Among his many awards, he was the recipient of the James Fowler Rusling Prize, Gaylord H. Patterson Prize, Charles Mortimer Prize, August Vollmer Research Award, Hans von Hentig Award, Edwin Sutherland Award, and Wolfgang Award for Distinguished Achievement in Criminology. Elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, Professor Wolfgang was President of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, American Society of Criminology, and Pennsylvania Prison Society, and he is member of the board of directors of the International Criminal Justice Association, International Society of Victimology, National Council of Crime and Delinquency, Centre International de Criminologie Comparee, Joseph J. Peters Institute, and Institute for Public Program Analysis. He was further Director of Research for the Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence as well as a member and consultant to numerous commissions on crime.

He is the author of over 150 scholarly articles and the author or editor of over thirty books on criminology, including The Measurement of Delinquency, Delinquency in a Birth Cohort, Patterns in Criminal Homicide, and The Subculture of Violence: Towards an Integrated Theory in Criminology.