This volume is a statistical and sociological analysis of one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Combining original research and a review of all major previous studies on criminal homicide in America, this study attempts to discover and to analyze patterns in criminal homicide from among almost six hundred cases that occurred in the city of Philadelphia between January 1, 1948, and December 31, 1952. The primary source of data utilized by Marvin E. Wolfgang was the files of the Homicide Squad of the Philadelphia Police Department. Answers were sought to a series of questions regarding 588 victims and 621 offenders involved in criminal homicide with respect to the following: race, sex, and age differences; methods and weapons used to inflict death; seasonal and other temporal patterns; spatial patterns; the relationship between the use of alcohol and homicide; the degree of violence in homicide; motives; the interpersonal relationship between victim and offender; homicide occurring during the commission of another felony; victim-precipitated homicide; homicide-suicide; unsolved homicide; the tempo of legal procedure; court disposition; and insanity as a factor in homicide. The broad range of material examined in this volume makes it one of the most comprehensive studies undertaken in recent years. Although dealing basically with records of homicide accumulated in Philadelphia, Patterns in Criminal Homicide has implications that hold true for every large urban community. It is a work of utmost importance to the student of sociology because of its general sociological perspective; to all students of criminology; to the police, especially the homicide division of any police department; to law students, lawyers, and judges; and to those agencies in the community concerned with the control and prevention of violent crime.

From the Preface In the story of punishment, the institutions described in this monograph hold a significant place, yet their role in shaping the history of prisons has not hitherto been explored by any American or English historian of institutions. In vain do we look for even a mention of them in works like George Ives' A History of Penal Methods or in the older pioneer writings of E. C. and F. H. Wines. With one or two exceptions, even the many textbooks of criminology published in the United States in the last two decades ignore them. This is understandable when we consider that except for brief and cursory references in rather inaccessible Continental works of the eighteenth century, the "rediscovery" of the Amsterdam houses of correction did not occur until 1898, when Robert von Hippel published his splendid article about them in the Zeitschrift fur die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft. Hippel established once for all the contribution of the Dutch municipalities of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries to the rise of correctional imprisonment. It is largely to Hippel's study, which came to the author's notice nearly twenty years ago, that he owes an abiding interest in the history of punishment. Many scholars abroad were equally inspired by it, and a number of monographic studies of local German penal institutions by Hippel's own students at Goettingen resulted from it. Hallema's excellent researches into the history of the Dutch houses of correction might never have been made without the stimulus of Hippel's investigations. Were it not for the wealth of new data uncovered in the last forty years and the absence of any adequate description of the Amsterdam houses of correction in the English language, this monograph might appear to be a mere threshing of old straw. The reasons just offered are believed sufficient justification, however, for writing their story anew. It has been a pleasant PREFACE task even though the author has been unable to do full justice to it. Perhaps everyone who attempts to seize a portion of the pulsating life of a past era feels the same disappointment. Nevertheless, this monograph is presented in the hope that it will prove of interest to penologists at least and will demonstrate that the history of punishment is well worth exploration. T.S. Philadelphia, April 1944

James-Pattern-Rowe Pamphlet Series, No. 13.

Contributing Authors Include Griffith Taylor, W. Burton Hurd, H. F. Angus, And Many Others.

Contributing Authors Include Gerhard Colm, Slade Kendrick, Clarence Heer, And Many Others.

Contributing Authors Peter Henle, William G. Caples, Joseph P. Goldberg, And Others.

Contributing Authors Include Henry A. Wallace, E. E. Schattschneider, Norman Thomas And Many Others.

Contributing Authors Include John C. Honey, E. R. Piore, R. N. Kreidler, And Many Others.

Contributing Authors Include Frank Hines, John A. Clausen, Shirley A. Starr And Many Others.

Contributing Authors Include Filmer Northrop, Henry Wriston, Ewan Clague, And Many Others.

The Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law, 1600-1926, brings together foreign, comparative, and international titles in a single resource. Its International Law component features works of some of the great legal theorists, including Gentili, Grotius, Selden, Zouche, Pufendorf, Bijnkershoek, Wolff, Vattel, Martens, Mackintosh, Wheaton, among others. The materials in this archive are drawn from three world-class American law libraries: the Yale Law Library, the George Washington University Law Library, and the Columbia Law Library.Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of original works are available via print-on-demand, making them readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars, and readers of all ages.+++++++++++++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: +++++++++++++++Columbia University Law LibraryLP3C000930019220101The Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative, and International Law, 1600-1926 Minneapolis], 1922]148 p. 24 cmUnited States

Contributing Authors Include Harry Manuel Shulman, Henry D. McKay, Marshall B. Clinard And Others.

Contributing Authors Include Hugh Seton-Watson, Robert Byrnes, Edmund Stillman, And Many Others.

Contributing Authors Include Klaus Mehnert, Mark Mancall, T. A. Hsia, And Many Others.

One of the founders of the field of criminology sums up a lifetime of work on the issue of capital punishment. He shows the fallacy of the arguments for the deterrent and retributive value of the death penalty. He argues cogently and passionately for the body of evidence showing that 'abolitionist' states suffer no more capital crime than 'retentionist' ones, and that retribution is neither swift, certain nor equitable. 'This is an impressive book by an established American criminologist...A short review cannot do justice to the careful argument, backed up by detailed evidence, which is contained here. The book is readable and clear, and anyone interested in the subject should certainly refer to it.' -- Bramshill Journal, Vol 1 No 3, July 1982 '...this book will almost certainly become a standard reference work for criminologists and laymen interested in the "ultimate" punishment.' -- International Social Science Review, Spring 1983 'In the unlikely event that there is any doubt that Thorsten Sellin is the foremost scholar of capital punishment that the world has ever known, that doubt will be eliminated by perusal of his latest work.In this fact-packed little volume, more questions on penalties for murder are answered than other writings even ask' -- Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 'This book must be considered among the finest available dealing with the death penalty' -- Criminal Justice History