Wolfgang, Marvin E. (1924–1998)

In 1994, The British Journal of Criminology declared that Marvin Eugene Wolfgang was the English-speaking world's most influential criminologist. He was a pioneer in theoretical and empirical criminology and has had a lasting influence on criminal justice policy. His colleagues honored him during his lifetime with innumerable national and international awards and through high office in important professional organizations.

Wolfgang was born in Millersburg, Pennsylvania, into a Pennsylvania-Dutch family. His mother died [Page 1591]shortly after his birth. His grandparents raised him and encouraged him to go to college, the first of his family to do so. After a year at Pennsylvania State University, the government drafted him into the U.S. Army and sent him to North Africa and Italy during World War II. He finished his degrees on the GI Bill, first at Dickinson College and then at the University of Pennsylvania, with a PhD in 1955. He became a member of the Penn faculty in 1955, where he taught and did research until pancreatic cancer ended his career in an untimely fashion. Thorsten Sellin was the supervisor for Wolfgang's PhD degree, and they continued to collaborate until Sellin's death in 1994. The bond between these two men was akin to a father-son relationship.

Wolfgang wrote or edited more than 30 books and 150 articles that touched every subdiscipline in the field of criminology. Much of his work would rank as transformative. For example, Patterns in Criminal Homicide (1958) was the first analysis of a comprehensive homicide data set. The Subculture of Violence (1967) attempted to explain the origins of violence and built on initial work by Sellin. It retains an important place in contemporary theories of violence, while Delinquency in a Birth Cohort (1972) marked the beginning of largescale longitudinal studies of crime and delinquency and, in effect, revolutionized the field. It was the first major work to study a cohort of individuals as they progressed through childhood. Later studies followed these same youth through adolescence. At the time of his death, Wolfgang was working on yet another longitudinal study of juvenile delinquency with researchers in China.

Findings from each of these studies influenced policy at the local and national levels. Throughout his professional life, Wolfgang was an advocate for several causes. He abhorred guns. “I would eliminate all guns from the civilian population and maybe from the police. I hate guns—ugly, nasty instruments designed to kill people” (Wolfgang 1996: 617). He was also a lifelong opponent of the death penalty. Based on available evidence, he was absolutely convinced that it had no deterrent effect, that officials used it in a discriminatory way, and that it was barbaric. He was particularly proud that the U.S. Supreme Court used his research findings in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), which declared the death penalty unconstitutional.

Ultimately, Wolfgang's legacy takes two forms. First, the impact of his scholarship is profound and widespread. No homicide study exists that does not owe a debt to Wolfgang; the same is true for criminological longitudinal studies. The second part of his legacy is his students. Wolfgang supervised more than 90 doctoral dissertations during his career and influenced countless other students through his teaching. These individuals now populate academic and other professions and continue his work.

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