Donald Cressey

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Donald R. Cressey (1919-1987), born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, USA, was a penologist, sociologist and a criminologist, who is known for his studies in organized crime. He taught sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After his retirement, he served as organized crime consultant to the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in 1966 and 1967. Based on research conducted in this capacity he wrote the acclaimed "Theft of the Nation", a treatise on Cosa Nostra, and later a smaller volume entitled "Criminal Organization" in which he extended his conceptualization of organized crime to include criminal groups other than Cosa Nostra.

[edit] Quotes

• You cannot bring in a verdict that the defendant is a little bit guilty.
• Things in law tend to be black and white. But we all know that some people are a little bit guilty, while other people are guilty as hell.

[edit] Works

• Methodological Problems in the Study of Organized Crime as a Social Problem, in: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 374, 1967, pp. 101-112
• Theft of the Nation: The Structure and Operations of Organized Crime in America, New York: Harper and Row 1969
• Organized crime and inner-city youth, in: Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 16(2), 1970, 129-138
• Criminal Organization: Its Elementary Forms, New York: Harper and Row 1972
• Principles of Criminology, with Edwin Sutherland.