Although the hypothesis of this work, that there is a direct operational correlation between changing imprisonment rates and changing unemployment rates, has proven to be overly simplistic, it is here presented as still being relevant to studying economic and historical operators on processes of crime and punishment. Translated from a book penned solely by German sociologist Rusche (formerly of the Frankfurt Institute of Social Research), the English version of this work, first published in 1939, was substantially updated and revised by Kirchheimer (a political scientist who worked at a number of American higher education institutions). Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)