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This book presents a critical history of Western criminological thought from the Enlightenment to the development of modern criminological theories, mainly in the United States, over the last hundred years. It explores a variety of approaches including the classical school, the various currents of positivist criminology, and the managerial movement. Mehozay contends that Western criminological thought can be seen as an ideological project based on ‘otherness', justifying social hierarchies and sustaining the control of some people over others. He demonstrates how ideologies of otherness, such as the non-rational other, the pathological other and more, validate projects of control, exclusion, modernization, and care.

Since the 1990s, a growing number of criminal courts around the world have been using expert assessments based on behavioral genetics and neuroscience to evaluate the responsibility and dangerousness of offenders. Despite this rapid circulation, however, we still know very little about the scientific knowledge underlying these expert evaluations. Hereditary traces the historical development of biosocial criminology in the United States from the 1960s to the present, showing how the fate of this movement is intimately linked to that of the field of criminology as a whole. In claiming to identify the biological and environmental causes of so-called'antisocial'behaviors, biosocial criminologists are redefining the boundary between the normal and the pathological. Julien Larregue examines what is at stake in the development of biosocial criminology. Beyond the origins of delinquency, Larregue addresses the reconfiguration of expertise in contemporary societies, and in particular the territorial struggles between the medical and legal professions. For if the causes of crime are both biological and social, its treatment may call for medical as well as legal solutions.

Literary Theory and Criminology demonstrates the significance of contemporary literary theory to the discipline of criminology, particularly to those criminologists who are primarily concerned with questions of power, inequality, and harm. Drawing on innovations in philosophical, narrative, cultural, and pulp criminology, it sets out a deconstructive framework as part of a critical criminological critique-praxis.This book comprises eight essays – on globalisation, criminological fiction, poststructuralism, patriarchal political economy, racial capitalism, anthropocidal ecocide, critical theory, and critical praxis – that argue for the value of contemporary literary theory to a critical criminology concerned with the construction of a just and sustainable reality in the face of climate change and other mass harms. This is the first criminology book to engage with literary theory from the perspective of criminology and provides a guide for criminologists who want to deploy literary theory as part of their research programmes. It supersedes existing engagements with poststructuralism in the philosophical criminological tradition because it entails neither a constructionist ontology nor a relativist epistemology. It shows criminologists how literary theory offers the tools to first deconstruct and then reconstruct meaning and value.Literary Theory and Criminology is essential reading for all critical criminological theorists.

The book sketches out how the criminological lens could be used in the climate change debate around possible human extinction. It explores the extent to which the human species can be considered deviant in relation to other species of the contemporary biosphere, as humans seem to be the only species on Earth that does not live in natural balance with their environment (anymore). It discusses several unsettling topics in the public debate on climate change, specifically the taboo of how humans may not survive the ongoing climate change. It includes chapters on the Earth's history of mass-extinctions, the global state of denial including toward the possibility that the human species could go extinct, and it considers humans'future as a deviant, fatal species outside of Earth, in outer-space, possibly on other planets. It puts forward and enriches the critical criminological tradition by conceptualizing and setting an unsettling tone within criminology and criminological research on the human species and our extinction, by daring criminologists (and victimologists) to ponder and seek empirical answers to controversial imaginations and questions about our possible extinction.

The haunting effects of crime, violence, and death in our history, memory, and media spacesFrom Abu Ghraib and Holocaust death camps to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and slave plantations, spaces where violent crimes have occurred can often become forever changed, or “haunted,” in the public imagination. In this volume, Michael Fiddler, Travis Linnemann, and Theo Kindynis bring together an interdisciplinary group of distinguished scholars to study this phenomenon, exploring the origins, theory, and methodology of ghost criminology. Featuring Jeff Ferrell, Michelle Brown, Eamon Carrabine, and other prominent scholars, Ghost Criminology takes us inside spaces where the worst crimes have imprinted themselves on our history, memory, and media spaces. Contributors explore a wide range of these hauntological topics from a criminological perspective, including the excavation of graffiti in the London underground, the phantom of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, VA, during the 2017 riots, and the ghostly evidentiary traces of crime in motel rooms. Ultimately, Fiddler, Kindynis, and Linnemann offer ghost criminology as another way of seeing, and better understanding, the lingering impact of violence, oppression, and history in today's world. Ghost Criminology curates cutting-edge research to break exciting new terrain.

