Winner of the American Society of Criminology 2015 Michael J. Hindelang Book Award for the Most Outstanding Contribution to Research in Criminology Since the mid-1990s, the fast-growing suburb of Amherst, NY has been voted by numerous publications as one of the safest places to live in America. Yet, like many of America's seemingly idyllic suburbs, Amherst is by no means without crime-especially when it comes to adolescents. In America's Safest City, noted juvenile justice scholar Simon I. Singer uses the types of delinquency seen in Amherst as a case study illuminating the roots of juvenile offending and deviance in modern society. If we are to understand delinquency, Singer argues, we must understand it not just in impoverished areas, but in affluent ones as well. Drawing on ethnographic work, interviews with troubled youth, parents and service providers, and extensive surveys of teenage residents in Amherst, the book illustrates how a suburban environment is able to provide its youth with opportunities to avoid frequent delinquencies. Singer compares the most delinquent teens he surveys with the least delinquent, analyzing the circumstances that did or did not lead them to deviance and the ways in which they confront their personal difficulties, societal discontents, and serious troubles. Adolescents, parents, teachers, coaches and officials, he concludes, are able in this suburban setting to recognize teens' need for ongoing sources of trust, empathy, and identity in a multitude of social settings, allowing them to become what Singer terms 'relationally modern' individuals better equipped to deal with the trials and tribulations of modern life. A unique and comprehensive study, America's Safest City is a major new addition to scholarship on juveniles and crime in America. Crime, Law and Social Change's special issue on America's Safest City

In Cultural Property Crime various experts in the fields of criminology, art law, heritage studies, law enforcement, forensic psychology, archaeology, art history and journalism provide multidisciplinary perspectives on today's concept of cultural property crime, including art crime. In addition, the volume deals with international, legal and practical developments regarding the increasing criminalization of acts against cultural property in times of conflict. Attention is paid to the changing status and fluctuating appraisal of cultural property as subject to classical art crimes generally in peacetime and as an identity-related symbolic target during conflict. The book covers a wide range of topics such as forgeries, white-collar crime, archaeological looting and the impact of war on cultural heritage.

This book, based on field research in the West African country of The Gambia, explores how domestic gun control is shaped by international efforts and how local actors interact with international organizations or opt not to do so. The book also shows how the question of who can have what kind of gun under what circumstances is an intrinsic question to modern societies across the world, but it is seldom one that is addressed in sub-Saharan Africa except in cases of post-conflict countries. Small arms control and gun control are often treated as separate efforts, with the former the domain of international actors such as the United Nations and the latter being of concern to the domestic politics of countries such as the United States. By focusing on a country that has never seen the outbreak of a civil war, the book is able to disentangle the complex roots of gun control in Africa, its origins in colonial era legislation, its reverberations across social life, and how it shapes contemporary understandings of groups ranging for security guards to hunters.

The tools of crime constantly evolve, and law enforcement and forensic investigators must understand advanced forensic techniques to ensure that the most complete evidence is brought to trial. Paramount also the need for investigators to ensure that evidence adheres to the boundaries of the legal system, a place where policy often lags behind new innovations. Crime Prevention Technologies and Applications for Advancing Criminal Investigation addresses the use of electronic devices and software for crime prevention, investigation, and the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to the legal system. This book fosters a forum for advancing research and development of the theory and practice of digital crime prevention and forensics.

Threats of terrorism, natural disaster, identity theft, job loss, illegal immigration, and even biblical apocalypse - all are perils that trigger alarm in people today. Although there may be a factual basis for many of these fears, they do not simply represent objective conditions. Feelings of insecurity are instilled by politicians and the media, and sustained by urban fortification, technological surveillance, and economic vulnerability. ""Surveillance in the Time of Insecurity"" fuses advanced theoretical accounts of state power and neoliberalism with original research from the social settings in which insecurity dynamics play out in the new century. Torin Monahan explores the counterterrorism-themed show ""24"", Rapture fiction, traffic control centers, security conferences, public housing, and gated communities, and examines how each manifests complex relationships of inequality, insecurity, and surveillance. Alleviating insecurity requires that we confront its mythic dimensions, the politics inherent in new configurations of security provision, and the structural obstacles to achieving equality in societies.

