Making the Peace is written to help high school students break away from violence, develop self-esteem, and regain a sense of community. It provides photographs, illustrations, exercises, role-plays, in-class handouts, homework sheets, and discussion guidelines to explore issues such as dating violence, gangs, interracial tension, suicide, sexual harassment, and the social roots of violence.

Written by two leading authorities in the field, this book provides a systematic application of concepts of situational crime prevention to internet and e-commerce crime. The book argues that situational crime prevention works and is ideally suited to proving the means of developing measures to combat rapidly growing e-commerce crime. Chapters in the book identify the specific opportunities and transactions in which crime can occur in the e-commerce environment. A variety of techniques to counter e-commerce crime are identified, underpinned by seeking to increase the effort the criminal must make to carry out crime, to increase the perceived risk of crime, to reduce the anticipated rewards of crime, and to remove excuses for the criminal. ... Contents: Preface; Situational crime prevention in the information society: Situational crime prevention - Virtual situations - Opportunity structure and social structure - Situational culture - Enduring qualities of situations - Situations as pre

The objective of this book is to quantify the social costs of gun violence in order to help policy makers determine how many and which violence programs to support. Drawing upon the most detailed and extensive economic study of the cost of gun violence, Cook and Ludwig provide detailed information about how the burden of gun violence is distributed in the U.S. The book also highlights the important implications for public policy. Cook and Ludwig's examination of these costs lead them to propose a multifaceted policy agenda that includes both law enforcement, and gun control measures.

The rise of CCTV and surveillance technologies has been one of the key developments in contemporary society, but its impact has often been analysed in a fragmented manner. This book addresses this issue by providing a detailed, micro-sociological account of the construction of a CCTV network in one English city. It differs from previous studies (which have concentrated on open street CCTV systems) in documenting and analysing the use of visual surveillance systems in a number of different locations and institutional settings, including the industrial workplace, shopping malls, high-rise housing schemes, and hospitals. It is concerned not just with abstract categories of 'grand theory' but seeks to explain how people living in contemporary society experience these changes. The Surveillance Web situates the growth of visual surveillance systems in the context of many of the key concerns of theorists of modernity, and makes a key contribution to understanding the nature of the relationship between surveillance and society. Its starting point is to view the relationship between surveillance and society as a two way process: the book looks at both the social impact of visual surveillance systems, and at how the impact of these technologies is shaped by existing social relations, political practice and cultural traditions. provides a richly textured account and analysis of the introduction of visual surveillance technologies (CCTV) in an English cityexplores the impact of the introduction and use of visual surveillance systems in a wide variety of locales and institutional settings, both public and privatemakes a key contribution to theoretical debates over the relationship between surveillance systems and society, one of the central concerns of theorists of modernity

In a world where technology is continually advancing, and problems are becoming more and more complex, established practices for decision making and problem solving are no longer effective. In this new book, however, Enid Mumford draws on her wealth of experience in management, business schools, and working with the police and other professional problem solvers to show us how to tackle complex problems efficiently. With drugs and cyber-crime as her main examples Professor Mumford shows how these topical, yet apparently permanent problems, could be approached. She does this by looking at how the criminals themselves have overcome legal obstacles, and other problems to make the drug trafficking industry the second largest in the world today, and the relative newcomer, electronic fraud, a multi-billion dollar problem already. These crimes, which in themselves lead to more crime from petty theft to support a drug habit, to international money laundering, are incredibly complex, and yet the book shows us that there is not only a way forward with these issues, but a way to approach all complex problems with efficiency and competency, wherever they occur in our lives.

In " Breaking Away from Broken Windows" Ralph Taylor uses data on recent Baltimore crime-reduction efforts to attack the 'broken windows' thesis--that is, the currently fashionable notion that by reducing or eliminating superficial signs of disorder (dilapidated buildings, graffiti, incivil behavior by teenagers, etc.), urban police deparments can make significant and lasting reductions in crime. Taylor argues that such measures, while useful, are only a partial solution to the problem at hand. His data supports a materialist view: changes in levels of physical decay, superficial social disorder, and racial composition do not lead to higher crime, while economic decline does. He contends that the Baltimore example shows that in order to make real, long-term reductions in crime, urban politicians, businesses, and community leaders must work together to improve the economic fortunes of those living in high-crime areas.

