Breaking Rules

Reviews / Votes

They do not detract from the importance of Breaking Rules' major finding that the likelihood of crime increases with the convergence of crime-prone people in criminogenic environments. This finding has a number of implications for theorizing about, responding to, and preventing crime; it also makes Breaking Rules an important book for many audiences, including academics, policymakers, and others concerned with the origins of adolescent crime. * Bill McCarthy, University of California, Davis, Contemporary Sociology * Breaking Rules is among the most significant works in criminology in decades. It sets the standard for sophisticated and innovative measurement, for careful and well - executed research design, and for clarity and precision of presentation. It both presents and explicates an innovative theory of crime, one that is broad in scope and appropriately ambitious. The data and their analyses are of vital importance to cumulative knowledge in criminology. With this book, Situational Action Theory takes its place as among the most important perspectives in modern criminology and the study provides data of unprecedented scope and quality.Breaking Rules represents the best tradition of the science of criminology and as such it commands the attention of the field. * Professor Michael R. Gottfredson, University of California * Breaking Rules is a truly impressive book that combines all of the features of first-rate scholarship in the social sciences. The theorizing, in the form of Situational Action Theory (SAT), is creative. The methodological procedures are carefully crafted and skillfully executed to serve the theoretical objectives of the research. Moreover, the extensive and rich analyses of the data from the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+) yield compelling insights about who commits crimes, when, where, and - most importantly - why. * Professor Steven F. Messner, University at Albany * Criminology has produced a staggering amount of data and findings. Correlates of crime are everywhere but theoretical interpretation of their meaning is fraught with disagreement, Wikstroem and colleagues cut through the fog with a compelling new theory and multi-faceted longitudinal study of adolescents that lays bare the fundamental importance of situational dynamics and their interaction with both person-level characteristics and the larger social environment of the city. The theoretical emphasis on situation and individual action in context is original and the empirical analysis is carefully constructed to assess major hypotheses. Breaking Rules is a breakthrough that deserves a wide readership. * Professor Robert J. Sampson, Harvard University * One of the most important recent studies of crime and offending involving young people and a crucial book for police officers leading or designing crime reduction or preventive strategies. * Peter Neyroud, Policing: A Journal of Policy & Practice *