This book assesses President Barack Obama's counterterrorism policy as it evolved throughout his presidency, from the expanded use of drones to the controversial decisions regarding the Syrian conflict. President Obama has achieved the dubious distinction of having been the longest continuous war president in American history, and this title explores how Obama pursued and expanded executive war power in key areas, simultaneously committing to a light footprint approach for U.S. military forces and emphasizing the use of drones, targeted killing of terrorists, and training, advising, and assisting local forces to defend themselves from militant groups such as ISIL. It also provides an in-depth analysis of the defining issue of the Obama counterterrorism strategy: Syria, and his refusal to militarily commit to defeat Bashar al-Assad and support Syria's insurgency. The work concludes with a consideration of counterterrorism policy post-Obama.

Vandalism and Anti-Social Behaviour forwards a new typology of vandalism. The authors argue that in order to fully understand vandalism and anti-social behaviour, a culturally criminological perspective should be fostered, which accounts for the emotional and experiential aspects of crime.

This book brings together a collection of essays by leading criminologists to explore the relationship between the private sector and criminal justice. The private sector has become an increasingly important 'partner' in contemporary criminal justice with the unprecedented growth of public sector 'outsourcing' arrangements. This has resulted in an increasingly pluralised and marketised landscape of contemporary criminal justice. This edited collection examines these developments in different jurisdictions as well as in a wide range of criminal justice contexts and sectors including: the private security sector, policing, prisons, probation and community sanctions, and electronic monitoring. In so doing, it addresses fundamental normative, ideological and ethical debates about the role of the private sector within this new and evolving landscape, as well as descriptive and analytical questions about how criminal justice structures, agencies and processes function and with what effect. The Private Sector and Criminal Justice is essential reading for scholars and students of criminology, penology, policing, security, criminal justice and organisational and management studies. It is also an invaluable resource for criminal justice practitioners.

This book explores how children have been affected by armed conflict in the borderlands of Thailand, particularly in the region abutting the Thailand-Myanmar border, and in the most southern part of Thailand. The author argues that the Thai government has made great efforts to protect children from armed conflict in these borderlands. The author analyzes the obstacles facing the Thai government in protecting children from armed conflict in the borderlands, and advances alternative solutions for how the Thai government might better protect children from armed conflict in the foreseeable future. This book not only opens a window for future research on children affected by armed conflict in the borderlands of Thailand and beyond, but also contributes to the breadth of perspective and depth of expertise in related fields, such as studies of human insecurity. It is relevant to scholars, graduate students, and policymakers interested in the impact of armed conflict on children.

Is cost-benefit analysis the best means to determine and formulate public policies? To answer this question Jeffrey Leigh Sedgwick examines its application to crime and criminal justice and the implications of that application. In this interdisciplinary study, Sedgwick first assesses the value of applying economic models to the social problem of crime. He compares economic models to sociological ones and then addresses the question of whether economic models are compatible with the values of a liberal political order. He shows that cost-benefit analysis suffers from technical and ethical problems when used to set law enforcement goals. Current techniques for measuring the costs of crime are crude and unreliable, he argues, and overreliance on citizen and consumer preference may lead to the adoption of policies incompatible with American political traditions and respect for human rights. Sedgwick concludes that economic analysis cannot, by itself, lead to the adoption of effective and publicly defensible policies to combat crime.

This book outlines how community sentences and early release options are administered in China. Chen provides empirical insights into the emerging community sector of the Chinese penal system, and illustrates how Chinese criminal courts decide between imprisonment and community sentences. Drawing on interviews with government and non-governmental supervisors, this methodological and rigorous study offers an in-depth discussion of the enforcement of these community sanctions and measures (CSM). By using the CSM reform as an example, this book illustrates the adaptation of Chinese governance and social control. Ultimately, Chen argues that the current model of governance in China (disciplinary governance) cannot guarantee an effective state-agent relationship; it also denies local governments sufficient legitimacy to secure social stability. Finally, proposing that only the rule of law and an active judiciary can complement these two deficiencies, this book will be of great interest to scholars of criminology, law, and penology, as well as anyone who is interested in how China is held together in a socio-legal sense.

