Criminal Justice Research Is about People

Abstract

The Golden Age of criminal justice research has come to an end, with an era of austerity impending. The benefits of the work done over the last forty years are reviewed, and the author suggests that many of the research paradigms are withering in aridity, producing results of di minishing consequence. He argues that this is a time to turn away from the expensive systems research that has characterized so much criminological work and return to the people-oriented research that characterized the Chicago School of the early twenties. The major questions to which "people-oriented research" should be addressed are formulated and their potential significance is discussed.