Expanding Our Thinking on Theorizing Criminology and Criminal Justice? The Place of Evolutionary Perspectives in Integrative Criminological Theory

Some 30 years after integrative theory was first introduced to criminology as an explicit attempt to move beyond mono-disciplinary thinking (Jeffrey, 1978; Johnson, 1979; Elliott, Agerton, & Canter, 1979; Elliott, Huizinger & Ageton, 1985; Colvin & Pauly, 1983; Hawkins & Weis, 1985; Pearson & Weiner, 1985; Messner, Krohn, & Liska, 1989; Akers, 1994; Hagan, 1989), it is surprising that criminologists are still discovering its value beyond the proto-multi-disciplinary or multi-paradigmatic perspectives that have long characterized the field. Indeed, there has been considerable development of integrative/interdisciplinary theory, both from within criminology (Barak, 1998a, 1998b, 2009; Fishbein, 1998, 2006; Messner, Krohn & Liska, 1989; Robinson, 2004, 2006, Robinson & Beaver, 2009); and within interdisciplinary studies more generally (Klein, 1990; 1996 Newell, 1998, 2001; 2003; Lattuca, 2001; Moran 2002; Augsburg, 2005; Repko, 2008, Repko, Newell & Szoztak, 2011), and some discussion among these approaches on applying integrative theory to specific crimes (Barak, 2003; 2006; 2008; Henry, 2009, Henry & Bracy, 2011).