Political leaders and the popular press tell us that society is in the grip of a moral crisis. ‘Where have our values gone?’ our newspapers scream at us. ‘Benefit scroungers’, ‘greedy bankers’, ‘intrusive journalists’, ‘have-a-go rioters’, political scandals and criminals of all shapes and sizes are continually cited as evidence that we live in a modern-day Gomorrah. Criminologists have studied this in several ways, including: media representations of crime, mass incarceration, hooliganism and the exercise of power and control through communities. What criminologists have not studied is the place of morality in shaping public debate about understanding crime and how this then shapes crime control strategies. Rather than dismiss statements about community breakdown, ‘broken society’ and irresponsibility as ideological, self-justificatory rhetoric, what happens when we take these claims seriously? What do they tell us about the causes of crime? How do they shape the crime control agenda? How else might we begin to understand and explain the relationship between crime and society? Navigating between criminological concerns about control and governance and social theories about culture and identity, this book explores what is meant by crime, community and morality and puts this meaning to the test. Discussion of a new theory of rule-breaking, combined with an analysis of how our justice system is becoming maladapted, makes this essential reading for criminologists around the globe, as well as those general readers interested in the causes of crime.

Political leaders and the popular press tell us that society is in the grip of a moral crisis. ‘Where have our values gone?’ our newspapers scream at us. ‘Benefit scroungers’, ‘greedy bankers’, ‘intrusive journalists’, ‘have-a-go rioters’, political scandals and criminals of all shapes and sizes are continually cited as evidence that we live in a modern-day Gomorrah. Criminologists have studied this in several ways, including: media representations of crime, mass incarceration, hooliganism and the exercise of power and control through communities. What criminologists have not studied is the place of morality in shaping public debate about understanding crime and how this then shapes crime control strategies. Rather than dismiss statements about community breakdown, ‘broken society’ and irresponsibility as ideological, self-justificatory rhetoric, what happens when we take these claims seriously? What do they tell us about the causes of crime? How do they shape the crime control agenda? How else might we begin to understand and explain the relationship between crime and society? Navigating between criminological concerns about control and governance and social theories about culture and identity, this book explores what is meant by crime, community and morality and puts this meaning to the test. Discussion of a new theory of rule-breaking, combined with an analysis of how our justice system is becoming maladapted, makes this essential reading for criminologists around the globe, as well as those general readers interested in the causes of crime.

This book examines the nature of collective morality as it materializes in public commentary about crime in the Americas and identifies the ways in which the moral community is talked into being and how the imagined moral universe is mapped.

This text combines insights from criminology, sociology and moral philosophy. It describes the arousal of attention for victims and the development of crime prevention. More specifically, it analyzes child sexual abuse and prostitution.

The way we think about crime and the way that society responds to it are imbued with values that can determine what is considered important and what gets attention. Sometimes values that are claimed may not be the values expressed in practice, as we see in the multiple and confusing discourses about victims and offenders, punishment and protection, rights and responsibilities. This collection of writings considers values in crime theory, criminal justice and research practice, uncovering the many different 'sides' – to echo Howard Becker's famous phrase – that criminologists, policy makers and researchers take. It spans Marxist, postmodernist and feminist perspectives on criminology, analyses of the dynamics of race, gender and age, research methods and ethics, the working of the criminal justice system and engages with current debates about new challenges for criminology, such as the green movement and Islamophobia. This is a timely and thought-provoking collection which will be of interest to academics and students in criminology and criminal justice, and on professional courses, such as probation and youth justice practice.

To find more information about Rowman and Littlefield titles, please visit www.rowmanlittlefield.com.