Crime investigation is not always a matter of gathering hard evidence. Just as police officers sometimes follow a "hunch", people with psychic abilities have often supplied invaluable leads to help crack the most baffling cases. Through dreams, visions, telepathy, and a host of other means, psychics have also predicted and tried to prevent many serious crimes. Psychic Detectives allows you to enter their world, revealing their astounding experiences and the often heavy price they pay for sharing what they know. Police agencies are generally reluctant to admit to the use of psychics during or even after the completion of an investigation for fear of ridicule from the public and other members of the law enforcement community. Despite this, psychics have often become involved in a large number of highly publicised investigations into serial murders conducted over the last 20 years or more. Featured cases include: the Kennedy assassinations * Jack the Ripper * Charles Manson murders * Uri Geller's diamond find * David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") * Los Angeles Olympic Games bombing * Moors murders * Peter Sutcliffe ("The Yorkshire Ripper") * IRA bombing, Manchester * disappearance of Lord Lucan * Patty Hearst kidnapping * and many more ...

This book presents primary research conducted in Italy, USA, Australia and the UK on countering strategies and institutional perceptions of Italian mafias and local organized crime groups. Through interviews and interpretation of original documents, this study firstly demonstrates the interaction between institutional understanding of the criminal threats and historical events that have shaped these perceptions. Secondly, it combines analysis of policies and criminal law provisions to identify how policing models which combat mafia and organised crime activities are organized and constructed in each country within a comparative perspective. After presenting the similarities between the four differing policing models, Sergi pushes the comparison further by identifying both conceptual and procedural convergences and divergences across both the four models and within international frameworks. By looking at topics as varied as mafia mobility, money laundering, drug networks and gang violence, this book ultimately seeks to reconsider the conceptualizations of both mafia and organized crime from a socio-behavioural and cultural perspective.

Drawing on the most recent studies, this collection of articles assesses and evaluates current criminal justice responses, policies, and practices regarding sexual violence in the United States and Canada. Focusing on methodological and ideological issues, rape law reform, criminal justice responses, social contexts of sexual assault, and community responses, authors from the fields of sociology, criminal justice, law, counseling, anthropology, biology, and psychology provide detailed studies of the problems and challenges involved in this very sensitive and important issue. The broad perspective provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to the current state of criminal justice responses to sexual assault as well as the changes and progress being made in the area. By providing such extensive coverage, the volume also offers readers a guide to the very nature and extent of sexual violence and its consequences.

As we enter the 21st century, numerous changes have occurred within the criminal justice system and society's understanding of rape as a crime of violence. Significant reforms have emerged in both the United States and Canada in terms of how various institutions respond to the crime of rape and the needs of rape survivors. This progress demands an evaluation of the current state of pressing issues regarding the many facets of sexual assault. Kelley and Hodgson offer original contributions from both American and Canadian scholars and practitioners from several social science disciplines in an effort to provide a critical assessment of a timely and important issue.

This book analyses the criminalisation of the possession of extreme pornography through ss 63-68 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. It documents the legislative history of the offence and offers a criminological perspective on the role of the media in the construction of the extreme pornography problem. It evaluates the elements of the s 63 offence and critically reflects upon their weaknesses. Moreover, the book presents an up-to-date account of the number of prosecutions initiated and convictions obtained under s 63 since it came into force, alongside an exploration into the corresponding sentencing trends. The first study of its kind in England and Wales since the controversial legal provisions at issue came into effect in 2009, this book contributes new evidence to the application of the extreme pornography provisions and will play an important role in shaping debates on the prosecution of similar offences in the coming years. This book will serve as an invaluable resource to all those with an interest in law, criminology, sociology of deviance, sexuality and pornography studies.

The Latin American narcotics trade is an important national security issue for the United States because it is destabilizing important Latin American allies and creating serious social problems within the United States. Frustration with the inability to block the flow of cocaine, marijuana, and heroin from Latin America prompted passage of major national anti-drug laws in 1986 and 1988. Throughout the decade, United States narcotics policy has created serious friction between the United States and Latin America yet, according to Mabry, it essentially has failed in its goals. Nine experts on this subject deal with the major issues of United States narcotics policy and offer recommendations for future action. The history of the United States narcotics policy, the nature of the trade, the debate over the use of the United States military in interdiction efforts, the role of Congress in making policy, and the origin and implementation of narcotics policy, be it directed against a specific nation or against the entire region, are presented. In addition, the book also contains a List of Tables covering: Consumption of Drugs, and Columbian Trafficker's Investment Preferences. An extensive bibliography is included designed to give other scholars and those interested in this issue an excellent start for further research.

