Reflexivity and Criminal Justice


Book Description

This collection presents a diverse set of case studies and theoretical reflections on how criminologists engage with practitioners and policy makers while undertaking research. The contributions to this volume highlight both the challenges and opportunities associated with doing criminological research in a reflexive and collaborative manner. They further examine the ethical and practical implications of the ‘impact’ agenda in the higher education sector with respect to the production and the dissemination of criminological knowledge. Developed to serve as an internationally accessible reference volume for scholars, practitioners and postgraduate criminology students, this book responds to the awareness that criminology as a discipline increasingly encompasses not only the study of crime, but also the agencies, process and structures that regulate it. Key questions include: How can criminal justice policy be studied as part of the field of criminology? How do we account for our own roles as researchers who are a part of the policy process? What factors and dynamics influence, hinder and facilitate ‘good policy’?




Public Criminology?


Book Description

What is the role and value of criminology in a democratic society? How do, and how should, its practitioners engage with politics and public policy? How can criminology find a voice in an agitated, insecure and intensely mediated world in which crime and punishment loom large in government agendas and public discourse? What collective good do we want criminological enquiry to promote? In addressing these questions, Ian Loader and Richard Sparks offer a sociological account of how criminologists understand their craft and position themselves in relation to social and political controversies about crime, whether as scientific experts, policy advisors, governmental players, social movement theorists, or lonely prophets. They examine the conditions under which these diverse commitments and affiliations arose, and gained or lost credibility and influence. This forms the basis for a timely articulation of the idea that criminology’s overarching public purpose is to contribute to a better politics of crime and its regulation. Public Criminology? offers an original and provocative account of the condition of, and prospects for, criminology which will be of interest not only to those who work in the fields of crime, security and punishment, but to anyone interested in the vexed relationship between social science, public policy and politics.




The Encyclopedia of Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2 Volume Set


Book Description

The Encyclopedia of RESEARCH METHODS IN CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE The most comprehensive reference work on research designs and methods in criminology and criminal justice This Encyclopedia of Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice offers a comprehensive survey of research methodologies and statistical techniques that are popular in criminology and criminal justice systems across the globe. With contributions from leading scholars and practitioners in the field, it offers a clear insight into the techniques that are currently in use to answer the pressing questions in criminology and criminal justice. The Encyclopedia contains essential information from a diverse pool of authors about research designs grounded in both qualitative and quantitative approaches. It includes information on popular datasets and leading resources of government statistics. In addition, the contributors cover a wide range of topics such as: the most current research on the link between guns and crime, rational choice theory, and the use of technology like geospatial mapping as a crime reduction tool. This invaluable reference work: Offers a comprehensive survey of international research designs, methods, and statistical techniques Includes contributions from leading figures in the field Contains data on criminology and criminal justice from Cambridge to Chicago Presents information on capital punishment, domestic violence, crime science, and much more Helps us to better understand, explain, and prevent crime Written for undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers, The Encyclopedia of Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice is the first reference work of its kind to offer a comprehensive review of this important topic.




Offending and Desistance


Book Description

In Offending and Desistance, Beth Weaver examines the role of a co-offending peer group in shaping and influencing offending and desistance, focusing on three phases of their criminal careers: onset, persistence and desistance. While there is consensus across the body of desistance research that social relations have a role to play in variously constraining, enabling and sustaining desistance, no desistance studies have adequately analysed the dynamics or properties of social relations, or their relationship to individuals and social structures. This book aims to reset this balance. By examining the social relations and life stories of six Scottish men (in their forties), Weaver reveals the central role of friendship groups, intimate relationships and families of formation, employment and religious communities. She shows how, for different individuals, these relations triggered reflexive evaluation of their priorities, behaviours and lifestyles, but with differing results. Weaver’s re-examination of the relationships between structure, agency, identity and reflexivity in the desistance process ultimately illuminates new directions for research, policy and practice. This book is essential reading for academics and students engaged in the study of criminology and criminal justice, delinquency, probation and criminal law.




The Oxford Handbook of Ethnographies of Crime and Criminal Justice


Book Description

Despite ethnography's long and distinguished history in the social sciences, its use in criminology is still relatively rare. Over the years, however, ethnographers in the United States and abroad have amassed an impressive body of work on core criminological topics and groups, including gang members, sex workers, drug dealers, and drug users. Ethnographies on criminal justice institutions have also flourished, with studies on police, courts, and prisons providing deep insights into how these organizations operate and shape the lives of people who encounter them. The Oxford Handbook of Ethnographies of Crime and Criminal Justice provides critical and current reviews of key research topics, issues, and debates that crime ethnographers have been grappling with for over a century. This volume brings together an outstanding group of ethnographers to discuss various research traditions, the ethical and pragmatic challenges associated with conducting crime-related fieldwork, relevant policy recommendations for practitioners in the field, and areas of future research for crime ethnographers. In addition to exhaustive overview essays, the handbook also presents case studies that serve as exemplars for how ethnographic inquiry can contribute to our understanding of crime and criminal justice-related topics.




Doing Reflexivity


Book Description

This book provides social science researchers with both a strong rationale for the importance of thinking reflexively and a practical guide to doing it. The first book to build on Pierre Bourdieu's reflexive work, it combines academic analysis with practical examples and case studies. The book will be of interest to researchers and students.




Researching Cybercrimes


Book Description

This edited book promotes and facilitates cybercrime research by providing a cutting-edge collection of perspectives on the critical usage of online data across platforms, as well as the implementation of both traditional and innovative analysis methods. The accessibility, variety and wealth of data available online presents substantial opportunities for researchers from different disciplines to study cybercrimes and, more generally, human behavior in cyberspace. The unique and dynamic characteristics of cyberspace often demand cross-disciplinary and cross-national research endeavors, but disciplinary, cultural and legal differences can hinder the ability of researchers to collaborate. This work also provides a review of the ethics associated with the use of online data sources across the globe. The authors are drawn from multiple disciplines and nations, providing unique insights into the value and challenges evident in online data use for cybercrime scholarship. It is a key text for researchers at the upper undergraduate level and above.




Race, Africana Communication, and Criminal Justice Reform


Book Description

Race, Africana Communication, and Criminal Justice Reform: A Reflexive and Intersectional Analysis of Adaptive Vitality discusses issues and themes surrounding communication, social media, online protests, policing, criminal justice reform, and freedom of speech. Honoring the legacy of Dr. James Conyers, this volume offers analyses grounded in Africana praxis and communication principles that embrace social justice and challenge systems based on race, arguing for the importance of establishing networks of communication that benefit all people. Collectively, these interdisciplinary chapters extend the research on race at the intersections of social media and social justice. Scholars of Africana studies, communication, criminal justice, education, and sociology will find this work particularly useful.




Critical Reflections on Women, Family, Crime and Justice


Book Description

Drawing on research from the Women, Family, Crime and Justice research network, this collection sheds new light on the experiences of women and families who encounter the UK criminal justice system. Contributions demonstrate how these groups are often ignored, oppressed and victimised, and offer insights and practical recommendations for change.




Communities, Identities and Crime


Book Description

"Communities, identities and crime provides a critical exploration of the importance of social identities when considering crime, victimisation and criminal justice." "The book incorporates a broader theoretical focus, exploring identity theory, late modernity, identity constructions, communities and belongingness. The author also raises important theoretical and methodological issues that a focus upon social identities poses for the subject discipline of criminology." "The book is essential reading for postgraduate students of criminology, criminal justice, social policy, sociology, victimology and law. Undergraduate students and criminal justice practitioners will also find the book informative and researchers will value its theoretical and policy focus."--BOOK JACKET.