犯罪學理論的發展在美國面臨危機。本文旨在探討普遍認為可能化解危機的一個熱門話題--理論整合。為此目的，本文討論了理論的定義、理論發展的簡單歷程、以及理論整合的利弊。本文主張，把理論整合作為改變犯罪學理論發展所面臨支離破碎的局面的唯一解決方法，為時過早。在實證研究中，理論競爭依然十分重要。今後犯罪學理論的發展有賴於找到每個理論中世所公認的自變量。理論建設既需要理論整合也需要理論闡發。

The development of criminological theories in the U.S. is in crisis. The
current article examines one of the perceived solutions to the current crisis.In doing so, the definition of theory was discussed, a brief history of how theories evolved was described, and the merits and problems associated with theoretical integration were presented. It is argued that it is still too early to regard theoretical integration as the only solution to the fragmented criminology and that theory competition remains important in conducting research. The future development of criminological theory relies on the invention of more standardized measuring instruments for each theory and theory construction is symmetrically dependent on both theory elaboration
and theory integration.