What is a Crime?


Book Description

This collection of essays reflects on the processes of defining crime, and considers the varied and complex implications of our decisions to criminalize certain unwanted behaviour. Employing various case studies, the contributors reflect on the social processes that inform definitions of crime, criminal law, and its enforcement, while illuminating the subjective nature of crime and questioning the role of law in dealing with complex social issues.




Criminology


Book Description

Comprehensive and accessible, Tim Newburn’s bestselling Criminology provides an introduction to the fundamental themes, concepts, theories, methods and events that underpin the subject and form the basis for all undergraduate degree courses and modules in Criminology and Criminal Justice. This third edition includes: A new chapter on politics, reflecting the ever increasing coverage of political influence and decision making on criminology courses New and updated crime data and analysis of trends, plus new content on recent events such as the Volkswagen scandal, the latest developments on historic child abuse, as well as extended coverage throughout of the English riots A fully revised and updated companion website, including exam, review and multiple choice questions, a live Twitter feed from the author providing links to media and academic coverage of events related to the concepts covered in the book, together with links to a dedicated textbook Facebook page Fully updated to reflect recent developments in the field and extensively illustrated, this authoritative text, written by a leading criminologist and experienced lecturer, is essential reading for all students of Criminology and related fields.




What is a Crime?


Book Description

We all have notions of what it means to commit a crime. Most of us are very much aware of the behaviours which, by law, constitute crime. Rarely, however, do we stop to consider why certain activities and behaviours are deemed criminal and others are not. A brilliant and provocative volume, What Is A Crime? forces us to reconsider both how we define criminal conduct in contemporary society, and how we respond to it once it has been identified. Drawing from diverse scholarly traditions -- including law, sociology, criminology and socio-legal studies -- contributors to this collection reflect on the processes of defining crime, and consider the varied and complex implications of our decisions to criminalize certain unwanted behaviour. Employing various case studies, the contributors reflect on the social processes that inform definitions of crime, criminal law, and its enforcement, while illuminating the subjective nature of crime and questioning the role of law in dealing with complex social issues. Collectively, the authors provide a critical dialogue on law and governance in contemporary society. What Is A Crime? will be of interest to a broad spectrum of readers with an interest in the governance of crime and its control in contemporary society. Students and scholars of law, sociology, political science, philosophy, and criminology will find this book invaluable in furthering their understanding of the processes of defining and responding to crime and criminal behaviour. It will also hold sway with policymakers, criminal justice practitioners, and anyone with a stake in our current approaches to crime.




Law and Crime


Book Description

What is the definition of ′crime′? Law and Crime helps the criminologist to understand how the law constructs crime and how one might engage in critical analysis of such legal constructions. It uses a thematic approach to comprehensively explore the relationship between criminal conduct, criminal justice and the law. The book introduces key topics in criminal law scholarship for criminologists, including: criminalization fault and criminal responsibility corporate liability the production of criminal guilt the nature of judicial punishment. Aimed at students with no prior knowledge of law, the book includes many useful features to enhance understanding, from chapter overviews and key terms to study questions and suggestions for further reading. The Key Approaches to Criminology series celebrates the removal of traditional barriers between disciplines and, specifically, reflects criminology’s interdisciplinary nature and focus. It brings together some of the leading scholars working at the intersections of criminology and related subjects. Each book in the series helps readers to make intellectual connections between criminology and other discourses, and to understand the importance of studying crime and criminal justice within the context of broader debates. The series is intended to have appeal across the entire range of undergraduate and postgraduate studies and beyond, comprising books which offer introductions to the fields as well as advancing ideas and knowledge in their subject areas.




What is Crime?


Book Description

For decades, scholars have disagreed about what kinds of behavior count as crime. Is it simply a violation of the criminal law? Is it behavior that causes serious harm? Is the seriousness affected by how many people are harmed and does it make a difference who those people are? Are crimes less criminal if the victims are black, lower class, or foreigners? When corporations victimize workers is that a crime? What about when governments violate basic human rights of their citizens, and who then polices governments? In What Is Crime? the first book-length treatment of the topic, contributors debate the content of crime from diverse perspectives: consensus/moral, cultural/relative, conflict/power, anarchist/critical, feminist, racial/ethnic, postmodernist, and integrational. Henry and Lanier synthesize these perspectives and explore what each means for crime control policy.







Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice


Book Description

Americans are fascinated with crime, criminals, and criminal justice. For all the public interest, however, relatively little is known about these topics that dominate newspaper headlines each and every day in the United States. This book provides readers with an accurate and up-to-date picture of crime and justice in the United States. Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice: What Every American Should Know addresses the major topics in this broad field and presents recent findings from criminologists and criminal justice practitioners in a reader-friendly manner. Combining up-to-date facts with an engaging narrative, this book will dispel many of the preconceived notions and distorted pictures about crime and justice that continue to perpetuate in the United States. This one-of-a-kind criminal justice book offers everything you need to know about crime, criminals, police. Book jacket.




Criminology


Book Description

Criminology is a broad-ranging and stimulating introduction that is ideal for undergraduates approaching the subject for the first time. Each chapter is written by an expert in their field and includes a range of learning features designed to help students engage with the material covered.




Crime, Shame and Reintegration


Book Description

Crime, Shame and Reintegration is a contribution to general criminological theory. Its approach is as relevant to professional burglary as to episodic delinquency or white collar crime. Braithwaite argues that some societies have higher crime rates than others because of their different processes of shaming wrongdoing. Shaming can be counterproductive, making crime problems worse. But when shaming is done within a cultural context of respect for the offender, it can be an extraordinarily powerful, efficient and just form of social control. Braithwaite identifies the social conditions for such successful shaming. If his theory is right, radically different criminal justice policies are needed - a shift away from punitive social control toward greater emphasis on moralizing social control. This book will be of interest not only to criminologists and sociologists, but to those in law, public administration and politics who are concerned with social policy and social issues.




Not a Crime to Be Poor


Book Description

Awarded "Special Recognition" by the 2018 Robert F. Kennedy Book & Journalism Awards Finalist for the American Bar Association's 2018 Silver Gavel Book Award Named one of the "10 books to read after you've read Evicted" by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "Essential reading for anyone trying to understand the demands of social justice in America."—Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy Winner of a special Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the book that Evicted author Matthew Desmond calls "a powerful investigation into the ways the United States has addressed poverty . . . lucid and troubling" In one of the richest countries on Earth it has effectively become a crime to be poor. For example, in Ferguson, Missouri, the U.S. Department of Justice didn't just expose racially biased policing; it also exposed exorbitant fines and fees for minor crimes that mainly hit the city's poor, African American population, resulting in jail by the thousands. As Peter Edelman explains in Not a Crime to Be Poor, in fact Ferguson is everywhere: the debtors' prisons of the twenty-first century. The anti-tax revolution that began with the Reagan era led state and local governments, starved for revenues, to squeeze ordinary people, collect fines and fees to the tune of 10 million people who now owe $50 billion. Nor is the criminalization of poverty confined to money. Schoolchildren are sent to court for playground skirmishes that previously sent them to the principal's office. Women are evicted from their homes for calling the police too often to ask for protection from domestic violence. The homeless are arrested for sleeping in the park or urinating in public. A former aide to Robert F. Kennedy and senior official in the Clinton administration, Peter Edelman has devoted his life to understanding the causes of poverty. As Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy has said, "No one has been more committed to struggles against impoverishment and its cruel consequences than Peter Edelman." And former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes, "If there is one essential book on the great tragedy of poverty and inequality in America, this is it."