Social Science : Criminology

The American prison system has grown tenfold since the 1970s, but crime rates in the United States have not decreased. Michael J. Lynch, a critical criminologist, argues that our oversized prison system is a product of our consumer culture, the public’s inaccurate beliefs about controlling crime, and the government’s criminalizing of the poor. While deterrence and incapacitation theories suggest that imprisoning more criminals and punishing them leads to a reduction in crime, case studies, such as one focusing on the New York City jail system between 1993 and 2003, show that a reduction in crime is unrelated to the size of jail populations. Although we are locking away more people, Lynch explains that we are not targeting the worst offenders. Prison populations are comprised of the poor, and many are incarcerated for relatively minor robberies and violence. America’s prison expansion focused on this group to the exclusion of corporate and white collar offenders who create hazardous workplace and environmental conditions that lead to deaths and injuries, and enormous economic crimes. If America truly wants to reduce crime, Lynch urges readers to rethink cultural values that equate bigger with better. more...

Price: $17.00

This volume covers the analysis of bloodstain patterns found at the scene of violent crimes. It outlines an effective method of crime scene reconstruction and presents each of the methods of analysis in the context of how it is used to solve crimes. more...

Price: $99.95

Details the world of high-level bribery and its destructive impact on security, democratization, and human aid around the world. more...

Price: $49.45

Few schisms in American life run as deep or as wide as the divide between gun rights and gun control advocates. Awash in sound and symbol, the gun regulation debate has largely been defined by forceful rhetoric rather than substantive action. Politicians shroud themselves in talk of individual rights or public safety while lobbyists on both sides make doom-and-gloom pronouncements on the consequences of potential shifts in the status quo. In America today there are between 250 and 300 million firearms in private hands, amounting to one weapon for every American. Two in five American homes house guns. On the one hand, most gun owners are law-abiding citizens who believe they have a constitutional right to bear arms. On the other, a great many people believe gun control to be our best chance at reducing violent crime. While few--whether gun owner or anti-gun advocate--dispute the need to keep guns out of the wrong hands, the most important question has too often been dodged: What gun control options does the most heavily armed democracy in the world have? Can gun control really work? The last decade has seen several watersheds in the debate, none more important than the 1993 Brady Bill. That bill, James B. Jacobs argues, was the culmination of a strategy in place since the 1930s to permit widespread private ownership of guns while curtailing illegal use. But where do we go from here? While the Brady background check is easily circumvented, any further attempts to extend gun control--for instance, through comprehensive licensing of all gun owners and registration of all guns--would pose monumental administrative burdens. Jacobs moves beyond easy slogans and broad-brush ideology to examine the on-the-ground practicalities of gun control, from mandatory safety locks to outright prohibition and disarmament. Casting aside ideology and abstractions, he cautions against the belief that there exists some gun control solution which, had we the political will to seize it, would more...

Price: $35.00

Children Who Commit Acts of Serious Interpersonal Violence explores risk management and successful intervention for children in public care who have committed, or are at risk of committing, acts of serious violence. The contributors identify different subgroups of children who are difficult to place, including those who sexually offend and those who murder, and outline the key characteristics and patterns of need they display. They provide an overview of the risk factors leading to extremely violent behaviour and discuss the complexities of diagnosis and definition from a multidisciplinary perspective. The book proposes strategies for effectively managing these children, drawing evidence from international practice and research projects. It highlights the limitations of current structures and makes recommendations for future development. Children Who Commit Acts of Serious Interpersonal Violence will be a key reference for those individuals and organisations working with potentially dangerous children, and will encourage the reader to think creatively about good practice. more...

Price: $34.95