This new book brings together some of the leading criminologists across Europe, to showcase the best of European criminology. This Handbook aims to reflect the range and depth of current work in Europe, and to counterbalance the impact of the sometimes insular and ethnocentric Anglo-American criminological tradition. The end-product is a collection of twenty-eight chapters illustrating a truly comparative and interdisciplinary European criminology.

The editors have assembled a cast of leading voices to reflect on differences and commonalities, elaborate on theoretically grounded comparisons and reflect on emerging themes in criminology in Europe. After the editors introduction, the book is organised in three parts:

• Five chapters offering historical, theoretical and policy oriented overviews of European issues in crime and crime control,
• Seven chapters looking at different dimensions of crime in Europe, includingcrime trends, state crime, gender and crime and urban safety

Fifteen chapters examining the variety of institutional responses, exploring issues such as policing, juvenile justice, punishment, green crime and the role of the victim.
This book gives some indication of the richness and scope of the emerging comparative European criminology. It will be required reading for anyone who wants to understand trends in crime and its control across Europe. It will be a valuable teaching resource, especially at postgraduate level, as well as an important reference point for researchers and scholars of criminology across Europe.

Special offer of 125.00 for three months after publication. Offer expires 23rd October 2013.

This volume provides an important and exciting contribution to the knowledge on punishment across Europe. Over the past decade, punitiveness has been studied through analyses of 'increased' or 'new' forms of punishment in western countries. Comparative studies on the other hand have illustrated important differences in levels of punitiveness between these countries and have tried to explain these differences by looking at risk and protective factors. Covering both quantitative and qualitative dimensions, this book focuses on mechanisms interacting with levels of punitiveness that seem to allow room for less punitive (political) choices, especially within a European context: social policies, human rights and a balanced approach to victim rights and public opinion in constitutional democracies. The book is split into three sections: Punishment and Welfare. Chapters look into possible lessons to be learned from characteristics and developments in Scandinavian and some Continental European countries. Punishment and Human Rights. Contributions analyze how human rights in Europe can and do act as a shield against - but sometimes also as a possible motor for - criminalization and penalization. Punishment and Democracy. The increased political attention to victims' rights and interests and to public opinion surveys in European democracies is discussed as a possible risk for enhanced levels of punitiveness in penal policies and evaluated against the background of research evidence about the wishes and expectations of victims of crime and the ambivalence and 'polycentric consistency' of public opinion formations about crime and punishments. This book will be a valuable addition to the literature in this field and will be of interest to students, scholars and policy officials across Europe and elsewhere.

This volume provides an important and exciting contribution to the knowledge on punishment across Europe. Over the past decade, punitiveness has been studied through analyses of 'increased' or 'new' forms of punishment in western countries. Comparative studies on the other hand have illustrated important differences in levels of punitiveness between these countries and have tried to explain these differences by looking at risk and protective factors. Covering both quantitative and qualitative dimensions, this book focuses on mechanisms interacting with levels of punitiveness that seem to allow room for less punitive (political) choices, especially within a European context: social policies, human rights and a balanced approach to victim rights and public opinion in constitutional democracies. The book is split into three sections: Punishment and Welfare. Chapters look into possible lessons to be learned from characteristics and developments in Scandinavian and some Continental European countries. Punishment and Human Rights.Contributions analyze how human rights in Europe can and do act as a shield against -- but sometimes also as a possible motor for -- criminalization and penalization. Punishment and Democracy. The increased political attention to victims' rights and interests and to public opinion surveys in European democracies is discussed as a possible risk for enhanced levels of punitiveness in penal policies and evaluated against the background of research evidence about the wishes and expectations of victims of crime and the ambivalence and 'polycentric consistency' of public opinion formations about crime and punishments. This book will be a valuable addition to the literature in this field and will be of interest to students, scholars and policy officials across Europe and elsewhere.

