The four contributors discuss two broad areas of the family's influence as an informal mechanism of crime control. First, there is the supportive environment of the extended family as it establishes authority over the behavior of family members through the regulatory framework of member status within the family structure. This regulatory framework not only administers familial and the larger society's rules and values but also polices infractions. The second principal area of family influence on crime control pertains to the structures responsible for the enforcement of kinship ties. The contributors also identify factors in socioeconomic change that can undermine the family's ability to prevent criminal behavior. Among these factors are urbanization-migration-industrialization, State intervention to usurp parental roles, and the disintegration of sociocultural institutions that reinforce the family's efforts to impart behavioral and attitudinal values to family members.