In the past fifty years, street crime rates in America have increased eightfold. These increases were historically patterned, were often very rapid, and had a disproportionate impact on African Americans. Much of the crime explosion took place in a space of just ten years beginning in the early 1960s. Common explanations based on biological impulses, psychological drives, or slow-moving social indicators cannot explain the speed or timing of these changes or their disproportionate impact on racial minorities. Using unique data that span half a century, Gary LaFree argues that social institutions are the key to understanding the U.S. crime wave. Crime increased along with growing political distrust, economic stress, and family disintegration. These changes were especially pronounced for racial minorities. American society responded by investing more in criminal justice, education, and welfare institutions. Stabilization of traditional social institutions and the effects of new institutional spending account for the modest crime declines of the 1990s.

Over the past quarter-century, U.S. politicians have responded to the public's fear of crime by devoting ever more resources to building and strengthening the criminal justice apparatus, which as a result has grown tremendously in size and cost. Policymakers have also taken steps to toughen procedures for dealing with suspects and criminals, and broaden legal definitions of what constitutes crime, which has led to the incarceration, under harsher-than-ever conditions, of a record-high percentage of the U.S. population. Yet public confidence in the criminal justice apparatus is, if anything, lower than ever before, and fear of crime continues to be high.In recent years, some activists, scholars, criminal-justice officials, and politicians have begun to call for a reexamination of "get-tough" crime policies. A more sensible approach to crime, they argue, would focus on "community justice"--that is, on building healthy communities in which criminality cannot take root, and on making citizens and criminal-justice into partners rather than adversaries. In this thought-provoking study, Todd Clear and David Karp provide both a broad theoretical analysis of this ideal, and a close examination of a range of attempts to put it into practice in communities throughout the country. They conclude that by making the criminal justice system and the public into partners rather than adversaries, community-justice strategies for dealing with crime are both more effective and more resource-efficient than the failed "get-tough" approach.

Research suggests that crime prevention is generally more effective than harsh punishment. But the public fears victimization and demands punishment for the perpetrators of its fears. Consequently, any policy that moves toward prevention, treatment, and alternative modes of punishment must simultaneously move toward reducing the level of victimization in a direct and readily comprehensible manner. The fifteen authors of this volume articulate a pragmatic crime policy for America which combines academic insights about crime prevention with the realities of contemporary politics. The studies collectively outline a coherent policy that centers on "minimizing harm," as opposed to retribution, eliminating crime, or solving the social problems that generate criminal behavior. Minimizing harm implies a compromise between the best current research and the concerns of citizens. The book consists of four principal studies focusing on public attitudes toward crime, prevention, alternative sanctions, and drug policy. Each study is accompanied by two commentaries.

The nightly news and other media provide a constant reminder of illegal drug transport over American borders and along routes between various U.S. cities. The general public is well aware that law enforcement efforts to address the foreign supply and trafficking of illegal drugs into the United States is an ongoing battle.This useful and readable compendium gives a fascinating account of how illegal drugs are transported into and around the United States and throughout its neighborhoods. Criminologist and geographer George F. Rengert takes a unique approach to the problem of illegal drug distribution and U.S. drug markets. Using maps and charts to illustrate his findings, Rengert applies spacial diffusion models to the illegal drug trade and explains why certain drugs are transported and found in different parts of the country. For example, the highest concentration of marijuana plants is not on either coast, but rather across the middle of the United States--throughout what is known as the corn belt. At the local level Rengert assesses the patterns and processes that interconnect drug sales and neighborhood deterioration and change.The book also addresses the important issues of how illegal drugs in this country operate on wholesale and retail levels and ways in which law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels contend with this widespread problem. Using ethnographic material to provide real-life examples, Rengert explores how drug dealers on the street expand spatially and predictably in their neighborhoods. He illustrates how this knowledge helps law enforcement in efforts to get these drugs off the streets.

