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Cross‐national studies of crime are dominated by a Durkheimian‐Modernization theoretical perspective. We evaluate this perspective and present two alternatives, the Marxian‐World System and Ecological‐Opportunity perspectives. Each is for its theory of social change, causal explanation of criminal behavior, conceptualization of law and crime rates, and view of the relation between collective political behavior and crime. The empirical evidence is assessed and weak support is found for the dominant perspective. The article concludes by reconsidering the concepts of economic development and crime rates.

Largely as a result of the feminist movement, most states have passed some form of rape reform legislation. Most rape law research has attempted to ascertain whether the reformed laws have achieved specific instrumental goals. In contrast, this paper emphasizes rape law reform as a symbolic indicator of women's contemporary social status. We believe there is a need for a greater appreciation of the diversity of rape law reform across the country and of the coexistence of traditional and feminist elements in contemporary law. Through a comprehensive empirical assessment of state rape statutes, we identify the different dimensions of rape legislation and provide insight into the degree to which feminist conceptualizations of rape have achieved social legitimacy.

This aggregate analysis of rape law reform in 48 states complements existing individual-level studies by providing a picture of the nationwide impact of the reforms. A theoretical model of rape law impact is developed, and the effects of several reform measures on official rape rates are examined through multiple regression analyses that control for contextual and etiological factors. The results indicate that rape law reform is for the most part unrelated to rape rates, although there are departures from this pattern. In particular, there are significant effects of an index of definitional reforms and a variable that measures the criminalization of nonconsensual sexual contacts not involving clearly demonstrable force or other extreme circumstances. There are also interactive effects between law reform and contextual variables, as well as direct effects of contextual and etiological variables.

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