Per‐olof H Wikström
Biographic Data
| ID | 254189 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Per‐olof H Wikström |
| GIVEN NAMES | Per‐olof H |
| FAMILY NAME | Wikström |
| SIGNATURE | WIKSTRÖM P O H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cambridge |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 126 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Explaining Criminal Careers As Crime Events: Towards a Dynamic Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
Why does people’s crime involvement vary and change? Developmental and Life-Course criminology has brought individual change to the forefront of criminological study and has done an impressive job of mapping out peoples age-graded patterns of crime involvement and demonstrated an abundance of individual and social factors correlated with various aspects of people’s criminal careers and their characteristics. However, DLC criminology has been less…
Character, Circumstances, and Criminal Careers: Towards a Dynamic Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
Why do young people engage in acts of crime and what is it that drives their criminal careers? These are the key questions addressed in Character, Circumstances, and Criminal Careers which explores and explains people’s criminal careers through adolescence into young adulthood. Guided by Situational Action Theory (SAT)’s Developmental Ecological Action (DEA) model, the work analyses longitudinal data from the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adu…
Analytic Criminology: Mechanisms and Methods in the Explanation of Crime and its Causes
Criminology is a smorgasbord of disparate theory and poorly integrated research findings. Theories tend to focus either on people's crime propensity or the criminogenic inducements of environments; rarely are these two main approaches effectively combined in the analysis of crime and its causes. Criminological research often either avoids questions of causation and explanation (e.g., risk factor approach) or is based on research designs that yiel…
Differentiating Right-Wing Extremism from Potential for Violent Extremism: The Role of Criminogenic Exposure
The Situational Action Theory of crime submits that law-related morality, the ability to exercise self-control, and exposure to criminogenic settings are key predictors of both regular criminality and violent extremism. Indeed, morality and self-control were found to be significantly correlated with violent extremism, and especially right-wing inspired violence. However, while the effect of criminogenic exposure on crime has been established, its…
Social Disadvantage and Crime: A Criminological Puzzle
In this article, we analyze the relationship between social disadvantage and crime, starting from the paradox that most persistent offenders come from disadvantaged backgrounds, but most people from disadvantaged backgrounds do not become persistent offenders. We argue that despite the fact that social disadvantage has been a key criminological topic for some time, the mechanisms which link it to offending remain poorly specified. Drawing on situ…
Why crime happens: A situational action theory
Felson’s Review of “Breaking Rules”: Smoke and Mirrors
A fundamental element of scientific progress is learning from constructive criticism. We are very much interested in substantive critiques and discussions of our work. Unfortunately, this is not wh
Explaining Crime as Moral Actions
When does self-control matter? The interaction between morality and self-control in crime causation
In this paper we will test one of the key assumptions of Situational Action Theory: that individuals’ (law-relevant) morality is more fundamental to their crime involvement than their ability to exercise self-control. We specifically hypothesize that, for individuals with a strong morality, their capability to exercise self-control plays less of a role in their crime involvement than it does for individuals with a weak morality, whose capability …
Activity Fields and the Dynamics of Crime: Advancing Knowledge About the Role of the Environment in Crime Causation
Questions of perception and reality
Professor Robert J. Sampson ranks without any doubt amongst the world leaders in the fields of urban sociology and sociological criminology. He has made seminal contributions to socio-ecological theory (e.g., through his theory of collective efficacy) and, together with Stephen Raudenbush, to the much needed advancement of socio-ecological methods (ecometrics). His studies, with John Laub, into crime across the life course are modern classics. Th…
The Role of Self-Control in Crime Causation: Beyond Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime
In this paper we present an alternative conception of self-control and its role in crime causation to the one advanced by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) in their influential General Theory of Crime. Our conception is based on the theoretical framework outlined in the situational action theory of crime causation (e.g. Wikström 2006a). We propose that self-control is best analysed as a situational concept (a factor in the process of choice) rather …
Individuals, settings, and acts of crime: Situational mechanisms and the explanation of crime
The questions, "Why do people commit crime?" and "What can we do about it?" are central to any society. The answers to these questions require a basic understanding of what causes crime. I submit that criminological theory, by and large, has not been able to fully address the problems of causation and explanation. I argue that a major reason for this is that criminological theory generally suffers from a lack of a theory of action, a poor integra…
The Explanation of Crime: Context, Mechanisms and Development
Integration of disciplines, theories and research orientations has assumed a central role in criminological discourse yet it remains difficult to identify any concrete discoveries or significant breakthroughs for which integration has been responsible. Concentrating on three key concepts: context, mechanisms, and development, this volume aims to advance integrated scientific knowledge on crime causation by bringing together different scholarly ap…
Risk and promotive effects in the explanation of persistent serious delinquency in boys.