This handbook explores the concept of'harm'in criminological scholarship and lays the foundation for a future zemiological agenda.'Social harm'as a theoretical construct has become established as an alternative, broader lens through which to understand the causation and alleviation of widespread harm in society, thus moving beyond criminology and state definitions of crime and extending the range of criminological research. Applying zemiological concepts, this book comprehensively explores topics including violence, moral indifference, workplace injury, corporate and state harms, animal rights, migration, gender, poverty, security and victimisation. This definitive work covers theory, research, scholarship and future visions across four sections, and includes contributions from areas such as criminology, sociology, socio-legal and cultural studies, social policy and international relations. It offers readers up-to-date, original theoretical perspectives and an analysis of a broad range of issues from a'social harm'perspective.

This book critically explores the development of radical criminological thought through the social, political and cultural history of three periods in Ancient Greece: the Classical, the Hellenistic and the Greco-Roman periods. It follows on from the previous volume which examined concepts of law, legitimacy, crime, justice and deviance through a range of Ancient Greek works including epic and lyrical poetry, drama and philosophy, across different chapters. This book examines the three centuries that followed which were very important for the history of radical thinking about crime and law. It explores the socio-political struggles and how ruptures produced breaks in knowledge production and developed the field of deviance and social control. It also examines the key literature, religions and philosophers of each period. The gap between social consensus and social conflict deepened during this time and influenced the theoretical discourse on crime. These elements continue to exist in the theoretical quests of the modern age of criminology. This book examines the links between the origins of radical criminology and its future. It speaks to those interested in the (pre)history of criminology and the historical production of criminological knowledge.

There is increasing pressure on the humanities to justify their value and on criminology to undertake interdisciplinary research. In this book, Rafe McGregor establishes a new interdisciplinary methodology, ‘criminological criticism', harnessing the synergy between literary studies and critical criminology to produce genuine interventions in social reality. McGregor practices criminological criticism on George Miller's ‘Mad Max: Fury Road', Prime Video's ‘Carnival Row'and J.K. Rowling's ‘The Cuckoo's Calling', demonstrating how these popular allegories provide insights into the harms of sexism, racism and class prejudice. This book proposes a model for collaboration between literary studies and critical criminology that is beneficial to the humanities, the social sciences and society.

The book defines and critically discusses the following five principles: the harm principle, legal paternalism, the offense principle, legal moralism and the dignity principle of criminalization. The book argues that all five principles raise important problems that point to rejections (or at least a rethink) of standard principles of criminalization. The book shows that one of the reasons why we should reject or revise standard principles of criminalization is that even the most plausible versions of the harm principle and legal paternalism that have been offered so far are rendered redundant by general moral theories. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the other three principles (or versions thereof), the offense principle, legal moralism and the dignity principle of criminalization, can either be covered by the harm principle, thus making these principles also redundant, or be seen to have what look like other unacceptable implications (e.g. that versions of legal moralism are based on speculative and incorrect empirical assumptions or violate what is called the criminological levelling-down challenge). As such, there is reason to move beyond traditional principles of criminalization, and instead to investigate alternative principles the state should be guided by when attempting to justify which kinds of conduct should be criminalized. Moreover, this book presents and defends such a principle – the utilitarian principle of criminalization.

First published in 1999. This concludes work on a series Current Issues in Criminal Justice. Criminology. The book represents another milestone in a criminologist's journey to uncover some “truths” about the discipline and to reflectcritically on how that field has evolved. This journey, some of youmay remember, began in The Sociology of Criminological Theory:Paradigm or Fad and continued in The Demise of the CriminologicalImagination. To date, this latest work has already attracted considerabledebate and in the tradition of C. Wright Mills, engendered somewhatheated discussion about the philosophy of criminology and the logic ofits paradigms. What is perhaps most exciting about this work is that it is critical, in the true sense of critical, a term that has been abused and overused.

Moral order is disturbed by criminal events. However, in a secularized and networked society a common moral ground is increasingly hard to find. People feel confused about the bigger issues of our time such as crime, anti-social behaviour, Islamist radicalism, sexual harassment and populism. Traditionally, issues around morality have been neglected by criminologists. Through theory, case studies and discussion, this book sheds a new and topical light on these concerns. Using the moral perspective, Boutellier bridges the gap between people's emotional opinions on crime, and criminologists'rationalized answers to questions of crime and security.