The Roots of Violent Crime in America is criminologist Barry Latzer's comprehensive analysis of crimes of violence-including murder, assault, and rape-in the United States from the 1880s through the 1930s. Combining the theoretical perspectives and methodological rigor of criminology with a synthesis of historical scholarship as well as original research and analysis, Latzer challenges conventional thinking about violent crime of this era. While scholars have traditionally cast American cities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as dreadful places, Latzer suggests that despite overcrowding and poverty, U.S. cities enjoyed low rates of violent crime, especially when compared to rural areas. The rural South and the thinly populated West both suffered much higher levels of brutal crime than the metropolises of the East and Midwest. Latzer deemphasizes racism and bigotry as causes of violence during this period, noting that while many social groups confronted significant levels of discrimination and abuse, only some engaged in high levels of violent crime. Cultural predispositions and subcultures of violence, he posits, led some groups to participate more frequently in violent activity than others. He also argues that the prohibition on alcohol in the 1920s did not drive up rates of violent crime. Though the bootlegger wars contributed considerably to the murder rate in some of America's largest municipalities, Prohibition also eliminated saloons, which served as hubs of vice, corruption, and lawlessness. The Roots of Violent Crime in America stands as a sweeping reevaluation of the causes of crimes of violence in the United States between the Gilded Age and World War II, compelling readers to rethink enduring assumptions on this contentious topic.

Instances of wrongdoing in and by organizations have featured heavily in news headlines in recent years. Why do organizational participants - employees, managers, senior officials - engage in illegal, unethical, and socially irresponsible behavior? The dominant view of wrongdoing as an abnormal phenomenon assumes that the perpetrator is a rational, proactive actor, working in isolation. However, Palmer develops an alternative approach in this book examining wrongdoing as a normal occurrence, produced by actors with no positive inclinations to engage in this practice, but whose behaviour is shaped by the immediate social context over a period of time. The book provides a comprehensive critical review of the theory and research on organizational wrongdoing. By using rich case study material, it illuminates different perspectives, potential explanations, policy implications, and suggestions for the way forward for the improvement of organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

This fascinating book begins with a new definition of the gangster film and a challenging exploration of the Hong Kong and Hollywood screen traditions.Illuminates the way gangster films deal with the ambiguities of modern life, correcting the notion that this genre is inconsequential sensationalism Contends that both American and Hong Kong gangster films are against-the-grain reactions to the central fable of modern democracies that promise immigrant (and other) outsiders that they can become social insiders Clarifies crucial and fascinating differences between American and Hong Kong approaches to enjoining the discussion of immigrant histories by placing them in counterpoint with each otherDraws on a range of American films, ranging from "Public Enemy" and "Scarface" to "Gangs of New York," "Goodfellas," and "The Godfather" Explores a number of Hong Kong's 21st century gangster films, including Andrew Lau's great trilogy, " Infernal Affairs, " and" Election "and" Election 2, " directed by Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To Concludes with an exclusive interview with "The Sopranos'" creator, David Chase