Participants were studied over ages 13-19 years for the oldest sample and 7-13 years for the youngest sample.Risk and promotive effects were studied in 6 domains: child behavior, child attitudes, school and leisure activities, peer behaviors, family functioning, and demographics.Regression models improved when promotive effects were included with risk effects in predicting persistent serious delinquency.Disadvantaged neighborhoods, compared with …
Urbanisation, Neighbourhood Social Integration, Informal Social Control, Minor Social Disorder, Victimisation and Fear of Crime
This paper attempts to study how neighbourhood levels of victimisation and fear of crime vary with the degree of urbanisation, but also, which has rarely been done, aims empirically to explore some of the intervening mechanisms that link the degree of urbanisation with levels of neighbourhood victimisation and fear of crime. The data for the study come from two larger regional survey studies of random samples of the population (N = 7,059) in the …
Special Issue on Sweden Introduction
Why are Single Parents More often Threatened with Violence? A Question of Ecological Vulnerability
This paper explores the relationship between household category and victimisation through threats of violence. In particular, the paper focuses on investigating the reasons for single parents' higher rate of victimisation through threats of violence. The data used in this study were taken from the second wave of data collection in the Stockholm Project. Interviews were conducted with 1,498 randomly selected individuals aged 20 or above in eight s…
The interaction between impulsivity and neighborhood context on offending: The effects of impulsivity are stronger in poorer neighborhoods
This research blends 2 traditions of theorizing on the causes of crime. one focused on the role of individual differences and the other focused on structural and contextual variables. Two related studies examined the relations among impulsivity, neighborhood context, and juvenile offending. The first, cross-sectional study uses a large sample of 13-year-old inner-city boys, whereas the second, Longitudinal study offers a conceptual replication us…
Do Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Cause Well‐adjusted Children to Become Adolescent Delinquents? A Study of Male Juvenile Serious Offending, Individual Risk and Protective Factors, and Neighborhood Conte…
This paper presents a study of the relationship between type of neighborhood socioeconomic context, individual characteristics (individuals are classified by a set of selected key measures of individual dispositions and social situation) and serious male juvenile offending (prevalence and early and late onsets) in the city of Pittsburgh. The analytical strategy may best be described as holistic and epidemiological. The key research question is wh…
Preventing City-Center Street Crimes
Prevention of crime and disorder in the city center is a neglected research topic. Few evaluations have been conducted of city-center street-crime prevention measures or programs. However, strategic insights for preventing crime and disorder in public in the city center can be gleaned from research into the patterns and causes of city-center crime and disorder. City centers are largely nonresidential areas where strangers from different social ba…
The Comparative Study of Urban Violence
F. H. MCCLINTOCK, PER-OLOF H. WIKSTROM; THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF URBAN VIOLENCE: Criminal Violence in Edinburgh and Stockholm, The British Journal of Crimi
Urban Crime, Criminals, and Victims: The Swedish Experience in an Anglo-American Comparative Perspective
Violent Crime in Scotland and Sweden
This study reports some findings from the first part of a larger research project comparing criminal violence in Scotland and Sweden. The purpose of this first study is to discuss specific problems of comparability of legal definilions and official crime statistics on violence between the two countries, and to compare the rate of known violent criminality, its structure, and trends
Do Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Cause Well‐adjusted Children to Become Adolescent Delinquents? A Study of Male Juvenile Serious Offending, Individual Risk and Protective Factors, and Neighborhood Conte…
This paper presents a study of the relationship between type of neighborhood socioeconomic context, individual characteristics (individuals are classified by a set of selected key measures of individual dispositions and social situation) and serious male juvenile offending (prevalence and early and late onsets) in the city of Pittsburgh. The analytical strategy may best be described as holistic and epidemiological. The key research question is wh…
Urbanisation, Neighbourhood Social Integration, Informal Social Control, Minor Social Disorder, Victimisation and Fear of Crime
This paper attempts to study how neighbourhood levels of victimisation and fear of crime vary with the degree of urbanisation, but also, which has rarely been done, aims empirically to explore some of the intervening mechanisms that link the degree of urbanisation with levels of neighbourhood victimisation and fear of crime. The data for the study come from two larger regional survey studies of random samples of the population (N = 7,059) in the …
Analytic Criminology: Mechanisms and Methods in the Explanation of Crime and its Causes
