About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 J. Res. Crime & Delinquency 3 (1964)

handle is hein.journals/jrcd1 and id is 1 raw text is: Foreword LLoYD E. OHLIN W HY DO WE NEED a new journal for research in criminology? This demand for justification comes from the harassed social scientist beseiged by a ris- ing torrent of new books, scientific jour- nals and popular periodicals concerned with social problems. What will this jour- nal do that is not already being done? The explosive cultural growth of the social sciences in this century and their application to social problems has created strong pressures toward specialization. Many are fearful that this trend will frag- ment the growth of social science knowl- edge and research and impede develop- ment of its central theoretical concerns. However, such fears have not halted the steady development of specialized areas of knowledge within the social sciences. The maturation of a science requires an appropriate balance of general and spe- cialist functions. The stimulation of spe- cial areas of research adds to the vigor of the general theoretical preoccupations of the disciplines from which these spe- cializations have developed. There is a timeliness in the emergence of a new journal that can be sensed as a necessity by those within the specialized field. The preconditions for a successful development are difficult to specify, but they probably would include the follow- ing: 1) a broad base of established research findings in a variety of related problem areas; 2) indications that special value could be derived from more interdisciplinary communication of research results; 3) an interpenetration of research and theory that holds potentiality for further growth; 4) a threshhold level in the develop- ment of knowledge where practical appli- cation becomes possible and desirable. These preconditions for a successful research journal appear to be present in the field of criminology today. New the- ories and research findings are being pro- duced on crime and delinquency in the community, operations of the police and the courts, the social organization of treatment processes in correctional insti- tutions, and the procedures and problems of reintegration for released offenders in the community. These new research contributions are coming from several different disciplines. The reports are scattered throughout a variety of journals which service these disciplines. The result is that communi- cation among research workers on related problems is inhibited. A great deal of the stimulation that comes from cross-disci- plinary communication is lost. Furthermore, many very significant policy and program applications are over- looked because practitioners encounter only scattered accounts of research studies and have difficulty drawing their action implications for the total system of crimi- nal justice. The primary objective of a new research journal is to provide a useful means of communication among research workers in criminology. Yet many practitioners will seize the oppor- tunity to explore a journal where the frontier problems of theory and research in criminology are discussed. Our journals in criminology do not meet this need since they deal primarily with the pro- grammatic concerns of different practi- tioner groups. Only occasional research reports appear in them, and there is lim- ited tolerance for the specialized language of research. This is perhaps an even more difficult problem in other countries. Despite a growing empiricism in criminological work abroad, there is no major vehicle 3

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most