Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
Defensible Space Theory is an influential approach within environmental criminology that argues architectural design and urban planning can significantly influence crime and social control. Developed by architect and urban planner Oscar Newman in the early 1970s, the theory proposes that residential environments can be designed in ways that encourage territoriality, natural surveillance, and collective responsibility,
The Crime Pattern Theory is a central theory within environmental criminology and explains why crime tends to concentrate in specific spatial patterns. Developed by Paul J. Brantingham and Patricia L. Brantingham, the theory argues that criminal events are not randomly distributed across space but are closely connected to the spatial organization of everyday life. People
The Situational Action Theory (SAT) developed by the Swedish criminologist Per-Olof H. Wikström explains criminal behavior as the result of a decision-making process within specific social situations. According to the theory, crime occurs when individuals with a certain crime propensity encounter situations in which rule-breaking is perceived as a possible course of action. At the
Narrative Criminology is a comparatively recent criminological approach that focuses on the stories about crime people tell themselves and others in order to explain, justify, or even make possible their (deviant) behavior. Rather than centering on the objective act itself, Narrative Criminology emphasizes its subjective interpretation and meaning. Crime is understood as a narrative construction
Frank Tannenbaum’s concept of “tagging”, developed in his 1938 work Crime and the Community, is widely regarded as a foundational contribution to labelling theory. Long before Howard Becker or Edwin Lemert formalized the labelling approach, Tannenbaum argued that crime is not simply a quality of the act itself but emerges through social reactions and the
Biological theories of crime explain criminal behavior by reference to genetic, neurological, physiological, and evolutionary factors at the level of the individual. They focus on individual predispositions and biological processes that may increase the likelihood of offending. Unlike sociological approaches that emphasize social structures or cultural norms, biological theories examine how processes within the body