Unlike the outcry over street crime committed by males, concerns about women and violence have centered primarily on their roles as victims of sexual and physical violence committed by strangers and by males in intimate relationships. Rarely is violence by women considered in the development or testing of theories of aggression.The book provides a detailed account of the criminal careers of 170 women who committed violent street crimes in New York City, describing their entry into criminal activities, their development into persistent street criminals, and, for some, their eventual transition out of street crime.Unlike other qualitative works in this area, "Casualties of Community Disorder" offers more than cultural analysis. Deborah Baskin and Ira Sommers integrate structural and individual levels of explanation by examining the career patterns of female violent offenders and the relationships of these women to family members and communities. Through the use of census data, analyses of political and economic changes, and ethnographic observations of activities specific to these communities, the authors provide a perspective on the relationship of individual decisions to structural constraints.The research presented here clearly challenges contemporary assumptions regarding female offending. Baskin and Sommers' analysis suggests a complex relationship of social and individual factors that serves as a caution against generic and gender-based generalizations that have been drawn from time-bound, aggregate level data sets and from ethnographies of women's involvement in street hustling. Finally, in "Casualties of Community Disorder, " the street drug and criminal subculture is understood through the words of those who usually are spoken for, studied, and objectified.

This collection presents vivid experiences of drug policy-making at city, regional, national, and Union levels.

These essays examine how and why inequality affects the patterning of crime and criminal justice. They evaluate the merits of various theoretical ideas, debates, and controversies regarding crime and inequality; document the dynamics of inequality in varied crime settings; examine methodologies used in exploring the crime-inequality relationship; and set forth new research and policy agendas for future work.

Millions of pounds are spent every year trying to tackle human trafficking, modern slavery and child sexual exploitation. These are apparently threats perpetrated by 'criminal masterminds', spreading at a dizzying rate and approaching epidemic proportions - or so the story goes. Amid all the bold rhetoric and sweeping claims, there is very little robust research to help understand these problems and inform evidence-based policy and practice. In this book, readers are invited to delve inside the murky world of human trafficking. It focuses on the internal (domestic) trafficking of children for sexual exploitation. It is based on far-reaching analysis of six of the earliest and largest such investigations in the United Kingdom (UK), including the infamous Derby and Rochdale cases that sparked nationwide concerns about 'street grooming' and 'Asian sex gangs'. Innovative methods, analytical rigour and truly extraordinary data underpin the research: a nuanced and sometimes unsettling exploration of the offender and victim networks, their characteristics, structure, activity and dynamics and the problems they pose for investigation and prosecution. The results paint a picture of a sprawling and dynamic system of grooming and abuse that is deeply embedded in complex webs of social relations and interactions. This book challenges accepted wisdom, debunks myths and introduces new and fundamentally different ways of thinking about trafficking and its prevention. An accessible and compelling read, this book is for academics, policymakers, practitioners and others interested in serious and organised crime.

Drawing on criminology, philosophy and theology, this book develops a theory of 'redemptive criminology' for practice in criminal justice settings. The therapeutic impulse for the text is a focus on the individual practitioner's ability to embrace difference with the other, to resist harsh penal measures and to bring about change from 'the bottom up'. By challenging concepts and practices of rehabilitation, the authors argue for the possibility of redemption and for forgiveness as the starting point. Using real-life examples and an interpretative approach, the book explores the connections between victims, perpetrators and the community. The text articulates challenges for the justice system and offers new insights into punishment and retribution.

How much do you know about key issues in crime, crime control, policing and punishment in the UK? This exciting, dynamic and accessible book presents 50 key facts related to crime and criminal justice policy in Britain. Did you know that, contrary to public belief, in the UK a life sentence does actually last for life? And that capital punishment in the UK was abolished for murder in 1965 but the Death Penalty was a legally defined punishment as late as 1998? Offering thought-provoking insights into the study of crime, this fascinating "go to" book is packed with facts and figures revealing the myths and realities of crime in contemporary Britain.