Originally published in 1997. The use of postmodern criminology's conceptual tools offers the potential for the development of a better understanding of the various configurations of repressive forces and directions for social change. This excellent text introduces the reader to the core ideas concerning subjectivity as it is related to discourses and how the discursive construction of social reality takes place. It discusses some of the key themes, dealing with both theoretical integrative work, applications, and recent developments in studying postmodern criminology. It is intended for students as well as those who are more familiar with the subject. This book is composed of twelve essays organized into three parts, this important work contributes to the big discussion among criminologists about the postmodern aspects of crime.

This book discusses the concept of'agnosis'and its significance for criminology through a series of case studies, contributing to the expansion of the criminological imagination. Agnotology – the study of the cultural production of ignorance, has primarily been proposed as an analytical tool in the fields of science and medicine. However, this book argues that it has significant resonance for criminology and the social sciences given that ignorance is a crucial means through which public acceptance of serious and sometimes mass harms is achieved. The editors argue that this phenomenon requires a systematic inquiry into ignorance as an area of criminological study in its own right. Through case studies on topics such as migrant detention, historical institutionalised child abuse, imprisonment, environmental harm and financial collapse, this book examines the construction of ignorance, and the power dynamics that facilitate and shape that construction in a range of different contexts. Furthermore, this book addresses the relationship between ignorance and the achievement of ‘manufactured consent'to political and cultural hegemony, acquiescence in its harmful consequences and the deflection of responsibility for them.

This book explores the theoretical contribution of Michel Foucault to the fields of criminology, law, justice and penology. It surveys both the ways in which the work of Foucault has been applied in criminology, but also how his work can be used to understand and explain contemporary issues and policies. Moreover, this book seeks to dispel some of the common misconceptions about the relevance of Foucault's work to criminology and law. Mariana Valverde clearly explains the insights that Foucault's rich body of work provides about different practices found in the fields of law, security, justice, and punishment; and how these insights have been used or could be used to understand and explain issues and policies that Foucault himself did not write about, including those that had not yet emerged during his lifetime.Drawing on key texts by Foucault such as Discipline and Punish, and also lectures he gave at the College de France and Louvain Criminology Institute which offer a more nuanced account of the development of criminal justice, Mariana Valverde offers the essential text on Foucault and his contribution and continued relevance to criminology. This book will be important reading for students and scholars of criminology, law, sociolegal studies, security studies, political theory and sociological theory.

Philosophical criminology asks big questions about how we get on with one another and what happens when we do not. This accessible book in the New Horizons in Criminology series is the first to foreground this growing area. The book is structured around six philosophical ideas concerning our relations with others: values, morality, aesthetics, order, rules and respect. Building on the author's theoretical and empirical research, the book considers the boundaries of criminology and the scope for greater exchange between criminology and philosophy. The book is illustrated using examples from a range of countries, and provides a platform for engaging with important topical issues using philosophical and theoretical insights.

Ideal for use in either crime theory or race and crime courses, this is the only text to look at the array of explanations for crime as they relate to racial and ethnic populations. Each chapter begins with a historical review of each theoretical perspective and how its original formulation and more recent derivatives account for racial/ethnic differences. The theoretical perspectives include those based on religion, biology, social disorganization/strain, subculture, labeling, conflict, social control, colonial, and feminism. The author considers which perspectives have shown the most promise in the area of race/ethnicity and crime.

The Birth of Criminology's focused presentation of primary readings and insightful commentary on the history of criminological thought make this college-level reader a'must-have for faculty, researchers, and students of criminology, criminal justice, sociology, and behavioral science.

Invitado por la Escuela de Criminología de la Universidad Católica de Lovaina, en 1981 Michel Foucault dicta las seis clases del curso'Obrar mal, decir la verdad. Función de la confesión en la justicia', en un contexto marcado por los debates entre abolicionistas y partidarios de posiciones de'mano dura'en torno a la reforma del Código Penal. En ese sentido, el curso contribuye a socavar el discurso criminológico de la peligrosidad. Pero Foucault va más allá: reflexiona acerca de la larga historia de la confesión, del'decir la verdad'en las instituciones judiciales y religiosas de Occidente, de los poderes y los efectos que tiene la obligación de decir la verdad sobre sí mismo. A modo de presentación, evoca una escena dramática que transcurre a mediados del siglo XIX: un psiquiatra francés induce a un enfermo que ha sufrido alucinaciones a reconocer que nada de lo que relata ha ocurrido, que sólo se trataba de locura; por la fuerza, lo obliga a reconocer su condición de loco, confesión que se convierte en un elemento decisivo en la cura. Esta escena revela la complejidad de una práctica que, aun bajo coacción, necesita suponer un sujeto libre que se comprometa a ser lo que afirma ser. A lo largo del curso, Foucault analiza la trayectoria de ese acto verbal mediante el cual el sujeto plantea una afirmación sobre lo que él es, queda vinculado con esa verdad, se pone en una relación de dependencia o sumisión respecto de otro y modifica a la vez la relación que tiene consigo mismo. Esta obra traza la historia de una práctica que se extiende desde la Antigüedad griega, pasando por el examen de conciencia en el ámbito medieval y cristiano, hasta el dominio moderno y contemporáneo. Una práctica que no cesa de crecer hasta involucrar casi todos los aspectos de la vida personal, y que revela tanto los procedimientos judiciales de producción de un efecto de verdad como la necesidad del sujeto de tener un discurso de verdad sobre sí mismo.