Green Criminology has the potential to provide not only a different way of examining and making sense of various forms of crime and control responses, but can also make explicable much wider connections which are not generally well understood. As all societies face up to the need to confront harms against the environment, other animals and humanity, criminology will have a major role to play. This book will be an essential part of this process. This edited collection brings together internationally renowned scholars to explore green criminology through the interdisciplinary lenses of power, justice and harm. The chapters provide innovative case study analyses from North America, Europe and Australia that seek to advance theoretical, policy and practice discourses about environmental harm. The book unifies transnational debates in environmental law, policy and justice, and in doing so examines international agreements and policy within diverse environmental discourses of sociology, criminology and political economy. Emerging Issues in Green Criminology is an essential source for students, scholars and policy makers in this rapidly growing area of criminology, as well as environmental studies more broadly. The international range of contributors include Lieselot Bisschop (University College Ghent, Belgium), Avi Brisman (Eastern Kentucky University, USA), Matthew Hall (University of Sheffield, UK), M.H.A Kluin (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands), Olga Knight (University of Colorado, Denver, USA), Peter Martin (Queensland University of Technology, Australia), Hanneke Mol (University of Kent, UK and Utrecht University, Netherlands), Angus Nurse (Birmingham City University, UK), Ragnhild Sollund (University of Oslo, Norway), Nigel South (University of Essex, UK), Paul B. Stretesky (University of Colorado, Denver, USA), Gudrun Vande Walle (University College Ghent, Belgium) and Rob White (University of Tasmania, Australia).

This book demonstrates that alternative approaches to criminal rehabilitation succeed in developing pro-social attitudes and in improving mental, physical and spiritual health for youth and adults in prison and community settings. The use of mindfulness is highlighted as a foundational tool of self-reflexivity, creative expression and therapy.

This book analyzes how strategic intelligence can support decision-makers in national policing organizations to anticipate transnational organized crime (TOC). The authors examine case studies from Australia, Canada and the UK, and argue for the development of empirically-grounded intelligence theory to aid the policy process and law enforcement.

This is the first comprehensive and up-to-date study of how inmates and their wives cope with incarceration and to what extent conjugal visit programs help their marriages. The findings of a family support program in upper New York State compares different groups and has implications for social welfare and corrections professionals. The authors review the historical background of family support programs for prison inmates, the related literature, and raise questions about the kinds of policies, programs, and services that affect inmates and their families. They point to the effects of clinical intervention on different ethnic groups and make recommendations for the future to help the couples better cope.

This cutting-edge volume is the first to address the burgeoning interest in drugs and Africa among scholars, policymakers, and the general public. It brings together an interdisciplinary group of leading academics and practitioners to explore the use, trade, production, and control of mind-altering substances on the continent

Here is Gregory, who spent two years in solitary confinement before he was convicted of any crime; here is Ethiop, who was imprisoned for homicide despite the absence of a murder weapon, a motive, or witnesses to his alleged crime; and here is Mazar, a convicted murderer, who writes poetry, speaks three languages fluently, and has a genius I.Q. Their "War Stories," along with the stories of 13 other students in a Western Civilization class, are chronicled here by the teacher who earned their respect and trust while tracing the paths that brought them together behind the walls of a maximum security prison.

Americans are vitally concerned about crime. Politicians call for tougher sentences and larger prisons as the headlines decry the sad state of America's inner cities. Yet, amid this din of strident voices, we seldom hear the testimony of those who can speak most authoritatively about the roots of crime and the efficacy of the criminal justice system. We seldom hear from the convicts and inmates themselves. In this poignant and provocative narrative, a history teacher introduces us to fifteen men in a maximum security prison. The stories told by these prisoners confound the easy categories we employ to judge guilt and innocence: some of the men arouse our indignation, while others compel us to question the workings of the criminal justice system. Some point to the ignorance and prejudice that often lie behind the desire to lock 'em up and throw away the key. Throughout, readers will be confronted with facts from the lives of men who are--sometimes simultaneously--perpetrators and victims of the criminal culture we deplore.

