Why do certain people commit acts of crime? Why does crime happen in certain places? Presenting an ambitious new study designed to test a pioneering new theory of the causes of crime, Breaking Rules: The Social and Situational Dynamics of Young People's Urban Crime demonstrates that these questions can only go so far in explaining why crime happens - and, therefore, in preventing it. Based on the work of the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), Breaking Rules presents an analysis of the urban structure of Peterborough and its relation to young people's social life. Contemporary sciences state that behaviour is the outcome of an interaction between people and the environments to which they are exposed, and it is precisely that interaction and its relation to young people's crime involvement that PADS+ explores. Driven by a ground-breaking theory of crime, Situational Action Theory, which aims to explain why people break rules, it implements innovative methods of measuring social environments and people's exposure to them, involving a cohort of 700 young people growing up in the UK city of Peterborough. It focuses on the important adolescent time window, ages 12 to 17, during which young people's crime involvement is at its peak, using unique space-time budget data to explore young people's time use, movement patterns, and the spatio-temporal characteristics of their crime involvement. Presenting the first study of this kind, both in breadth and detail, with significant implications for policy and prevention, Breaking Rules should not only be of great interest to academic readers, but also to policy-makers and practitioners, interested in issues of urban environments, crime within urban environments, and the role of social environments in crime causation.

Breaking new ground in the study of crime in urban environments, Breaking Rules examines the findings, theoretical basis, and new methodology of The Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+). This major longitudinal study investigates the role of the social environment on crime causation, involving a cohort of 700 young people from the age of 12. A particular aim of PADS+ is to employ a new theory, known as Situational ActionTheory, as well as the innovative methodology of ecometrics combined with space-time budgets to improve the study of young people's offending and its changes.

This ebook is a selective guide designed to help scholars and students of criminology find reliable sources of information by directing them to the best available scholarly materials in whatever form or format they appear from books, chapters, and journal articles to online archives, electronic data sets, and blogs. Written by a leading international authority on the subject, the ebook provides bibliographic information supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult and editorial commentary to make it clear how the cited sources are interrelated related. A reader will discover, for instance, the most reliable introductions and overviews to the topic, and the most important publications on various areas of scholarly interest within this topic. In criminology, as in other disciplines, researchers at all levels are drowning in potentially useful scholarly information, and this guide has been created as a tool for cutting through that material to find the exact source you need. This ebook is a static version of an article from Oxford Bibliographies Online: Criminology, a dynamic, continuously updated, online resource designed to provide authoritative guidance through scholarship and other materials relevant to the study and practice of criminology. Oxford Bibliographies Online covers most subject disciplines within the social science and humanities, for more information visit www.aboutobo.com.

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’.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to juvenile delinquency by defining and describing juvenile delinquency, examining explanations for delinquent behavior, and considering contemporary efforts to control delinquency through prevention and juvenile justice. The text cultivates an understanding of juvenile delinquency by examining and linking key criminological theories and research. Coverage includes: the historical origins and transformation of "juvenile delinquency" and juvenile justice; the nature of delinquency, addressing the extent of delinquent offenses, the social correlates of offending and victimization (age, gender, race and ethnicity, and social class), and the developmental patterns of offending; theoretical explanations of delinquency, with insights from biosocial criminology, routine activities, rational choice, social control, social learning, social structure, labeling, and critical criminologies; evidence-based practice in delinquency prevention and contemporary juvenile justice. Fully revised and updated, the new edition incorporates the latest theory and research in the field of juvenile delinquency and provides expanded discussion of contemporary juvenile justice reform, evidence-based practice in delinquency prevention, and disproportionate minority contact throughout the juvenile justice process. This book is essential reading for courses on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice. The book is supported by a range of compelling pedagogical features. Each chapter includes key terms, learning objectives, an opening case study, box inserts that provide practical application of theory and research, critical thinking questions, suggested reading, useful websites, and a glossary of key terms. A companion website offers an array of resources for students and instructors. For students, this website provides chapter overviews, flashcards of key terms, and useful websites. The instructor site is password protected and offers a complete set of PowerPoint slides and an extensive test bank for each chapter—all prepared by the authors.

Offering a rich introduction to how scholars analyze crime, Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences moves readers beyond a commonsense knowledge of crime to a deeper understanding of the importance of theory in shaping crime control policies. The Eighth Edition of this clear, accessible, and thoroughly revised text covers traditional and contemporary theory within a larger sociological and historical context. The latest edition includes new sources that assess the empirical status of the major theories, a new chapter on Black Criminology, and expanded coverage of important perspectives, such as the explanation of white-collar crime and the relationship of immigration and crime.

This volume is divided into five sections that, when taken together, offer an informative account of the impact of Ruth Rosner Kornhauser's Social Sources of Delinquency on the development of American criminological thought. This classic book was her major contribution to the field. Section I tells the story of Kornhauser's brief but influential academic career. Section II probes deeply into the specific ways in which she challenged criminological theory and the subsequent responses that were forthcoming. Section III then presents commentary on specific lines of inquiry inspired by Kornhauser's book and orientation to criminological theory. Section IV explores recent efforts to move beyond Kornhauser's insights on communities and crime. Section V concludes with three critical essays contending that Social Sources of Delinquency paid insufficient attention to criminal motivation, the role of opportunity in offending, and gangs and girls. This volume—authored by prominent scholars—shows that Kornhauser's way of thinking about crime continues to be a starting point for much criminological theory today.