The return of emotions to debates about crime and criminal justice has been a striking development of recent decades across many jurisdictions. This has been registered in: the return of shame to justice procedures, a heightened focus on victims and their emotional needs, fear of crime as a major preoccupation of citizens and politicians, and highly emotionalized public discourses on crime and justice. But how can we best make sense of these developments? Do we need to create 'emotionally intelligent' justice systems, or are we messing recklessly with the rational foundations of liberal criminal justice? This collection brings together leading criminologists and sociologists from across the world in a much needed conversation about how to re-calibrate reason and emotion in crime and justice today. The contributions range from the micro-analysis of emotions in violent encounters to the paradoxes and tensions that arise from the emotionalization of criminal justice in the public sphere. They explore the emotional labor of workers in police and penal institutions, the justice experiences of victims and offenders, and the role of vengeance, forgiveness and regret in the aftermath of violence and conflict resolution. The result is a set of original essays which offer an interesting, fresh, and timely perspective on problems of crime and justice in contemporary liberal democracies. (Series: Onati International Series in Law and Society) *** " . . . an important read for anyone who is interested in matters of public policy related to policing, restorative justice, punitive discourse, the victim's movement, and the 're-emotionalization' of the justice system generally." - Jacob Young, Saskatchewan Law Review 2014, v. 77

In March 1975, Brook Carey was selected from among three hundred applicants to serve as warden of the California Institution for Women even though she had no background in Corrections. She was handed a ring of keys and a paperback copy of "Helter Skelter," the story of Charles Manson. Nobody told her that the plan was for her to be a figurehead while her subordinates ran the prison behind her back.

So begins the improbable-but true-story, told by Carey herself, of an outsider's tumultuous year inside the hidden world of California's women's correctional system. Her scant orientation scarcely prepared her for the challenges: an inadequate budget, a stifling bureaucracy, a riot threat, and, oh yes, the Manson Family. It just so happened that Carey's new workplace was home to the "Manson girls," and the determined followers of Manson took delight in making death threats to wardens who incarcerated Manson "Family" members.

Against the odds, Carey used creativity and courage as she confronted a dangerous and daunting environment, making essential improvements for inmates and meeting personally with Charles Manson at San Quentin. "The Accidental Warden" is both an astonishing tale of one woman rising to the occasion and an extraordinary look into the mysterious micro-society of a women's prison.

Young women are a group often neglected even in feminist scholarship. Interrogating conceptual ideas around power, punishment and abandonment with specific reference to the experience of young women, this book examines the particular challenges that young women face within the criminal justice system, and traces their journeys in, out and beyond confinement. Contributing ethnographic insights from multiple sites of incarceration to explore how secure care, prison and closed psychiatric facilities impact on young women's lives, Schliehe's study goes further than individual carceral spaces by delving into the wider context of young women's journeys through different types of institutional spaces and beyond. The exploration of these journeys challenges and re-develops our understanding of extreme mobility, and showcases how this can lead to the abandonment of a group of young people who live on the margins of social and legal norms. Merging theoretical and empirical findings to highlight how age and gender matter in discourses on crime and justice, Schliehe demonstrates how we have to look beyond institutions to understand confinement in our age of prison crisis, austerity and marginalization. Curating findings from across human geography and criminology, this book fills an important gap in the literature, offering up essential reading for practitioners and researchers interested in gender, age and confinement.

This innovative collection presents original theoretical analyses and previously unpublished empirical research on criminal victimisation. Following an overview of the development and deficiencies of victimology,subsequent chapters present more detailed challenges to stereotypical conceptions of victimisation through their focus on: male victims of domestic violence; victims of male-on-male rape; corporate victims; and the 'victim-offenders' who are the recipients of IRA punishment beatings. The second half of the book considers criminal justice responses to victimisation, focusing in particular on the potential of, and limits to, restorative justice, the social (and gendered) construction of the victim within contested trials and the exclusionary nature of current 'victim-centred' initiatives. This important book will further the debate on how we conceptualise victims as well as their appropriate role within the criminal justice system. New Visions of Crime Victims will be of interest to academics, students, criminal justice practitioners and policy-makers. It has particular implications for scholarship in the fields of victimology, restorative justice and feminist approaches to criminology and criminal justice. The integration of work by established criminologists, such as Carolyn Hoyle, Paul Rock, Andrew Sanders and Richard Young with that of young, previously unpublished scholars, makes for an interesting and stimulating book. As well as being a valuable addition to the literature, it can be used to support undergraduate and postgraduate courses in criminal justice and criminology.

