1.3 What Makes a Theory?
Criminology is an inherently interdisciplinary field, meaning that criminologists base their understanding of the causes of crime on existing theories in psychology, sociology, economics, politics, and biology. They then create new theories to paint an even clearer picture. In this section, we will discuss what it takes to create a theory and what that process looks like.
The Open Education Sociology Dictionary defines theory as a statement that proposes to describe and explain why facts or other social phenomena are related to each other based on observed patterns. In other words, a theory helps people make sense of what they are seeing. In criminology, that means explaining what is happening in terms of crime and criminal behavior. Theories help us classify, organize, explain, predict, and understand some phenomena. For example, one theory may try to explain the increase in crime in Portland during the pandemic by focusing on why a bunch of kids who are home from school for a long time, who live in the same neighborhood, and who all have tough home lives may come together and act out in violent ways. Later, this book discusses specific theories that attempt to explain such a situation. However, for now, let’s start with the basics.
You might be wondering where theories originate or how people come up with them in the first place. We start with a question. Why is what we are witnessing happening? Why is gun violence increasing? How can we explain this phenomenon? To respond to our chosen question, we create an educated guess, called a hypothesis, based on what we have seen. A hypothesis is a reasonable possible explanation of why we think a phenomenon is occurring. It is not random. It must fit with what we are seeing, and it must be simple enough that we can test it to see if we are onto something. A hypothesis is the beginning of a theory.
Based on the definition of a theory, it may seem like just about anyone can come up with a possible explanation for what is happening and claim it is a legitimate theory. While it is true that anyone can come up with an idea to explain some phenomenon, legitimate theories involve scientific and systematic study. You can think of your uncle’s idea on why people commit sexual assault as a “lower case t” theory, while feminist criminologists’ descriptions and unpacking of gender roles based on decades of research is an “upper case T” theory. In other words, a good theory involves more than just personal speculation.
Criteria for Criminological Theories
Ronald Akers and Christine Sellers (2012) established a set of criteria to guide criminologists in evaluating theories. They said a “good” criminological theory must meet these six criteria:
- logical consistency
- scope
- parsimony
- testability
- empirical validity
- usefulness
Logical consistency is the most basic element of any theory. It requires that the theory makes sense. Is it reasonable? Does it make sense from beginning to end?