Examining the successful movements to abolish capital punishment in the UK, France, and Germany, this book examines the similarities in the social structure and political strategies of abolition movements in all three countries. An in-depth comparative analysis with other countries assesses chances of success of abolition elsewhere.

This book examines how the modern criminal trial is the result of competing discourses of justice, from human rights to state law and order, that allows for the consideration of key stakeholder interests, specifically those of victims, defendants, police, communities and the state.

Procedure is not just a programme or a nexus of formalities. It is something done by legal experts and lay participants in a highly concerted ensemble. Procedure frames and advances all law-relevant activities. This book, written by three authors from different disciplinary backgrounds, provides an in-depth comparison of criminal defence work in different legal cultures. Via an ethnographic comparison, this book also shows how defence work responds to the challenges of different procedural regimes and how it contributes to their individual outcomes. Criminal Defence and Procedure opens up new horizons for legal comparison, inviting novel understandings of procedural law as well as possibilities of legal reform.

This book is about relating the concepts of rape and murder in both senses of the term; that is the way rape and murder are linked and related and also how stories of rape and murder are related or told.

Forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) has grown into a specialization informed by research and professional guidelines. This series presents up-to-date information on the most important and frequently conducted forms of FMHA. The 19 topical volumes address best approaches to practice for particular types of evaluation in the criminal, civil, and juvenile/family areas. Each volume contains a thorough discussion of the relevant legal and psychological concepts, followed by a step-by-step description of the assessment process from preparing for the evaluation to writing the report and testifying in court.
Volumes include the following helpful features:
. Boxes that zero in on important information for use in evaluations
. Tips for best practice and cautions against common pitfalls
. Highlighting of relevant case law and statutes
. Separate list of assessment tools for easy reference
. Helpful glossary of key terms for the particular topic
In making recommendations for best practice, authors consider empirical support, legal relevance, and consistency with ethical and professional standards. These volumes offer invaluable guidance for anyone involved in conducting or using forensic evaluations. This book places juvenile risk assessment within the context of FMHA for juveniles, so those using it will find it particularly useful to incorporate into their evaluations of risk and needs for adolescents in the juvenile justice system."

This book locates the rise of illicit drug use within the historical development of late industrial society and challenges the prevailing view. Highlighting key areas of continuity and the on-going value of classic criminological theory, it is argued that recent trends do not constitute the radical departure that is often supposed.

We live in the age of international crime but when did it begin? This book examines the period when crime became an international issue (1881-1914), exploring issues such as 'world-shrinking' changes in transportation, communication and commerce, and concerns about alien criminality, white slave trading and anarchist outrages.

Considering the question of how levels of security allow state power to be increased to the point at which it infringes essential civil liberties, this book explores the creeping power of the executive and the unfeasibility of widespread use of the Human Rights Act as a bulwark against the oppressive use of state power.

Miller's Children is a passionate and comprehensive look at the human consequences of the US Supreme Court's decision in the case of Miller v. Alabama, which outlaws mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile murderers. The decision to apply the law retroactively to other cases has provided hope to those convicted of murders as teenagers and had been incarcerated with the expectation that they would never leave prison until their own death as incarcerated adults. Psychological expert witness James Garbarino shares his fieldwork in more than forty resentencing cases of juveniles affected by the Miller decision. Providing a wide-ranging review of current research on human development in adolescence and early adulthood, he shows how studies reveal the adolescent mind's keen ability for malleability, suggesting the true potential for rehabilitation. Garbarino focuses on how and why some convicted teenage murderers have been able to accomplish dramatic rehabilitation and transformation, emphasizing the role of education, reflection, mentoring, and spiritual development. With a deft hand, he shows us the prisoners' world that is filled, first and foremost, with stories of hope amid despair, and moral and psychological recovery in the face of developmental insult and damage.

This title examines the role of political culture and penal populism in the response to the emotive subject of child-on-child homicide. Green explores the reasons underlying the vastly differing responses of the English and Norwegian criminal justice systems to the cases of James Bulger and Silje Redergard respectively. Whereas James Bulger's killers were subject to extreme press and public hostility, and held in secure detention for nine months before being tried in an adversarial court, and served eight years in custody, a Redergard's killers were shielded from public antagonism and carefully reintegrated into the local community. This book argues that English adversarial political culture creates far more incentives to politicize high-profile crimes than Norwegian consensus political culture. Drawing on a wealth of empirical research, Green suggests that the tendency for politicians to justify punitive responses to crime by invoking harsh political attitudes is based upon a flawed understanding of public opinion. In a compelling study, Green proposes a more deliberative response to crime is possible by making English culture less adversarial and by making informed public judgment more assessable.

