployment and inequality and crime rates for several countries. While Stack endorses several findings on the author's work, he question the reported relationships between unemployment and crime rates. Stack claims that the unemployed data are based on unsound measurements which threaten the comparability of such data. There are two ways in which Stack's assertion can be investigated. First, the correlations between unemployment and crime rates can be examined for those nations which have the most comparable form of unemployment statistics. Second, the results obtained can be examined using time series data for each nation separately.