This is the story of Annette Morales Rodriguez, a hard-working single mother of three.

It is also the story of Lara, a psychopathic killer who abducted another woman s fetus, killing both mother and baby.

Unbeknownst to Annette, Lara is a part of her: a dissociative identity, or split personality, formed to help Annette deal with the sexual abuse she endured as a child. Highly protective and driven to act solely in Annette s interests with no regard for the consequences to others, Lara lacks the moral judgment and remorse of a fully-developed personality. It is she who saw Annette s desire for and inability to have another baby and plotted to cut one from another woman s belly to give to her.

Lara confessed in gruesome detail. Annette, entirely amnesic throughout the course of events, has no recollection of the behavior Lara carried out. Dr. Anne Speckhard s jail interviews with Annette and Lara offer a fascinating glimpse inside a woman torn in two. Dr. Speckhard s analysis of Annette s behavior and her treatment once in police custody beg the questions: How do you separate the guilty from the innocent when they share the same body? and When is it acceptable to violate one s rights in the interest of public safety? Annette s story brings Dissociative Identity Disorder and the shortcomings of the American justice system to shocking light.

An unbiased examination of profiling in the criminal justice system-one of the most hotly contested public policy issues-on the streets, in the courts, and in the jails and prisons of America. In the post-9/11 world, profiling by law enforcement has become "standard operating procedure." Profiling by prosecutors, judges, and corrections officers is pervasive in other criminal justice contexts as well. Is profiling actually effective in preventing crime or identifying likely offenders and therefore justifiable? This accessible, single-volume reference book examines profiling as it pertains to the criminal justice system in the United States, providing non-partisan information that illuminates the full scope of the profiling issue and discusses the possible impact of profiling on all American citizens. Addressing this highly controversial topic holistically, the book considers questions such as whether the criminal justice system in the United States unfairly targets minorities, how the rights of minorities can be protected while enabling law enforcement to use every resource available, and whether justification for profiling techniques exists. This work will serve students at the high school and college level as well as general readers who are interested in criminal justice issues and issues relating to equality and fairness before the bar of justice. Presents essays from scholars in the field on both sides of the debate to provide fair and objective information that allow readers to consider the interests of equality and fairness on one side versus public safety and crime fighting on the other Examines profiling along a wide range of variables-race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation-rather than addressing only racial profiling Covers more recent events in profiling such as Arizona SB 1070, the "Stop and Frisk" policy in New York City, and the TSA's profiling of Muslims as well as older cases such as Whren vs. United States Provides summaries and analyses of key court cases relating to the permissibility and impermissibility of profiling

Shoham presents existentialist and object-relationship personality theory using mythology as a projection of human behavior. Through the myth of Don Juan as well as the personality of Casanova, he highlights the biological parameter of the personality and the thought of Kierkegaard and Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav. He concludes by relating the dynamics of personality to the predisposition of crime and madness.

The U.S. government's power to categorize individuals as terrorist suspects and therefore ineligible for certain long-standing constitutional protections has expanded exponentially since 9/11, all the while remaining resistant to oversight. Crimes of Terror: The Legal and Political Implications of Federal Terrorism Prosecutions provides a comprehensive and uniquely up-to-date dissection of the government's advantages over suspects in criminal prosecutions of terrorism, which are driven by a preventive mindset that purports to stop plots before they can come to fruition. It establishes the background for these controversial policies and practices and then demonstrates how they have impeded the normal goals of criminal prosecution, even in light of a competing military tribunal model. Proceeding in a linear manner from the investigatory stage of a prosecution on through to sentencing, the book documents the emergence of a "terrorist exceptionalism" to normal rules of criminal law and procedure and questions whether the government has overstated the threat posed by the individuals it charges with these crimes. Included is a discussion of the large-scale spying and use of informants rooted in the questionable "radicalization" theory; the material support statute-the government's chief legal tool in bringing criminal prosecutions; the new rules regarding generation of evidence and the broad construction of that evidence as relevant at trial; and a look at the special sentencing and confinement regimes for those convicted of terrorist crimes. In this critical examination of terrorism prosecutions in federal court, Professor Said reveals a phenomenon at odds with basic constitutional protections for criminal defendants.

