Robert Bursik, Jr., from the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, addresses the American Society of Criminology emphasizing the need for contemporary researchers to not conduct their research without considering similar work conducted in earlier historical eras, that without would limit the scope of their conclusions. Bursik attempts to explain in his address that the knowledge that is generated today is not necessarily better or more insightful than that of our predecessors. He references the Dead Sea Scrolls as a metaphor to frame a discussion around a driven belief that criminology has generated bodies of theory and research of steadily increasing quality and creativity over time, making it safe to ignore earlier efforts. In his opinion, criminological work that has been forgotten or hidden from scholarly sight represents an untapped opportunity to generate intellectual advances and discussions, as did the Scrolls. References