collection of prohibitive length unless impor-
tant sociological contributions were sacrificed.

Although we characterize the present group
of selections as contemporary, the ideas con-
tained in a given work are always considered
more important than their date of publication.
Moreover, because much of the most pervasive
and persuasively meaningful criminal sociology
has been objective and empirical, we have con-
centrated on the research and analysis reflect-
ing these values. If the discipline of criminol-
ogy is an attempt to use the scientific approach,
that is, attitudes and methods of empirical re-
search, we believe that they should be repre-
sented in a book of readings. Many of the
selections, therefore, consist of empirical re-
search findings, details of which are not gen-
erally included in a standard textbook. We
have also included theoretical discussions and
purely descriptive material when they have
made significant contributions to the study of
crime and the criminal.

American criminology, like some other spe-
cialized areas of sociology, has been unneces-
sarily provincial. We have not entirely over-
come this weakness. There were, for example,
a variety of problems that prevented our using
foreign-language material. Moreover, criminol-
ogy in European countries is less sociologically
oriented, being taught and studied mostly in
schools of law or medicine or by governmental
agencies having interests in legal and political
ramifications. However, there are several selec-
tions in the book, written by scholars from
abroad, which, we feel, should extend the stu-
dents' perspective beyond national boundaries.

The Sociology of Crime and Delinquency
also represents years of trial and experimenta-
tion with student response to many of the
selections appearing here. We were able to
take note of articles and books that were par-
ticularly useful in stimulating graduate and
undergraduate class discussion, student interest,
and research. Several reasons common to the
general increase of books of readings were re-
sponsible for our initiating these trial runs.
Many of the best researches or essays are found
in journals not easily accessible and, if found
in campus libraries, the sheer matter of library
mechanics, of assigning the same material to a
single class or to sections of classes, constitutes
pedagogical problems.

Neither all subjects nor all good articles and
books within the selected subject areas could
be included in a book of this size. Choice and
compromise must always be made. We would
have preferred to include more selections in
some special areas. In those areas where there
are few selections the material included repre-
sents the best available.

The brief section introductions written by
the editors of the book are designed to bridge
gaps between sections and individual selections.
These introductory remarks briefly describe
the selections without imposing any particular
orientation on them. Section I, "The Meaning
of Criminology," seeks to orient the student to
an understanding of the scientific discipline
embraced by criminology and to what is meant
by the sociological approach in the study of
crime causation. Some attention is given to the
legal definitions of crime, mens rea, felony,
misdemeanor, principles of the first and second
degree, accessories, etc. Whether "white collar
crime" is in fact crime, a full discussion of
sociological concepts such as conduct norms
and culture conflict, and an essay on the defini-
tion of the criminal are also topics included in
this section.

Rather than presenting the latest police,
court, or prison statistics, we are devoting
Section II, "Problems of Criminal and Delin-
quency Statistics," to a discussion of the diffi-
culties and limitations involved in a collection
of statistics in criminology; criminal statistics
form a major basis for the development of the
discipline and for much scientific research.
More likely than in most fields, the sociologist
working in criminology must rely upon legal
concepts, administrative policy and procedure
for many of his terms. Moreover, he often
must use crude data collected by public au--
thorities who are interested less in research
than in administration. The foci of Section II
are problems of collecting criminal statistics,
delinquent behavior not reported to official
agencies, the considerable amount of criminal-
case mortality that occurs from the point of
initial reporting of crime to statistics on the
number of prison commitments, and the major
problems of establishing a crime index.

Two major parts comprise Section III, "The
Methods and Techniques of Analysis." The
first is concerned with the necessity of being
alert to the meaning of social causation within
a broad perspective, to the differences between
causal and correlational forms of relationships,
and to some refined problems of using predic-
tion methods for research and social control.
The "multiple factor" approach is defended,
analyzed, and criticized. "Differential associ-
ation," as developed, defended, and attacked

-viii-