p. 905. Crime and the environment
- Stephen JonesStephen JonesHonorary Senior Lecturer, School of Law, University of Bristol
Abstract
This chapter discusses the first significant efforts to study both the environments in which crimes occurred and the areas in which the criminals lived. This type of study was to establish a tradition that began to take hold throughout Europe before entering its best-known period in the hands of the Chicago ecologists. The ills of society, including crime and disorder, were perceived as emanating from the ‘dangerous’ classes. They were considered as vicious and depraved and, after the writings of Charles Darwin, it became easier even for educated opinion to portray them as a race apart. Any defects in morality were also attributed to the appalling conditions in which one had to live.
