Toward a Theoretical Integration of Crime and Delinquency

Abstract

The articles in this Special Issue provide an overview of the major social science theoretical perspectives regarding crime and delinquency in sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, economics, and political science. An analysis of these academic and scholarly paradigms reveals common themes. It may prove helpful to probe these shared conceptual commonalities and distinctions across disciplines in an attempt to weave an integrated framework that may elucidate our understanding of crime and delinquency. Recognizing that there are key shared factors across theoretical social science explanations is a first step toward conceptualizing an integrative framework that may better explain the root causes of crime and delinquency and thus assist instructors, practitioners, and researchers in identifying key explanatory variables related to human behavior and the social environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Crime
• delinquency
• criminality
• theoretical integration