Theories of Crime and Delinquency: Findings from an Analysis of Textbooks on Human Behavior and the Social Environment

Abstract

This systematic review of 14 frequently used textbooks on human behavior and the social environment was conducted to identify content relating to crime and delinquency. The textbook information on crime and delinquency is either descriptive, uneven, or nonexistent. Despite the limited attention to crime and delinquency, the textbooks provide theoretical lenses that can be used to explain crime and delinquency. The analysis concludes with a discussion of how structuration theory can provide a holistic perspective on human behaviors and social environments of crime and delinquency.

KEYWORDS:

• Human behavior
• social environment
• theories of crime and delinquency
• structuration