Criminology: A Workbook Using MicroCase ExplorIt

Criminology is an empirical science. It involves the testing of claims about crime with data from the real world. CRIMINOLOGY: USING MICROCASE EXPLORIT, introduces students to this real world of criminological research and data. The goal of this workbook is to provide students with the opportunity to participate in the criminological enterprise. In each chapter, Messner introduces a particular topic of criminology and demonstrates how data are used to support, augment, and test the ideas proposed. He also provides worksheets that include review questions on the material covered; additional data analysis exercises are then provided to further explore the topics under investigation in each chapter. This unique text and software package teaches students how to use data to gain a better understanding of crime, and public opinions about crime.

Steven F. Messner is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and has taught at Columbia University and Nankai University in the People's Republic of China. His research has focused primarily on the relationship between features of social organization and violent crime rates. His other books include PERSPECTIVES ON CRIME AND DEVIANCE, (with Allen E. Liska), THEORETICAL INTEGRATION IN THE STUDY OF DEVIANCE AND CRIME, (with Marvin D. Krohn and Allen E. Liska), and CRIME AND SOCIAL CONTROL IN A CHANGING CHINA (with Jianhong Liu and Lening Zhang). Dr. Messner has also authored numerous articles and book chapters on the topic of criminal violence and is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.