Iran has one of the highest rates of road traffic accidents worldwide and according to a recent UNICEF report, the current rate of road accidents in Iran is 20 times more than the world average. Using extensive interviews with a variety of Iranians from a range of backgrounds, this book explores their dangerous driving habits and the explanations for their disregard for traffic laws. It argues that Iranians' driving behaviour is an indicator of how they have historically related to each other and to their society at large, and how they have maintained a form of social order through law, culture and religion. By considering how ordinary Iranians experience the traffic problem in their cities and how they describe traffic rules, laws, authorities and the rights of other citizens, Driving Culture in Iran provides an original and valuable insight into Iranian legal, social and political culture.

In 1869, the police force in Los Angeles went from a voluntary to a paid city police force. Since then, thousands upon thousands of men and women have served on the Los Angeles Police Department. In this book, thirty-four former officers share stories of their experiences in police work in their own words. Of the thirty-four, the first officer came on in 1941 and the last officer retired in 2009, a range of time just short of seventy years. The experiences recounted in this book cover a wide range of assignments and speak to just about any situation a police officer can encounter.

The officers were frank, truthful, and open about an occupation met with everything from monotony to split-second life and death decisions. They recounted their thoughts of purpose, duty, and in many instances, valor. Whether rescuing an abused child, confronting armed individuals, managing civil disorder, or losing one of their own, the officers in this book reveal the human element present in all those who serve in law enforcement.

From Megan's Law to Jessica's Law, almost every state in the nation has passed some law to punish sex offenders. This popular tough-on-crime legislation is often written after highly-publicized cases have made the gruesome rounds through the media, and usually features harsh sentences, lifetime GPS monitoring, a dramatic expansion of the civil commitment procedures, and severe restrictions on where released sex offenders may live. In "Sex Fiends, Perverts, and Pedophiles," Chrysanthi Leon argues that, while the singular notion of the sexual boogeyman has been used to justify these harsh policies, not all sex offenders are the same and such 'one size fits all' policies can unfairly punish other offenders of lesser crimes, needlessly targeting, sometimes ostracizing, citizens from their own communities.

While many recognize that prison is not the right tool for every crime problem, Leon compellingly argues that the U.S. maintains a one-size-fits-all approach to sexual offending which is undermining public safety. Leon explains how we've reached this point--with a large incarcerated sex offender population, many of whom will be released in the coming years with multiple barriers to their success in the community, and without much expertise to guide them or to guide those who are charged to help them. Leon argues that we cannot blame the public, nor even the politicians, except indirectly. Instead, we might blame the institutions we charge with making placement decisions and with the experts--both those who have chosen to work in the field and those who have caused its marginalization. Ultimately, Leon shows that when policies intended for the worst offenders take over, all of us suffer.

With a foreword by Major-General Nico Geerts, Commander Netherlands Defence Academy, Breda, The Netherlands International conflict resolution increasingly involves the use of non-military power and non-kinetic capabilities alongside military capabilities in the face of hybrid threats. In this book, counter-measures to those threats are addressed by academics with both practical and theoretical experience and knowledge, providing strategic and operational insights into non-kinetic conflict resolution and on the use of power to influence, affect, deter or coerce states and non-state actors. This volume in the NL ARMS series deals with the non-kinetic capabilities to address international crises and conflicts and as always views matters from a global perspective. Included are chapters on the promise, practice and challenges of non-kinetic instruments of power, the instrumentality of soft power, information as a power instrument and manoeuvring in the information environment, Russia's use of deception and misinformation in conflict, applying counter-marketing techniques to fight ISIL, using statistics to profile terrorists, and employing tools such as Actor and Audience Analysis. Such diverse subjects as lawfare, the Law of Armed Conflict rules for non-kinetic cyber attacks, navigation warfare, GPS-spoofing, maritime interception operations, and finally, as a prerequisite, innovative ways for intelligence collection in UN Peacekeeping in Mali come up for discussion.The book will provide both professionals such as (foreign) policy makers and those active in the military services, academics at a master level and those with an interest in military law and the law of armed conflict with useful and up-to-date insights into the wide range of subjects that are contained within it. Paul A.L. Ducheine and Frans P.B. Osinga are General Officers and full professors at the Faculty of Military Sciences of the Netherlands Defence Academy in Breda, The Netherlands. Specific to this volume in the Series: * Written by academics with both practical and theoretical experience* Addresses counter measures to hybrid crises* Offers both strategic and operational insights to non-kinetic conflict resolution