This edited volume examines the use of militarised responses to different forms of criminal activity, discussing the outcomes and unintended consequences. Politicians and policymakers frequently use militarised responses to look tough on crime. The deployment of armies, navies, military assets and militarised approaches can send a powerful message, but have produced mixed results. While they generate the perception that governments are actively engaged on issues of concern to the public, and in some cases have resulted in notable successes, on the downside they have frequently also increased the loss of life, exacerbated the humanitarian consequences of a particular crime and entrenched divides between security and state institutions and the criminal proponents, narrowing the possibilities for future negotiated solutions. By focusing on four different areas of criminality - wildlife crime, piracy, migration and drug trafficking - the book allows context and evidence-based conclusions to be drawn on the strategic value and commonality of responses and their outcomes.

This ambitious volume brings together and assesses all major systematic reviews of the effectiveness of criminological interventions, to draw broad conclusions about what works in policing, corrections, developmental prevention, situational prevention, drug abuse treatments, sentencing and deterrence, and communities. Systematic reviews aim to minimize any possible bias in drawing conclusions by stating explicit criteria for inclusion and exclusion of studies, by conducting extensive and wide-ranging searches for possibly eligible studies, and by making all stages of the review explicit and transparent so that the methods can be checked and replicated. Over a decade ago, a concerted effort was made by members of the criminology community, including the Editors and contributors of this volume, to bring the practice of systematic reviews to the study of Criminology, providing replicable, evidence-based data to answer key questions about the study of crime causation, detection, and prevention. Now, the pioneers in this effort present a comprehensive stock-taking of what has been learned in the past decade of systematic reviews in criminology. Much has been discovered about the effectiveness of (for example) boot camps, "hot spots" policing, closed-circuit television surveillance, neighborhood watch, anti-bullying programs in schools, early parenting programs, drug treatment programs, and other key topics. This volume will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, as well as in related fields such as public health and forensic science, with important implications for policy-makers and practitioners. Decisively showing that the "nothing works" era is over, this volume takes stock of what we know, and still need to know, to prevent crime. I plan to keep this book close at hand and to use it often! Francis T. Cullen, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, University of Cincinnati At a time when there is a broad commitment to bringing science to the front lines of practice, this book should be on the reading list of both policymakers and scholars. Laurie O. Robinson, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law Society, George Mason University and former Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice

This book challenges the dominant narrative of young people being a uniquely violent group. Instead, the book critically examines how young people become violent as they enact and resist the available violent performativities in youth. It focuses on the experiences of 28 young people in Australia who are subjected to violence, who use violence and who resist violence. A critical analysis of these young people's "messy" stories facilitates a reframing of the physical violence routinely attributed to young people as a product of violating systems and structures. The author constructs a converging theoretical landscape to re-examine youth, violence and resistance at the intersection of the sociology of violence and the sociology of youth. Drawing on interviews with young Australians, the book makes a valuable contribution to contemporary international scholarship on youth and violence, while also examining the potential for complicity to violence in youth research and practice. In doing so it offers youth scholars and practitioners a framework for reassessing their theoretical frameworks and methods for studying and working with young people in connection with violence.

Hibbert tries to show by reference to history of punishments, to the reactions of those who suffered them or have been threatened by them, and to the endeavors of those who have concerned themselves with the criminal and the prevention of crime, that cruelty punishment has an inevitable tendency to produce cruelty in people.

This volume examines crimes that violate environmental regulations, as part of an emerging area of criminology known as green criminology. The contributions to this book examine criminal justice concerns related to regulating and enforcing environmental laws, as well as the consequences for families and communities impacted by hazardous waste and pollution. It also describes possible strategies for deterring and preventing organized crime related to environmental regulations, including black market sales of ozone depleting substances. This innovative volume provides a criminological framework for understanding environmental harms. Examining cases from the US, Europe and Australia, this volume compares and contrasts international approaches for regulating hazardous substances, and enforcing those regulations. This work will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly interested in green criminology or environmental law, as well as researchers in environmental sciences, white collar and corporate crime, and policymakers.

Winner of the British Society of Criminology Book Prize, 2015 Fleetwood explores how women become involved in trafficking, focusing on the lived experiences of women as drug mules. Offering theoretical insights from gender theory and transnational criminology, Fleetwood argues that women's participation in the drugs trade cannot be adequately understood through the lenses of either victimization or agency.