Criminology is a smorgasbord of disparate theory and poorly integrated research findings. Theories tend to focus either on people's crime propensity or the criminogenic inducements of environments; rarely are these two main approaches effectively combined in the analysis of crime and its causes. Criminological research often either avoids questions of causation and explanation (e.g., risk factor approach) or is based on research designs that yiel…
Social Disadvantage and Crime: A Criminological Puzzle
In this article, we analyze the relationship between social disadvantage and crime, starting from the paradox that most persistent offenders come from disadvantaged backgrounds, but most people from disadvantaged backgrounds do not become persistent offenders. We argue that despite the fact that social disadvantage has been a key criminological topic for some time, the mechanisms which link it to offending remain poorly specified. Drawing on situ…
Questions of perception and reality
Professor Robert J. Sampson ranks without any doubt amongst the world leaders in the fields of urban sociology and sociological criminology. He has made seminal contributions to socio-ecological theory (e.g., through his theory of collective efficacy) and, together with Stephen Raudenbush, to the much needed advancement of socio-ecological methods (ecometrics). His studies, with John Laub, into crime across the life course are modern classics. Th…
Preventing City-Center Street Crimes
Prevention of crime and disorder in the city center is a neglected research topic. Few evaluations have been conducted of city-center street-crime prevention measures or programs. However, strategic insights for preventing crime and disorder in public in the city center can be gleaned from research into the patterns and causes of city-center crime and disorder. City centers are largely nonresidential areas where strangers from different social ba…
Urban Crime, Criminals, and Victims: The Swedish Experience in an Anglo-American Comparative Perspective
Violent Crime in Scotland and Sweden
This study reports some findings from the first part of a larger research project comparing criminal violence in Scotland and Sweden. The purpose of this first study is to discuss specific problems of comparability of legal definilions and official crime statistics on violence between the two countries, and to compare the rate of known violent criminality, its structure, and trends
The Comparative Study of Urban Violence
F. H. MCCLINTOCK, PER-OLOF H. WIKSTROM; THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF URBAN VIOLENCE: Criminal Violence in Edinburgh and Stockholm, The British Journal of Crimi
Preventing City-Center Street Crimes
Prevention of crime and disorder in the city center is a neglected research topic. Few evaluations have been conducted of city-center street-crime prevention measures or programs. However, strategic insights for preventing crime and disorder in public in the city center can be gleaned from research into the patterns and causes of city-center crime and disorder. City centers are largely nonresidential areas where strangers from different social ba…
The interaction between impulsivity and neighborhood context on offending: The effects of impulsivity are stronger in poorer neighborhoods
This research blends 2 traditions of theorizing on the causes of crime. one focused on the role of individual differences and the other focused on structural and contextual variables. Two related studies examined the relations among impulsivity, neighborhood context, and juvenile offending. The first, cross-sectional study uses a large sample of 13-year-old inner-city boys, whereas the second, Longitudinal study offers a conceptual replication us…
Do Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Cause Well‐adjusted Children to Become Adolescent Delinquents? A Study of Male Juvenile Serious Offending, Individual Risk and Protective Factors, and Neighborhood Conte…
This paper presents a study of the relationship between type of neighborhood socioeconomic context, individual characteristics (individuals are classified by a set of selected key measures of individual dispositions and social situation) and serious male juvenile offending (prevalence and early and late onsets) in the city of Pittsburgh. The analytical strategy may best be described as holistic and epidemiological. The key research question is wh…
Urbanisation, Neighbourhood Social Integration, Informal Social Control, Minor Social Disorder, Victimisation and Fear of Crime
This paper attempts to study how neighbourhood levels of victimisation and fear of crime vary with the degree of urbanisation, but also, which has rarely been done, aims empirically to explore some of the intervening mechanisms that link the degree of urbanisation with levels of neighbourhood victimisation and fear of crime. The data for the study come from two larger regional survey studies of random samples of the population (N = 7,059) in the …
Special Issue on Sweden Introduction
Why are Single Parents More often Threatened with Violence? A Question of Ecological Vulnerability
This paper explores the relationship between household category and victimisation through threats of violence. In particular, the paper focuses on investigating the reasons for single parents' higher rate of victimisation through threats of violence. The data used in this study were taken from the second wave of data collection in the Stockholm Project. Interviews were conducted with 1,498 randomly selected individuals aged 20 or above in eight s…
Risk and promotive effects in the explanation of persistent serious delinquency in boys.
