Citation

Wood AE. Am. J. Sociol. 1927; 33(3): 431-443.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1927, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/214452

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The extent of popular interest in the problem of crime makes it desirable to orient methods of attack from the point of view of research. But there are many obstacles to research in this field, viz., the complexity of the material, the paucity of statistical data, the difficulties of controlled experimentation. the existence of dogmatic interpretations, and the corrupt and predatory interests that are adverse to research. Three main lines of inquiry are open to us: legal, statistical, and sociological, Legal research is now being prosecuted relative to the administration of the criminal law; but, at best, the law is somewhat external to problems of criminology. Its outlook is not conspicuously that of science, except where legal procedure has become socialized. In regard to criminal statistics we may say that the statistical method of accumulation and correlation, while informing us of general tendencies, does not give us causes in specific instances, nor does it reveal the selfhood of the criminal, which is the real criminological problem. This latter is reached only through a truly sociological method, which interprets behavior in terms of organic impulse and of social conditions, and of their mutually interacting relationship. The two indispensable devices for the sociologist in this matter are the individual case history and the community case history. The technique of the former is well known; that of the latter needs further development and application. Fortunately, research projects are now under way or contemplated, for the correlation of these two forms of the sociologic approach.