A major contribution to the field of crime/deviance, this volume by noted criminologist Charles R. Tittle puts forth an integrated theory of deviance--control balance. Its central premise is that the total amount of control people are subjected to, relative to the control they can exercise, will affect the probability and type of their deviant behavior.In developing control balance, Tittle critically reviews other general theories such as anomie, Marxian conflict, social control, differential association/social learning, labelling, and routine activities and offers reasons why those theories are insufficient. Using real-world examples to illustrate his argument, he contends that deviance results from the convergence of four variables, each of which represents an interactive nexus of several inputs, including most prominently a control imbalance. The variables are predisposition, motivation, opportunity, and constraint. Control balance theory also explains six basic types of deviance, ranging from predation, defiance, and submissiveness on one end of a control ratio continuum to exploitation, plunder, and decadence on the other.Tittle conceives of control balance as a continuation, or temporary culmination, of the collective efforts of crime/deviance scholars who have gone before, presenting it as a vehicle for trying to achieve a fully adequate general theory of deviance.

The main objective of the second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Critical Criminology is twofold: (1) to provide original chapters that cover contemporary critical criminological theoretical offerings generated over the past five years and (2) to provide chapters on important new substantive topics that are currently being studied and theorized by progressive criminologists. Special attention is devoted to new theoretical directions in the field, such as southern criminology, queer criminology, and green criminology. The diverse chapters cover not only cutting-edge theories, but also the variety of research methods used by leading scholars in the field and the rich data generated by their rigorous empirical work. In addition, some of the chapters suggest innovative and realistic short- and long-term policy proposals that are typically ignored by mainstream criminology. These progressive strategies address some of the most pressing social problems facing contemporary society today, which generate much pain and suffering for socially and economically disenfranchised people. The new edition of the Handbook is a major work in redefining areas within the context of international multidisciplinary critical research, and in highlighting emerging areas, such as human trafficking, Internet pornography and image-based sexual abuse. It is specifically designed to be a comprehensive resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers and policymakers.

This book aims to begin an eco-centered, eco-feminist informed discussion about the ways in which our relationship to "nature" is bound up with gender, patriarchy, and violence. Ecofeminist scholars study the interconnections between gendered relationships of domination among humans, between humans, and between humans, nonhumans, and the earth. It is in this ideological and structural tangle between humans and the environment that a deeper understanding of gender violence is possible. Ecofeminism offers analytical possibilities for understanding a "logic of domination" which sustain a whole host of problems, including the interrelated oppressions of gender violence and exploitation of the more-than-human-life world. In this book, Gwen Hunnicutt brings into dialog ecofeminism and gender violence. Ideological components, such as speciesism and the belief that the earth and its nonhuman inhabitants are ours to exploit, inform a host of other social practices, including interpersonal violence. A portion of this book is devoted to exploring the ways in which patriarchy is foregrounded by another hierarchy-uman domination over "nature". Thus, gender violence stems from a logic of domination that is built on the domination of nature and the domination of the Other "as nature". As this blueprint of oppression repeats itself where there are vectors of difference, the chapters ultimately connect these oppressions by showing the inextricable bind of violence against humans and the more-than-human-life world. This book will serve as a resource for scholars, activists, and students in sociology, gender violence and interdisciplinary violence studies, critical animal studies, environmental studies, and feminist and ecofeminist studies.

From media images of "mean girls" to the disproportionate punishment of Black, Latina and/or queer girls in schools and the justice system, female aggression has become a public concern. Scholars, educators, policymakers and parents are scrambling to respond to the perceived upsurge in girls' bullying, peer pressure, and aggression/violence. Girls, Aggression and Intersectionality examines how intersecting social identities - such as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, and others - shape media representations of, and criminal justice reactions to, female aggression. The book focuses on three overarching questions: How do race, class, and/or sexuality influence media images of female aggression? How do aggressive girls' intersecting identities affect law enforcement and criminal justice responses to their aggression? How are diverse groups of girls trying to resist their labelling and criminalization? Using intersectionality as a conceptual framework, this insightful volume deconstructs a unitary analysis of "female aggression" and transforms the mainstream discourse that paints girls as inherently "mean." Girls, Aggression and Intersectionality will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, interested in fields including Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Youth Studies, Criminology and Media and Culture.

