Sociology is a statistical science. As such, it ignores the individual. Consequently, there is no essential description to explain why the choice to commit a crime is different from any other choice. Sociology aggregates individual choices before attempting to explain them. The individual is lost. The very nature of the statistical foundation of sociology all but ensures that only partial explanations can be had. The key variable is the population. How the population is defined determines what theories will explain it.
Read the full paper on Google Documents here.
"The Blind Men and the Elephant: Toward a Macrotypology of Crime," by Michael E. Marotta, Eastern Michigan University, SOCL 202: Social Problems; Dr. Ronald Mark Westrum, Winter 2008.