• Dr. Hassan Mohammadi Nevisi,  Associate Professor at SMC University, Switzerland

Introduction: The Link Between Hermeneutics and Criminology
Hermeneutics, as both an art and science of interpretation, has its roots in theological and philosophical studies. However, with the expansion of the human sciences especially sociology, psychology, and anthropology it has evolved into a methodological tool for understanding the meaning of social phenomena. Among these phenomena, crime, as a social construct rooted in cultural, economic, and communicative contexts, demands a layered and interpretive approach that transcends legalistic and quantitative frameworks to grasp its semantic and contextual foundations. Crime is not merely a legal transgression but a form of social reaction to conditions, meanings, and lived experiences. Criminological hermeneutics seeks, through interpretive methods, to attain a deeper understanding of the semantic structures underlying criminal actions, thereby offering a more complex and humanized portrayal of delinquency. In this regard, the Chicago School with its focus on urban environment analysis, social interaction, and structural change provides an appropriate platform for integrating hermeneutics with criminology.

Theoretical Foundations of the Chicago School in Criminology
Established at the University of Chicago in the 1920s, the Chicago School was the pioneering scientific movement in urban sociology. It employed field-based and observational methods to analyze social processes within urban spaces. One of its most significant contributions was the theory of Social Disorganization, advanced by researchers such as Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. Through the study of juvenile delinquency data across Chicago neighborhoods, they found that high crime and deviance rates were linked not primarily to individual traits but to structural characteristics of neighborhoods. Poverty, high residential mobility, population instability, and the breakdown of informal social control institutions were key variables identified as contributors to crime in their theory.

However, the hallmark of the Chicago School was not merely statistical analysis but its emphasis on observation, participation, and dialogue with individuals involved in social phenomena. This feature creates an inseparable connection between the school’s methodology and hermeneutics. Here, the researcher is not merely a data collector but functions as an “interpreter” of the social meanings behind actions. Every individual, neighborhood, and criminal act carries meanings shaped within the contexts of communication, power relations, biographical histories, and everyday experiences.

A Hermeneutic Interpretation of Crime in the Chicago School Framework
The fusion of hermeneutic methodology with the theoretical principles of the Chicago School enables a multilayered and interpretive understanding of crime. From a hermeneutic perspective, criminal behavior is not simply an “error” or “deviation” but a meaningful social act experienced and internalized in response to specific life conditions and sometimes integrated into individual or collective identity. The Chicago School’s immersive approach entering crime-ridden neighborhoods, engaging in conversations with offenders, recording personal narratives, and employing participant observation aligns with the interpretive process that hermeneutics facilitates.

In this approach, concepts such as “criminal identity,” “the meaning of crime for the actor,” “local narratives of delinquency,” and even “subcultures of deviance” are not mere data points for statistical analysis but texts to be read, interpreted, and understood in light of their cultural and social contexts. For example, a young person committing theft in a deprived neighborhood is not necessarily seen solely as a social threat but may be acting in response to structural injustice, lack of legitimate opportunities, and social exclusion.

Moreover, the notion of the “social construction of crime,” later developed by theorists such as Howard Becker through Labeling Theory, has its roots in the interpretive tradition pioneered by the Chicago School. Crime, in this view, is not an inherent phenomenon but the result of social interactions, labeling processes, and society’s response to particular behaviors. Hermeneutics aids us not only in describing this process but in experiencing it from within and providing a semantic explanation.

Conclusion: The Renewed Role of Interpretation in Urban Criminology
Criminological hermeneutics within the Chicago School framework bridges classical structural analyses and interpretive understandings of criminal behavior. This approach restores the role of the human as a social actor experiencing structural contexts and imbuing actions with meaning shifting focus from mere statistical analysis to the lived experiences of offenders, their narratives of criminal acts, and the meaningful contexts surrounding them. Ethnographic studies such as those by Otto Beuer and August Blumer, which analyzed street gangs through a participatory lens, demonstrated that crime, for some groups, is not merely a survival mechanism but also a way of producing meaning, identity, and social belonging.

Furthermore, integrating hermeneutics with the structural theories of the Chicago School allows us to appreciate the social contexts of crime while also attending to its psychological, cultural, and epistemic complexities. Ultimately, in today’s world where poverty, discrimination, injustice, and structural violence continue to reproduce interpretive approaches like criminological hermeneutics can pave new paths toward deeper understanding, more humane policymaking, and socially informed crime prevention.

References:

1. Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1942). Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas. University of Chicago Press.

2. Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. Free Press.

3. Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. University of California Press.

4. Ricoeur, P. (1976). Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning. Texas Christian University Press.

5. Taylor, I., Walton, P., & Young, J. (1973). The New Criminology: For a Social Theory of Deviance. Routledge.

6. Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, Self, and Society. University of Chicago Press.

7. Matza, D. (1964). Delinquency and Drift. Wiley.

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