Source: (2004) International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. 48(2): 129-132
During the past decade, investigators have begun to re-examine a number of
taken-for-granted assumptions integral to scholarship in the cognate area of criminal
behavior. Broadly defined, this subspecialty includes studies in legal psychology,
clinical criminology, forensic mental health, and criminological psychiatry
(Arrigo, in press-a). Although mostly speculative and conceptual to date, this
trend represents a radical departure from many mainstream liberal efforts at
reform, as it challenges the ontological and epistemological commitments of the
social and behavioral sciences, especially when applied to pressing and enduring
problems at the law-psychology-crime divide. This editorial, then, briefly
describes some of the key features informing this more heterodox agenda. Particular
attention is given to the perspective’s reassessment of established and
unresolved issues in the study of criminal (and delinquent) behavior.(excerpt)
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