Urbanization and Crime: Germany 1871-1914

by Eric A. Johnson

Overview

This book contributes to modern German history and to the sociological understanding of crime in urban societies. Its central argument is that cities do not cause crime. It focuses on crime during Germany's period of most rapid growth. From 1871-1914, German cities, despite massive growth, socialist agitation, non-ethnic immigration, and the censure of conservative elites, were not particularly crime-infested. Nevertheless, governmental authorities often overreacted against city populations, helping to set Germany on a dangerous authoritarian course.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521470179
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/28/1995
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The criminal justice system: safe streets in a well-organized police state; 2. Popular opinion: crime as a 'foreign' concept; 3. Long-term trends: the modernization of crime and the modernization of German society; 4. Urban-rural difference, ethnicity and hardship: cities are not to blame; 5. Criminals and victims: the crucial importance of gender; 6. Conclusion: crime rates, crime theories and German society.

Editorial Reviews

"...important and often fascinating..." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"...a very impressive array of official criminal statistics." Gabriel Finder, American Journal of Sociology

"...Johnson's book is a gold mine of information...." Central European History

"In this rich volume, Eric A. Johnson undertakes a task that historians far too often overlook: the painstaking reexamination of received scholarly wisdom....Johnson's book is not only of value to german specialists, but it should help frame the discussion about the history of crime in industrialized society." Kenneth F. Ledford, The Historian

"...exceptional and very persuasive study of crime and criminal justice in Germany during the late nineteenth and erly twentieth centuries...." Kevin F. Ryan, International Criminal Justice Review

From the Publisher