Crime and Its Causes

Crime and Its Causes by William Douglas Morrison investigates the roots of criminal behavior with a clear, empirical eye from the vantage point of a late-Victorian prison official. Combining statistics, observation, and social critique, Morrison treats crime as a subject for scientific inquiry rather than moral panic. Across its chapters he examines the statistics of crime, the influence of climate and season, and the effects of destitution and poverty, while exploring how sex, age, physical constitution, and mental condition relate to offending. He also addresses the aims and effects of punishment, arguing for policies grounded in evidence rather than superstition. Written during the formative years of modern criminology, the book blends observational detail with philosophical reflection, offering an early social-science framework for understanding how environment, biology, and social structures interact to produce criminality. Ideal for students of criminology, social science readers, historians of Victorian thought, and anyone interested in the causes of crime, this audiobook offers a thoughtful, data-driven perspective that still informs debates about prevention and reform. Listen to gain historical depth and practical insight into the long-standing social factors behind criminal behavior.