This book analyses the legal and aesthetic discourses that combine to shape the image of the criminal, and that image's contemporary endurance. The author traces the roots of contemporary ideas about criminality back to legal, philosophical and aesthetic concepts originating in the nineteenth century. Building on the ideas of Foucault and Walter Benjamin, Hutchings argues that the criminal, as constructed in places such as popular crime stories or the law of insanity, became an obsession which haunted nineteenth century thought.

This book celebrates Andreas (Andrew) von Hirsch's pioneering contributions to liberal criminal theory. He is particularly noted for reinvigorating desert-based theories of punishment, for his development of principled normative constraints on the enactment of criminal laws, and for helping to bridge the gap between Anglo-American and German criminal law scholarship. Underpinning his work is a deep commitment to a liberal vision of the state. This collection brings together a distinguished group of international authors, who pay tribute to von Hirsch by engaging with topics on which he himself has focused. The essays range across sentencing theory, questions of criminalisation, and the relation between criminal law and the authority of the state. Together, they articulate and defend the ideal of a liberal criminal justice system, and present a fitting accolade to Andreas von Hirsch's scholarly life.

Criminologists can benefit from questioning the underlying assumptions upon which they rest their work. Philosophy has the ability to clarify our thoughts, inform us of why we think about things the way we do, solve contradictions in our thinking we never knew existed, and even dissolve some dichotomies we thought were cast in stone. One of those dichotomies is free will vs. determinism. Criminology must reckon with both free will and agency, as posited by some theories, and determinism, as posited by others—including the ever more influential fields of genetics and biosocial criminology. Criminological Theory: Assessing Philosophical Assumptions examines philosophical concepts such as these in the context of important criminological theories or issues that are foundational but not generally considered in the literature on this topic. The uniqueness of this treatment of criminological theory is that rather than reporting what this person or that has said about a particular theory, Walsh exposes the philosophical assumptions underlying the theory. Students and scholars learn to clarify their own biases and better analyze the implications of a broad range of theories of crime and justice.

The expression'the criminal question'does not at present have much currency in English-language criminology. The term was carried across from Italian debates about the orientation of criminology, and in particular debates about what came to be called critical criminology. One definition offered early in the debate described it as'an area constituted by actions, institutions, policies and discourses whose boundaries shift'. According to this writer, crime, and the cultural and symbolic significance carried by law and criminal justice, is an integral aspect of the criminal question.'The criminal question'draws attention to the specific location and constitution of a given field of forces, and the themes, issues, dilemmas and debates that compose it. At the same time it enables connections to be made between these embedded realities and the wider, conceivably global, contours of influence and flows of power with which it connects. This in turn raises many questions. How far do the responses to crime and punishment internationally flow from and owe their contemporary shape to the cultural and economic transformations now widely known as'globalisation'? How can something that is in significant ways embedded, situated, and locally produced also travel? What is not in doubt is that it does travel - and travel with serious consequences. The international circulation of discourses and practices has become a pressing issue for scholars who try to understand their operation in their own particular cultural contexts. This collection of essays seeks a constructive comparative view of these tendencies to convergence and divergence.

Ideal for use in either crime theory or race and crime courses, this is the only text to look at the array of explanations for crime as they relate to racial and ethnic groups and to provide insight on their reliability and validity to account for criminal behavior.

This volume looks at Marxist thought in criminology, the work of Willem Bonger, Georg Rusche and Otto Kircheimer, and assesses the role of Marxist analysis in areas such as Critical Criminology and Left Realism. Arguing that Marxism is relevant in the post-Soviet era, it offers a'toolkit'of Marxist theories and how to use them.

