Eric H. Monkkonen

Systematic Criminal Justice History: Some Suggestions

Systematic Criminal Justice History: Some Suggestions A recent article by Graff on the use of jail intake records for the study of criminal offenders in the past is misleadingly optimistic and underplays the critical role of theory and statistical methods. Jail records are indeed a rich source for social historical research. Yet one should not be as hopeful as Graff that these sources are abundant.1

Homicide in Los Angeles, 1827-2002

An analysis of nearly two centuries of homicide data that stretch back to the Mexican period for the city and county of Los Angeles reveal a long history of violence in the region, one in which the homicide rate has consistently been higher than that of other major cities. Such factors as national culture, regional differences, demographics, economics, and political structure help to account for the persistence of this pattern. Does this traditional tolerance for violence and homicide in Los Angeles signify a local articulation of what is deemed normal, and could long-term efforts be devised to counter it?

The Organized Response to Crime in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century America

The Organized Response to Crime in Nineteenthand Twentieth-Century America Recent scholarly research has considerably increased our historical knowledge of American crime control organizations and criminal behavior. These advances have not yet been adequately summarized or synthesized, but it is clear that the emerging picture will be complex. Although it is too early to establish definitive generalizations, a synthetic sketch suggests several important relationships. Most significant, this synthesis illuminates an apparent anomaly or contradiction: from around I850 until the 1920s, crime control organizations grew, yet imprisonment rates remained stable, and felony offense rates fell. This relationship changed during the middle fifty years of the twentieth century, demonstrating that the relationship neither followed an underlying behavioral law nor was it transitive. Contrarily, and more commonsensically and depressingly, felony rates and imprisonment rates escalated simultaneously. Today criminologists predict that offense rates will soon begin to decline. However, they also predict that imprisonment rates will continue to soar. If correct, this repeated divergence will result in a negative relationship strangely reminiscent of that of the nineteenth century.1

America Becomes Urban: The Development of U.S. Cities and Towns, 1780-1980

Americas cities: celebrated by poets, courted by politicians, castigated by social reformers. In their numbers and complexity they challenge comprehension. Why is urban America the way it is? Eric Monkkonen offers a fresh approach to the myths and the history of US urban development, giving us an unexpected and welcome sense of our urban origins. His historically anchored vision of our cities places topics of finance, housing, social mobility, transportation, crime, planning, and growth into a perspective which explains the present in terms of the past and ofers a point from which to plan for the future.