Date of Award

January 2016

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Justice Studies

First Advisor

Gary W. Potter

Department Affiliation

Justice Studies

Second Advisor

Victor E. Kappeler

Department Affiliation

Justice Studies

Third Advisor

Peter B. Kraska

Department Affiliation

Justice Studies

Abstract

There has been a push since the early 1980’s for a paradigm shift in criminology from a Newtonian-based ontology to one of quantum physics. Primarily this effort has taken the form of integrating Chaos Theory into Criminology into what this thesis calls ‘Chaos Criminology’. However, with the melding of any two fields, terms and concepts need to be translated properly, which has yet to be done. In addition to proving a translation between fields, this thesis also uses a set of criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of the current use of Chaos Theory in Criminology. While the results of the theory evaluation reveal that the current Chaos Criminology work is severely lacking and in need of development, there is some promise in the development of Marx’s dialectical materialism with Chaos Theory.

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