Are crime rates rising or falling around the world? Are specific types of crime more prevalent in some cultures than others? Do different cultures vary greatly in their attitudes toward crime prevention? Students will find answers to these and similar questions in this unique resource of 15 case studies exploring the problems of crime and crime control in different countries, ranging from Germany to Ghana, to around the world. Cross-cultural comparisons examine the history, the public perceptions, contemporary problems, and the future of crime and crime control in each country. The comparisons also provide readers with the opportunity to discover both the many differences and the many similarities that exist among the different cultures in their rates of crime, forms of prevention, and attitudes toward it.

Each of the 15 chapters opens with a brief overview, which includes the type of government and the living environment of the country to introduce readers to the population. The countries were chosen to represent every region of the world and to provide as broad a picture as possible when exploring the issues presented by the problem of crime and different cultures' efforts to control it. The user-friendly format of the volume, with each chapter following the same outline, makes it easy for readers to compare specific aspects among the 15 cultures. These different views of the crime problem around the world and what it means to different people will help students to understand it in a broad sense as a social issue that affects all of humanity.

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online Digital technologies have led to many important social and cultural changes worldwide, but they are also implicated in the facilitation of violence and abuse. While cybercriminality is often described as one of the greatest threats to nation states and global security, the wide range of interpersonal crimes comprising technology-facilitated violence and abuse (TFVA) - including, but not limited to, image-based sexual abuse, hate speech, online sexual harassment and cyberstalking - has received little attention. This handbook features theoretical, empirical, policy and legal analysis of TFVA from over 40 multidisciplinary scholars, practitioners, advocates, survivors and technologists from 17 countries. Addressing a spectrum of abuse perpetrated online, offline and through new technologies, the book sets TFVA in the context of intersecting underlying systemic drivers - including misogyny, racism, classism, colonialism, ableism, ageism, transphobia and homophobia - and discusses ways forward in effectively responding to TFVA. Adopting a holistic approach, it explores a host of issues relating to TFVA, including the nature and experience of harmful and criminal conduct; organisational responses; regulatory, legal and ethical concerns; corporate and social responsibility; justice for victims; bystander intervention; and cultural and social attitudes. The handbook's international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral nature affords opportunities for learning from common experiences, but it also emphasises the equality-affirming importance of avoiding one-size-fits-all analyses that fail to reflect rich and diverse experiences from around the world.

This book investigates how, while children used as soldiers are primarily perceived as victims of offences against international law, they also commit war atrocities. In the aftermath of armed conflict, the mainstream justice system targets warlords internationally, armed groups and militias' commanders who abduct and enrol children as combatants, leaving child perpetrators not being held accountable for their alleged gross human rights violations. Attempts to prosecute child soldiers through the mainstream justice system have resulted in child rights abuses. Where no accountability measures have been taken, demobilised young soldiers have experienced rejection, and eventually, some have returned to soldiering. This research provides evidence of the potential of restorative justice peacemaking circles and locally-based jurisprudence - specifically the Baraza - to hold former child soldiers accountable and facilitate their reintegration into society.