Urbanization and Crime

A 1995 study of urban crime in Imperial Germany, questioning whether cities, in themselves, cause crime.

This 1995 book contributes to modern German history and to the sociological understanding of crime in urban societies. Focusing on Germany's period of most rapid urban and industrial growth (1871–1914), it argues that neither urban environments themselves nor the change in modern societies from predominantly rural to urban cause crime.This 1995 book contributes to both modern German history and to the sociological understanding of crime in modern industrial and urban societies. Its central argument is that cities, in themselves, do not cause crime. It focuses on the problems of crime and criminal justice during Germany's period of most rapid urban and industrial growth - a period when Germany also rose to world power status. From 1871 to 1914, German cities, despite massive growth, socialist agitation and non-ethnic German immigration, were not particularly infested with crime. Yet the conservative political and religious elites constantly railed against the immoral nature of the city and the German governmental authorities, police, and court officials often overreacted against city populations. In so doing, they helped to set Germany on a dangerous authoritarian course.