Crime as a “Normal” Phenomenon: Revisiting Durkheim in the Context of Crime Concentrations

In a radical reimagining of crime in the 19th century, Émile Durkheim described crime as a “normal” phenomenon which was functional and essential to the workings of healthy societies. Durkheim noted that crime performs specific functions: it reinforces collective norms, clarifies the boundaries of acceptable behavior, and fosters social cohesion in response to violations. In his view, a healthy social order would lead to relatively normal or consistent rates of crime. While Durkheim's proposition regarding a normal level of crime in society does not seem to fit recent experience and is seldom discussed by sociologists or criminologists today, our review suggests that there is indeed a “normal level of crime” in cities, but one that relates to the concentration of crime at place and not to the overall rate of crime. We think in this context that a different proposition from Durkheim's can be raised at this juncture and should be examined in future studies. Weisburd (2015) has argued that there is a law of crime concentration at place reflecting strong concentrations of crime within a narrow bandwidth. Despite changes in crime rates, the concentration of crime appears to follow a consistent pattern across time, and across cities. This is an intriguing finding that places Durkheim's theorizing in a new light. In our discussion and conclusions, we consider why crime concentrations appear to vary within a narrow range drawing from Durkheim's discussion in the Rules of the Sociological Method, and consider policy implications of this perspective.