Criminological Perspectives on Race and Crime, Fourth Edition, is the only text to look at the array of mainstream and unconventional explanations for crime as they relate to racial and ethnic populations.Each chapter begins with a historical review of each theoretical perspective and how its original formulation and more recent derivatives account for racial or ethnic differences in offending. Included in each chapter is a review of relevant empirical tests that have investigated the value of that theory. The theoretical paradigms include those based on religion, biology, social disorganization/strain, subculture, labeling, conflict, social control, colonial, feminism, and race-centered perspectives. Gabbidon considers which perspectives have shown the most promise in explaining the relationships between race/ethnicity and crime.Ideal for courses in either crime theory or race and crime, this text is used in Criminology and Sociology programs in the US as well as in the UK and Canada.

Expertly authored by the co-editor of the best-selling text Cultural Criminology Unleashed, this book re-examines criminology in a global context. Wide-ranging and up-to-date, it covers the topics of colonialism and post-colonialism, genocide, state control, the impact of September 11th and the post-9/11 world.Exploring the relationship between a modern discipline and modernity, it reworks the history and composition of criminology in light of September 11th and the prevalence of genocide in modernity. Analizing statistics, anthropology and the everyday assumptions of criminology's history, this text addresses the political and scholarly grip on the territorial state and the absence of a global criminology.Rejecting the prevalent belief that September 11th and the responses it evoked were exceptions that either destroyed or revealed the absence of global legal order, the author argues that, in fact, they confirm the nature of the world order of modernity.A compelling and topical volume, this is a must read for anyone interested or studying in the areas of criminology and criminal justice.

Title from eBook cover title screen (viewed Jan. 26, 2007).

This new text encourages students to develop a deeper understanding of the context and the current workings of the criminal justice system. The first part offers a clear and comprehensive review of the major philosophical aims and sociological theories of punishment, the history of justice and punishment and the developing perspective of victimology. In the second part, the focus is on the main areas of the contemporary criminal justice system, including the police, the courts and judiciary, prisons and community penalties.There are regular reflective question breaks which enable students to consider and respond to questions relating to what they have just read and the book contains useful pedagogic features such as boxed examples, leading questions and annotated further reading. This practical book is particularly geared to undergraduate students following programmes in criminal justice and criminology. It will also prove a useful resource for practitioners who are following vocationally based courses in the criminal justice area – in social work, youth justice and police training courses.

Provides the first applications of constitutive criminology, a theoretical framework inspired by postmodernism, to specific areas of criminological practice.Constitutive Criminology at Work reveals the value of applying postmodernist-informed constitutive criminology to issues of crime and justice. A holistic, integrated criminological theory, constitutive criminology takes serious account of the interrelated contributions of human agency and social forces and argues that crime is an integral part of the total material and cultural production of society. Consequently, analysis and control of crime cannot be separated from the wider structural and cultural contexts in which it is produced.This book argues that constitutive criminology can ultimately help society out of its obsession with the crime and punishment cycle. Based on applications and empirical research within the theoretical framework first presented in the editors'earlier volume, Constitutive Criminology: Beyond Postmodernism, this new book brings together scholars and practitioners who have applied constitutive theory to specific areas of crime and justice practice. It extends development of the constitutive project by drawing together studies that found constitutive theory helpful in understanding distinct problems in the applied world of crime and justice.[Contributors include Bruce Arrigo, Gregg Barak, Mary Bosworth, John Brigham, Dion Dennis, Victor E. Kappeler, Peter Kraska, Lisa Sanchez, Robert Schehr, Jim Thomas, James Williams, and T. R. Young.]Stuart Henry is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Valparaiso University. He is also the author and editor of several books, including Essential Criminology (with Mark M. Lanier); and The Criminology Theory Reader (with Werner Einstadter). Dragan Milovanovic is Professor of Criminal Justice at Northeastern Illinois University. He is the author and editor of several books, including, with Stuart Henry, Constitutive Criminology: Beyond Postmodernism. His other recent books are Postmodern Criminology; Chaos, Criminology and Social Justice: The New Orderly (Dis)Order; and Postmodern Criminology.

First published in 1998. Thinking about criminology draws together the expertise of respected criminologists from the principle contemporary schools of thought. The book aims to provide a clear analysis of the relationship between sociological theory and contemporary empirical criminological research, discussing the ways in which theoretical perspectives have contributed to the understanding of relevant criminal justice institutions, law and policy.