Participants were studied over ages 13-19 years for the oldest sample and 7-13 years for the youngest sample.Risk and promotive effects were studied in 6 domains: child behavior, child attitudes, school and leisure activities, peer behaviors, family functioning, and demographics.Regression models improved when promotive effects were included with risk effects in predicting persistent serious delinquency.Disadvantaged neighborhoods, compared with …
Individuals, settings, and acts of crime: Situational mechanisms and the explanation of crime
The questions, "Why do people commit crime?" and "What can we do about it?" are central to any society. The answers to these questions require a basic understanding of what causes crime. I submit that criminological theory, by and large, has not been able to fully address the problems of causation and explanation. I argue that a major reason for this is that criminological theory generally suffers from a lack of a theory of action, a poor integra…
The Explanation of Crime: Context, Mechanisms and Development
Integration of disciplines, theories and research orientations has assumed a central role in criminological discourse yet it remains difficult to identify any concrete discoveries or significant breakthroughs for which integration has been responsible. Concentrating on three key concepts: context, mechanisms, and development, this volume aims to advance integrated scientific knowledge on crime causation by bringing together different scholarly ap…
The Role of Self-Control in Crime Causation: Beyond Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime
In this paper we present an alternative conception of self-control and its role in crime causation to the one advanced by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) in their influential General Theory of Crime. Our conception is based on the theoretical framework outlined in the situational action theory of crime causation (e.g. Wikström 2006a). We propose that self-control is best analysed as a situational concept (a factor in the process of choice) rather …
Questions of perception and reality
Professor Robert J. Sampson ranks without any doubt amongst the world leaders in the fields of urban sociology and sociological criminology. He has made seminal contributions to socio-ecological theory (e.g., through his theory of collective efficacy) and, together with Stephen Raudenbush, to the much needed advancement of socio-ecological methods (ecometrics). His studies, with John Laub, into crime across the life course are modern classics. Th…
Explaining Crime as Moral Actions
When does self-control matter? The interaction between morality and self-control in crime causation
In this paper we will test one of the key assumptions of Situational Action Theory: that individuals’ (law-relevant) morality is more fundamental to their crime involvement than their ability to exercise self-control. We specifically hypothesize that, for individuals with a strong morality, their capability to exercise self-control plays less of a role in their crime involvement than it does for individuals with a weak morality, whose capability …
Activity Fields and the Dynamics of Crime: Advancing Knowledge About the Role of the Environment in Crime Causation
Why crime happens: A situational action theory
Felson’s Review of “Breaking Rules”: Smoke and Mirrors
A fundamental element of scientific progress is learning from constructive criticism. We are very much interested in substantive critiques and discussions of our work. Unfortunately, this is not wh
Social Disadvantage and Crime: A Criminological Puzzle
In this article, we analyze the relationship between social disadvantage and crime, starting from the paradox that most persistent offenders come from disadvantaged backgrounds, but most people from disadvantaged backgrounds do not become persistent offenders. We argue that despite the fact that social disadvantage has been a key criminological topic for some time, the mechanisms which link it to offending remain poorly specified. Drawing on situ…
Differentiating Right-Wing Extremism from Potential for Violent Extremism: The Role of Criminogenic Exposure
The Situational Action Theory of crime submits that law-related morality, the ability to exercise self-control, and exposure to criminogenic settings are key predictors of both regular criminality and violent extremism. Indeed, morality and self-control were found to be significantly correlated with violent extremism, and especially right-wing inspired violence. However, while the effect of criminogenic exposure on crime has been established, its…
Analytic Criminology: Mechanisms and Methods in the Explanation of Crime and its Causes
Criminology is a smorgasbord of disparate theory and poorly integrated research findings. Theories tend to focus either on people's crime propensity or the criminogenic inducements of environments; rarely are these two main approaches effectively combined in the analysis of crime and its causes. Criminological research often either avoids questions of causation and explanation (e.g., risk factor approach) or is based on research designs that yiel…
Character, Circumstances, and Criminal Careers: Towards a Dynamic Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
Why do young people engage in acts of crime and what is it that drives their criminal careers? These are the key questions addressed in Character, Circumstances, and Criminal Careers which explores and explains people’s criminal careers through adolescence into young adulthood. Guided by Situational Action Theory (SAT)’s Developmental Ecological Action (DEA) model, the work analyses longitudinal data from the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adu…
Explaining Criminal Careers As Crime Events: Towards a Dynamic Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
Why does people’s crime involvement vary and change? Developmental and Life-Course criminology has brought individual change to the forefront of criminological study and has done an impressive job of mapping out peoples age-graded patterns of crime involvement and demonstrated an abundance of individual and social factors correlated with various aspects of people’s criminal careers and their characteristics. However, DLC criminology has been less…
Crime Patterns and Interventions (20 works) · Criminology (17 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Political science (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Law (11 works) · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Causation (7 works) · Geography (7 works)