Is there something distinctive about penology in Europe? Do Europeans think about punishment and penal policy in a different way to people in other parts of the globe? If so, why is this the case and how does it work in practice? This book addresses some major and pressing issues that have been emerging in recent years in the interdisciplinary field of 'European penology', that is, a space where legal scholarship, criminology, sociology and political science meet - or should meet - in order to make sense of punishment in Europe. The chapters in European Penology? have been written by leading scholars in the field and focus in particular on the interaction of European academic penology and national practice with European policies as developed by the Council of Europe and, increasingly, by the European Union.

This new book brings together some of the leading criminologists across Europe, to showcase the best of European criminology. This Handbook aims to reflect the range and depth of current work in Europe, and to counterbalance the impact of the - sometimes insular and ethnocentric - Anglo-American criminological tradition. The end-product is a collection of twenty-eight chapters illustrating a truly comparative and interdisciplinary European criminology. The editors have assembled a cast of leading voices to reflect on differences and commonalities, elaborate on theoretically grounded comparisons and reflect on emerging themes in criminology in Europe. After the editors' introduction, the book is organised in three parts: Five chapters offering historical, theoretical and policy oriented overviews of European issues in crime and crime control, Seven chapters looking at different dimensions of crime in Europe, includingcrime trends, state crime, gender and crime and urban safety Fifteen chapters examining the variety of institutional responses, exploring issues such as policing, juvenile justice, punishment, green crime and the role of the victim. This book gives some indication of the richness and scope of the emerging comparative European criminology. It will be required reading for anyone who wants to understand trends in crime and its control across Europe. It will be a valuable teaching resource, especially at postgraduate level, as well as an important reference point for researchers and scholars of criminology across Europe. Special offer of GBP125.00 for three months after publication. Offer expires 23rd October 2013.

In recent years European prison law and policy have emerged as a force to be reckoned with. This book explores its development and analyses the penological and human rights foundations on which it is based. It examines the findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the recommendations of the Council of Europe, and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. From these sources it makes the general principles that underlie European prison law and policy explicit, emphasising the principle of using imprisonment as a last resort and the recognition of prisoners' rights. The book then moves on to apply these principles to conditions of imprisonment, regimes in prison, contacts between prisoners and the outside world, and the maintenance of good order in prisons. The final chapter of the book considers how European prison law and policy could best be advanced in future. The authors argue that the European Court of Human Rights should adopt a more proactive approach to ensuring that imprisonment is used only as a last resort, and that a more radical interpretation of the existing provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights will allow it to do so. It concludes that the growing cooperation on prison matters within Europe bodes well for the increased recognition of prisoners' rights across Europe. In spite of some countervailing voices, Europe should increasingly be able to give an international lead in a human rights approach to prison law and policy in the same way it has done with the abolition of the death penalty.

In recent years European prison law and policy have emerged as a force to be reckoned with. This book explores its development and analyzes the penological and human rights foundations on which it is based. It examines the findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the recommendations of the Council of Europe, and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. From these sources it makes explicit the general principles that underlie European prison law and policy, emphasizing the principle of using imprisonment as a last resort and the recognition of prisoners' rights. The book then moves on to apply these principles to conditions of imprisonment, regimes in prison, contacts between prisoners and the outside world, and the maintenance of good order in prisons.
In the final chapter the book considers how European prison law and policy could best be advanced in future. The authors argue that the European Court of Human Rights should adopt a more proactive approach to ensuring that imprisonment is used only as a last resort, and that a more radical interpretation of the existing provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights will allow it to do so. It concludes that the growing cooperation on prison matters within Europe bodes well for the increased recognition of prisoners' rights across Europe. In spite of some countervailing voices, Europe should increasingly be able to give an international lead in a human rights approach to prison law and policy in the same way as it has done with the abolition of the death penalty.

Is there something distinctive about penology in Europe? Do Europeans think about punishment and penal policy in a different way to people in other parts of the globe? If so, why is this the case and how does it work in practice? This book addresses some major and pressing issues that have been emerging in recent years in the interdisciplinary field of 'European penology', that is, a space where legal scholarship, criminology, sociology and political science meet - or should meet - in order to make sense of punishment in Europe. The chapters in European Penology? have been written by leading scholars in the field and focus in particular on the interaction of European academic penology and national practice with European policies as developed by the Council of Europe and, increasingly, by the European Union.