Citation

Thome H. Int. Crim. Justice Rev. 2010; 20(1): 5-34.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Georgia State University, College of Health and Human Sciences, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1057567709360334

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The article seeks to bridge the gap between the history and the sociology of violent crime and to contribute to the ongoing debate on the relationship between modernization and (criminal) violence. In particular, it demonstrates the usefulness of a theoretical perspective derived from Durkheim’s work. Durkheim’s thesis that the erosion of (traditional) collectivism leads to a significant reduction in violent crime is being tested and confirmed in an empirical analysis of crime data that originally were collected for some 1,000 counties and cities of the German Reich in late 19th century. The distinction between developmental and structural effects is crucial to the argument. Supportive evidence is provided by an additional analysis of suicide data. It is argued that Durkheim’s perspective also helps explain the more recent increase in violent crime during the second half of the 20th century. For this purpose, the distinction between collectivism and individualism needs to be supplemented by a modified version of Durkheim’s additional distinction of moral (cooperative) versus egoistic (disintegrative) individualism.