Criminology: the Sociology of Crime

Crime is a social problem, and we devote immense resources to it. Despite the obviousness of crime, we have no good explanation for it. In fact, when it comes to theories, we suffer from an embarrassment of riches. I believe that the historical tenacity of crime and its depth and breadth in our society necessitate the plethora of theories. Furthermore, even the weakest of these theories offers a conceptual framework for some crimes. Therefore, even the weakest of these suggest policies that will lessen (if not remove) at least some crimes. While even the best of these theories – the ones most resilient to falsification – cannot explain all crime, the bottom line is that they need not.