Criminology: A Complete Introduction: A step-by-step Teach Yourself guide to use at home, school or college

by Peter Joyce, Wendy Laverick

Overview

'A great and educational read..' Amazon 5 star reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Would definitely recommend to anyone thinking .' Amazon 5 star reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Criminology is a multi-disciplinary subject - but it doesn't have to be difficult. This book, complete with case studies and key facts, forms a course which will take you from beginner or intermediate level to having a confident grasp of the subject. The book includes: step-by-step explanations to help you grasp new topics or those that have previously confused you; practice questions throughout, to help you embed your learning and improve your confidence; and detailed case studies to consolidate and contextualise your knowledge - all in one great-value book, no need for extra course books or work books.

Chapters include: What is crime? How do we measure crime? Why do people commit crime? How can we prevent crime? How is crime detected? Serial killers; The crimes of the powerful; Political crime; Organized crime; Why do we punish criminals? What is the criminal justice system? The police; The courts; Trial procedure; Prisons; Youth crime; Punishment in the community; The criminal justice system - is it fair? Victimology; Studying Criminology.

The Complete Introduction series from Teach Yourself is the ultimate one-stop guide for anyone wanting a comprehensive and accessible entry point into subjects as diverse as philosophy, mathematics, economics, Shakespeare and physics. Loved by students and perfect for general readers who simply want to learn more about the world around them, these books are your first choice for discovering something new.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781444170252
Publisher:	John Murray Press
Publication date:	01/04/2013
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	790 KB

About the Author

Dr Peter Joyce (Manchester, England) is Principal Lecturer in Criminology at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has published widely in criminology, and his specialist interests are criminal justice policy, policing, and the protest of protest. He writes a regular column for the ACPO journal, Policing Today.

Table of Contents

1 What is crime? 1

Definitions of crime

The categorization of criminal behaviour

2 How do we measure crime? 15

Official crime statistics

The process of crime reporting

Crime statistics are socially constructed

Victimization surveys

Self-report studies

3 Why do people commit crime? 29

Classicist criminology

Positivist criminology

Feminist criminologies

Postmodern criminology

Conservative criminology

4 How can we prevent crime? 47

What should be the focus of crime prevention?

Situational methods of crime prevention

An assessment of situational methods of crime prevention

The social approach to crime prevention

Community safety

5 How is crime detected? 61

Detection as a function of the police

How can crime be detected?

Forensic science and the detection of crime

Technology and crime detection

Detection work - how successful is it?

6 Serial killers 77

What is a serial killer?

What makes a serial killer?

Serial killers and a sense of mission

Do serial killers possess any obvious characteristics?

7 The crimes of the powerful 89

White-collar crime

The scale of the problem

The regulation of white-cottar and corporate crime

Regulatory supervision of corporate wrongdoings

Politicians and the abuse of trust and power

8 Organized crime 107

What is organized crime?

Traditional forms of organized crime

Project-based crime

Criminal gangs

Corporate and white-collar crime as organized crime

The international dimension of organized crime

Tackling the power of organized crime

9 New and emerging forms of criminality 121

Human trafficking

Drug trafficking

Child sexual abuse

Terrorism

The legislative response to terrorism

The police response to terrorism and extremism

The co-ordination of criminal justice policy in the European Union (EU)

10 Victims of crime 135

Positivist victimology

Victim blaming

Radical and critical victimology

The 'ideal victim'

The criminal justice system and female victims of crime

The law and crimes against women

The police service and crimes against women

The courts and crimes against women

Court room procedures and crimes against women

The effectiveness of twenty-first-century reforms affecting crimes against women

Honour-based violence

Hate crime

Rebalancing the criminal justice system

11 Why do we punish criminals? 159

Punishment

Vigilante justice

The aims of punishment: reductivism

Retributivism

The rationale of punishment - sociological perspectives

12 What is the criminal justice system? 173

The criminal justice system

A system or a process?

Discretion in the criminal justice system

The private (or commercial) sector and the criminal justice system

Volunteering in the criminal justice system

13 The police 187

The role of the police

The legitimacy of the police

The development of policing by consent in England and Wales

Policing local communities

The control of policing

The tripartite system of police governance in England and Wales

The structure and organization of policing

14 The courts 205

The organization of criminal courts in England and Wales

The court structure in England and Wales

And if things go wrong?

The personnel of the criminal courts in England and Wales

The court structure in the USA

Courts with international jurisdiction

Constitutional courts

Judicial review in England and Wales

Administrative courts

15 Trial procedure 221

Prosecuting authorities

Proceeding with a prosecution

The rights of defendants accused of a criminal offence

Plea bargaining

Trial procedure

16 Prisons 237

The development of prisons - early nineteenth-century reform

Prison regimes

Late nineteenth-century prison reform

The move away from rehabilitation

Rehabilitation within prisons

17 Youth crime and youth justice systems 251

The development of the youth justice system in England and Wales

Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) and Youth Offender Panels (YOPs)

The youth justice system in the USA

The principles underpinning youth justice systems

The regulation of antisocial behaviour in England and Wales

18 Punishment in the community 265

Community sentences

The supervision of community sentences in England and Wales

The strengths and weaknesses of community sentences

Restorative justice

19 Recidivism - what is it and how can we prevent it? 277

The nature of the problem

How do we explain recidivism?

Programmes to combat recidivism

The resettlement of offenders

Criminal careers

Payment by results

20 The criminal justice system - is it fair? 289

Racial bias

Gender discrimination

Reforms to combat racial and gender discrimination

21 Studying criminology 303

Approaches to criminological research

Ethical issues in research

Key research methods

Studying criminology

Answers to fact-checks 317

Index 319