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Currently editing the Background--Pioneers section of Public Criminology

Historical Precedence
Elements of Public criminology can be traced back to the 1700s, most notably to ideas and work from Cesare Beccaria has since added to the way that public criminology is looked at. Cesare Beccaria talked about crime and punishment, but ultimately seized work , due to fear of backlash from the government. Beccaria stopped producing articles which made the public wonder if the government had silenced Beccaria.The idea of being silenced added to the need for a public criminology.

There are more recent examples as well. For example, Clifford R. Shaw was persistent in his efforts to improve the circumstances of both communities and individuals in Chicago. In the 1920s, Shaw studied the relationship between the neighborhoods of Chicago and crime. During this time, he formulated what is now known as social disorganization theory and mapped patterns of ethnic succession in these neighborhoods. He involved the residents of the communities that had high crime rates and delinquency to learn from them and communicate his research findings. As time went on, Shaw founded the Chicago Area Project which was geared to reduce conditions that resulted in high delinquency.

Another example, from the 1960s and 1970s, is the work of Lloyd Ohlin and other scholars. Ohlin and other American Criminologist were engaged in the Great Society project as advisors to John F. Kennedy and others. John Irwin was a criminal turned criminologists that pushed rehabilitation in the 1960's. Elliot Currie is a professor of criminology at the University of California at Irvine who works on policy and specializes in cases of violent crime, the social context of delinquency, etiology of drug abuse and the assessment of drug policy, race and criminal justice. George L. Kirkham was a criminologist who became a police officer. He wrote a book entitled "signal zero" in 1976 which was an attempt to change student's perceptions of a police officer.