Honorable Mention, 2014 Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Outstanding Book Award presented by the Society for the Study of Social Problems 2012 Best Book Award, Latino/a Sociology Section, presented by the American Sociological Association 2012 Finalist, C. Wright Mills Book Award presented by the Study of Social Problems A classic ethnography that reveals how urban police criminalize black and Latino boys Victor Rios grew up in the ghetto of Oakland, California in the 1980s and 90s. A former gang member and juvenile delinquent, Rios managed to escape the bleak outcome of many of his friends and earned a PhD at Berkeley and returned to his hometown to study how inner city young Latino and African American boys develop their sense of self in the midst of crime and intense policing. Punished examines the difficult lives of these young men, who now face punitive policies in their schools, communities, and a world where they are constantly policed and stigmatized. Rios followed a group of forty delinquent Black and Latino boys for three years. These boys found themselves in a vicious cycle, caught in a spiral of punishment and incarceration as they were harassed, profiled, watched, and disciplined at young ages, even before they had committed any crimes, eventually leading many of them to fulfill the destiny expected of them. But beyond a fatalistic account of these marginalized young men, Rios finds that the very system that criminalizes them and limits their opportunities, sparks resistance and a raised consciousness that motivates some to transform their lives and become productive citizens. Ultimately, he argues that by understanding the lives of the young men who are criminalized and pipelined through the criminal justice system, we can begin to develop empathic solutions which support these young men in their development and to eliminate the culture of punishment that has become an overbearing part of their everyday lives.

Bringing together new research, this book advances current theoretical understandings of punishment and control in society. It provides a critical analysis of institutions, punishment and the law, and explores the delivery of punishment and experience of incarceration in Western societies from the early-nineteenth century.

Despite the growing interest in security amongst governments, organizations and the general public, the provision of much security is substandard. This book explores the problems facing security, and sets out innovative proposals to enhance the effectiveness of security in society, at national and organizational levels.

In the twenty-first-century world of juvenile justice policy and practice, nearly everyone agrees that one of the most pressing issues facing the nation's juvenile courts is their proper response to delinquent youths with mental disorders. Recent research indicates that about two-thirds of adolescent offenders in juvenile justice facilities meet the criteria for one or more mental disorders. What are the obligations of our juvenile justice system, then, as the caretaker for delinquent youth with such disabilities? How do issues of adolescent development create special challenges in determining the court's proper response to delinquents with special mental health needs? Thomas Grisso considers these questions while offering new information to assist the juvenile justice system in its responses to the needs of our children.
"Double Jeopardy" considers the newest data on the nature of youths' mental disorders--their relationships to delinquency, the values and limits of methods to treat them, and the common patterns of adolescent offending. That information is used to chart a rational course for fulfilling the juvenile justice system's duty--as a custodian of children in need of health care, as a legal system promoting fairness in youth adjudication, and as a protector of public safety--to respond to delinquent youths' mental disorders. Moreover, "Double Jeopardy" provides a scientific yet practical foundation for lawmakers, judges, attorneys, and mental health care professionals, as well as researchers who must fill the knowledge gaps that limit the juvenile justice system's abilities to meet youths' mental health needs.

The majority of young people in the American juvenile justice system have diagnosable mental illnesses, including substance abuse, mental retardation and learning disorders. However, these often remain undetected and untreated. In this book, a team of experts examines the prevalence of mental disorders in this population and describes the means of screening for, diagnosing, and treating them effectively in a developmentally appropriate, culturally sensitive manner. They also examine psychopharmacologic and psychotherapeutic approaches; innovative alternatives to detention; the true costs of detaining youth; vulnerability to self-incrimination; and the alarming trend of minority confinement. Their comprehensive coverage includes discussion of ethical dilemmas and the need for preventive strategies and integrated approaches involving judicial, law enforcement, educational, and mental health professionals. This book will be of interest to both mental health and juvenile justice professionals.

Drawing on Foucauldian theory and 'social harm' paradigms, Naughton offers a radical redefinition of miscarriages of justice from a critical perspective. This book uncovers the limits of the entire criminal justice process and challenges the dominant perception that miscarriages of justices are rare and exceptional cases of wrongful imprisonment.

Despite a century of effort, criminologists do not yet fully understand the relationship between disadvantage and crime. The balance of evidence suggests that economic and social stress increase the risk of involvement in crime by increasing the motivation to offend. But there are a number of empirical anomalies that cannot easily be reconciled with this interpretation of the evidence. Weatherburn and Lind argue that the transmission mechanism linking economic and social stress to crime is not offender motivation but disruption to the parenting process. They put forward an epidemic model of the genesis of delinquent-prone communities and show how this model resolves the empirical anomalies facing conventional interpretations of the disadvantage/crime relationship. This book offers compelling evidence which will stimulate debate in this area of criminology and will also interest academics, policy makers and practitioners in the field.

Terry Thomas considers the use of criminal records within the criminal justice system and beyond - especially the growth of their use for pre-employment screening via the Criminal Records Bureau. This book also considers future developments and the impact that transferring criminal records across international borders will have.

This book presents a study of co-offering relations among youths under twenty-one suspected of criminal offences in Stockholm during 1991-5. In total, the study includes just over 22,000 individuals suspected of around 29,000 offences. Jerzy Sarnecki employs the methods of network analysis which makes it possible to study the ties, social bonds, interactions, differential associations and connections that are central to many of the sociologically oriented theories on the aetiology of crime. Up to now, network analysis has been used only rarely in the criminological context. The book discusses many aspects of Stockholm's delinquent networks such as the existence of delinquent gangs and a criminal underworld, the durability of delinquent relations, and the choice of co-offenders with respect to sex, age, residential location, ethnic background and earlier delinquent experience. It also considers the effects of societal intervention on criminal networks. This unique study will appeal to a wide audience.