This book examines the impact of neoliberalism on society, bringing to the forefront a discussion of violence and harm, the inherent inequalities of neoliberalism and the ways in which our everyday lives in the Global North reproduce and facilitate this violence and harm. Drawing on a range of contemporary topics such as state violence, the carceral state, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, death, sports and entertainment, this book unmasks the banal forms of violence and harm that are a routine part of life that usurp, commodify and consume to reify the existing status quo of harm and inequality. It aims to defamiliarize routine forms of violence and inequality, thereby highlighting our own participation in its perpetuation, though consumerism and the consumption of neoliberal dogma. It is essential reading for students across criminology, sociology and political philosophy, particularly those engaged with crimes of the powerful, state crime and social harm.

In many U.S. cities, gun violence is the most urgent crime problem. High rates of deadly violence make a city less livable, dragging down quality of life, economic development, and property values. The police are the primary agency tasked with controlling gun violence, yet advocates for gun violence prevention either ignore the police or only reference them as a part of the problem. But in fact, more effective policing is key to the success of any comprehensive effort to reduce community gun violence. The stakes are high-gun violence is concentrated in low-income Black communities, and consequently these communities bear the brunt of the associated economic, social, and psychological burdens. Any successful strategy must overcome the current impasse where the residents of high-violence neighborhoods do not trust the police, having experienced both abuse and neglect in their dealings with officers. How can police departments find the right balance between over- and under-policing of high-violence areas? What are the best practices for police to preempt and deter gun violence, while engendering support and cooperation from the public? Drawing on fifty years of research and practical experience, Policing Gun Violence argues that it is possible for the police to create greater public safety while respecting the rights of individuals and communities. While gun violence can be attributed to various systemic causes that should remain on the public agenda-from widespread gun availability to poverty and racism-Anthony A. Braga and Philip J. Cook make the case that violence is itself a root cause of social disparity and future violence. Effective law enforcement is a vital component of a just society. They review and synthesize the evidence in several key areas: enforcement of gun laws, policing hot spots, controlling high-risk groups through focused deterrence, enhancing investigations to increase the arrest and conviction rate, preventing officer-involved shootings, and disrupting underground gun markets. Policing Gun Violence serves as a guide to how the police can better utilize their considerable resources to make cities safer.

Comprehensive, critical and accessible, Criminology: A Sociological Introduction offers an authoritative overview of the study of criminology, from early theoretical perspectives to pressing contemporary issues such as the globalisation of crime, crimes against the environment, terrorism and cybercrime. Authored by an internationally renowned and experienced group of authors in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex, this is a truly international criminology text that delves into areas that other texts may only reference. It includes substantive chapters on the following topics: * Histories of crime; * Theoretical approaches to crime and the issue of social change; * Victims and victimisation; * Crime, emotion and social psychology; * Drugs, alcohol, health and crime; * Criminal justice and the sociology of punishment; * Green criminology; * Crime and the media; * Terrorism, state crime and human rights. The new edition fuses global perspectives in criminology from the contexts of post-Brexit Britain and America in the age of Trump, and from the Global South. It contains new chapters on cybercrime; crimes of the powerful; organised crime; life-course approaches to understanding delinquency and desistance; and futures of crime, control and criminology. Each chapter includes a series of critical thinking questions, suggestions for further study and a list of useful websites and resources. The book also contains a glossary of the criminological terms and concepts used in the book. It is the perfect text for students looking for a broad, critical and international introduction to criminology, and it is essential reading for those looking to expand their 'criminological imagination'.

A consideration of the potential for reducing crime and improving community safety through housing design. It offers architects and planners an outline of the principles which should be used during the process of assessment, design and construction. The author contends that architects and planners should be designing to deter crime. Although it may not be possible to create a residential utopia, it should be possible to reduce the opportunities for crime and increase people's sense of security. However, designers must also be aware that attempted solutions to security problems do not have one single simple consequence. In fact some "solutions" may make matters worse. The use of "target-hardening" techniques such as security grilles and door reinforcements can create a "fortress" which may provoke more ingenious or violent attacks. At the same time it can lead to an increase in the social isolation felt by the residents and reduce the fragile community support networks which are also such an important defence against crime. Architects and planners, the authors upholds must aim for prevention rather than containment.