Evaluating Criminology and Criminal Justice - (Contributions in Criminology and Penology) Annotated (Hardcover)

About the Book

Using citation analysis, this study examines the influence and prestige of scholars, journals, and university departments in the fields of criminology and criminal justice. In the tradition of Marvin E. Wolfgang's Evaluating Criminology, the authors apply this quantitative method to evaluate the impact of individuals and their research efforts on two fields and to identify interconnections among scholars and their publications. This examination of the most-cited scholars, works, and topics in major American and international journals from 1986 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1995 provides valuable and unbiased feedback for researchers and practitioners.

The nine chapters of this book detail a wide range of findings in both criminology and criminal justice. After an introduction to the methodology, chapters two, three, and four divide recent scholarship into two periods, 1986 to 1990 and 1991 to 1995, in order to consider the most-cited scholars, works, and topics. Chapter five provides a longitudinal analysis of scholars in the discipline since 1945. Chapters six and seven provide a system of prestige-ratings for relevant journals as well as page coverage analysis of the most influential scholars. The continuing controversy over whether the two fields are converging or diverging is the subject of chapter eight, and the work concludes with a prescription for further research.

Book Synopsis

Using citation analysis, this study examines the influence and prestige of scholars, journals, and university departments in the fields of criminology and criminal justice. In the tradition of Marvin E. Wolfgang's Evaluating Criminology, the authors apply this quantitative method to evaluate the impact of individuals and their research efforts on two fields and to identify interconnections among scholars and their publications. This examination of the most-cited scholars, works, and topics in major American and international journals from 1986 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1995 provides valuable and unbiased feedback for researchers and practitioners.

The nine chapters of this book detail a wide range of findings in both criminology and criminal justice. After an introduction to the methodology, chapters two, three, and four divide recent scholarship into two periods, 1986 to 1990 and 1991 to 1995, in order to consider the most-cited scholars, works, and topics. Chapter five provides a longitudinal analysis of scholars in the discipline since 1945. Chapters six and seven provide a system of prestige-ratings for relevant journals as well as page coverage analysis of the most influential scholars. The continuing controversy over whether the two fields are converging or diverging is the subject of chapter eight, and the work concludes with a prescription for further research.

Review Quotes

"This volume is surely the most comprehensive literature review of citation analysis in general and the most thorough examination and exploration of research on this topic in criminology and criminal justice."-Marvin Wolfgang

"Just how far criminology and criminal justice has come since publication of the President's Crime Commission reports in 1968 is illustrated quite well in valuating Criminology and Criminal Justice....[A] wealth of data which contains one of the most extensive reviews and analyses of citations available."-The Literature of Criminal Justice

?[The authors] have collected a wealth of data which contains one of the most extensive reviews and analyses of citations available.?-L'Officier De Police

?A wealth of data which contains one of the most extensive reviews and analyses of citations available.?-Criminal and Justice International

?Evaluating Criminology and Criminal Justice is the culmination of many years of work by the three coauthors, as the citations to their previous work aptly demonstrate. It is easily the most comprehensive and detailed work on the subject to date.?-International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology

?Just how far criminology and criminal justice has come since publication of the President's Crime Commission reports in 1968 is illustrated quite well in valuating Criminology and Criminal Justice....[A] wealth of data which contains one of the most extensive reviews and analyses of citations available.?-The Literature of Criminal Justice

"ÝThe authors¨ have collected a wealth of data which contains one of the most extensive reviews and analyses of citations available."-L'Officier De Police

"[The authors] have collected a wealth of data which contains one of the most extensive reviews and analyses of citations available."-L'Officier De Police

"A wealth of data which contains one of the most extensive reviews and analyses of citations available."-Criminal and Justice International

"Evaluating Criminology and Criminal Justice is the culmination of many years of work by the three coauthors, as the citations to their previous work aptly demonstrate. It is easily the most comprehensive and detailed work on the subject to date."-International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology

About the Author

ELLEN G. COHN is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice in the School of Policy and Management, Florida International University. She has published extensively in both criminology and psychology journals in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Her primary research interest involves the examination of the relationships between weather and criminal behavior.

DAVID P. FARRINGTON is Professor of Psychological Criminology at Cambridge University and President-elect of the American society of Criminology. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including the award-winning Understanding and Controlling Crime (1986).

RICHARD A. WRIGHT is Assistant Professor, in the Department of Criminology, Sociology, Social Work, and Geography at Arkansas State University. His previous work includes In Defense of Prisons (Greenwood Press, 1994).