This groundbreaking study examines patterns of offending among persistent juvenile offenders. The authors address questions that have been the focus of criminological debate over the last two decades. Are there are multiple groups of offenders in the population with distinct age-crime patterns? Are between-person differences in criminal offending patterns stable throughout the offender's life? Is there a relationship between offending at one time and at a subsequent time of life, after time-stable differences in criminal propensity are controlled? Ezell and Cohen address these issues by examining three large, separately drawn samples of serious youthful offenders from California. Each sample was tracked over a long time-period, and sophisticated statistical models were used to test eight empirical hypotheses drawn from three major theories of crime: population heterogeneity, state dependence, and dual taxonomy. Each of these three perspectives offers different predictions about the relationship between age and crime, and the possibility of crime desistance over the life of serious chronic offenders. Despite the serious chronic criminality among the sample offenders, by the time they reached their mid- to late twenties and continuing into their thirties, each of the six latent classes of offender identified by the study had begun to demonstrate a declining number of arrests. This finding has profound implications for penal policies that impose life sentences on multiple offenders, such as the Californian 'three strikes and you're out' which incarcerates inmates for 25 years to life with their 'third strike' conviction, at precisely the point when they have begun to grow out of serious crime.

A startling examination of the deliberate criminalization of black youths from the 1930s to today A stark disparity exists between black and white youth experiences in the justice system today. Black youths are perceived to be older and less innocent than their white peers. When it comes to incarceration, race trumps class, and even as black youths articulate their own experiences with carceral authorities, many Americans remain surprised by the inequalities they continue to endure. In this revealing book, Carl Suddler brings to light a much longer history of the policies and strategies that tethered the lives of black youths to the justice system indefinitely. The criminalization of black youth is inseparable from its racialized origins. In the mid-twentieth century, the United States justice system began to focus on punishment, rather than rehabilitation. By the time the federal government began to address the issue of juvenile delinquency, the juvenile justice system shifted its priorities from saving delinquent youth to purely controlling crime, and black teens bore the brunt of the transition. In New York City, increased state surveillance of predominantly black communities compounded arrest rates during the post-World War II period, providing justification for tough-on-crime policies. Questionable police practices, like stop-and-frisk, combined with media sensationalism, cemented the belief that black youth were the primary cause for concern. Even before the War on Crime, the stakes were clear: race would continue to be the crucial determinant in American notions of crime and delinquency, and black youths condemned with a stigma of criminality would continue to confront the overwhelming power of the state.

To reveal how membership in adolescent street gangs influences human development, the authors examine the origins of gang membership and the social and psychological factors that lead to joining. After demonstrating that gang members are responsible for the major share of serious and violent delinquency, they indicate how membership facilitates delinquent behavior and other developmental problems such as teen pregnancy and school dropout.

In this fascinating new work, Karen Duke explores the conflicts and contradictory pressures in the development of prison drugs policy in Britain from 1980 to the present. Based on interviews with key policy actors and documentary analysis, it explores how policy networks around drug issues in prisons have attempted to contain the contradictions between treatment and punishment and how their activities have been shaped by the ways in which the drugs issue is framed, the roles of research, evidence and knowledge, and the impact of wider social, political, policy and institutional contexts.

One of the most astonishing aspects of juvenile crime is how little is known about the impact of the policies and programs put in place to fight it. As a result of this almost complete absence of evaluation, the most commonly used strategies and programs for combating juvenile delinquency problems primarily rely on intuition and fads. Fortunately, as a result of the promising new research documented in "Changing Lives," these deficiencies in our juvenile justice system might quickly be remedied.Peter W. Greenwood here demonstrates that as crimes rates have fallen, researchers have identified more connections between specific risk factors and criminal behavior, while program developers have discovered a wide array of innovative interventions. The result of all this activity, he reveals, has been the revelation of a few prevention models that reduce crime much more cost-effectively than popular approaches such as tougher sentencing, D.A.R.E., boot camps, and "scared straight" programs. "Changing Lives "expertly presents the most promising of these prevention programs, their histories, the quality of evidence to support their effectiveness, the public policy programs involved in bringing them into wider use, and the potential for investments and developmental research to increase the range and quality of programs. Combining compassion with common sense and clear prose with the most cutting-edge research available on the efficiency of delinquency prevention programs, "Changing Lives" should be read by any policymaker, attorney, criminologist, social worker, psychologist, or other worker faced with the task of trying to help rehabilitate young offenders.

This book presents a study of co-offending relations among youths under 21 suspected of criminal offenses in Stockholm during 1991-1995. In total, the study includes just over 22,000 individuals suspected of around 29,000 offenses. Jerzy Sarnecki employs the method of network analysis that makes it possible to study the ties, social bonds, interactions, differential associations and connections that are central to many of the sociologically oriented theories on the etiology of crime. Up to now, network analysis had been used only rarely in the criminological context.