ABSTRACT Braithwaite’s provocation to see crime (and its prevention) through a “cascade lens” is certainly a wake-up call for macrocriminologists. As a metaphor it has the capability to motivate new directions in criminological research, however this also limits its potential as organising structure for testing important propositions. I argue that two strategies are required to move the cascade concept from a metaphor to an analytical tool. First, it needs to be made operational and testable, and in order to do so it has to be dissected and taken apart. Second, rather than losing sight of exogenous factors aka macro-level structural conditions (like poverty and concentrated disadvantage) we have to identify the relation between deeply rooted structures and micro-level decision making, and separate dynamic processes from their exogenous conditions. The comment starts with a number of questions for a fierce critic of our trade.

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关于唤醒电话和隐喻：评论布雷思韦特“犯罪是一种级联现象”

摘要 Braithwaite 通过“级联镜头”来看待犯罪（及其预防）的挑衅无疑是对宏观犯罪学家的警钟。作为一个比喻，它有能力激发犯罪学研究的新方向，但这也限制了它作为测试重要命题的组织结构的潜力。我认为需要两种策略才能将级联概念从隐喻转变为分析工具。首先，它需要具备可操作性和可测试性，为此必须对其进行剖析和拆解。其次，与其忽视外生因素，即宏观结构条件（如贫困和集中劣势），我们必须确定根深蒂固的结构与微观决策之间的关系，并将动态过程与其外生条件分开。