Criminology - Explaining Crime and Its Context

This highly acclaimed criminology text presents an up-to-date review of rational choice theories, including deterrence, shaming, and routine activities. It also incorporates current examples of deterrence research regarding domestic violence, drunk driving, and capital punishment, and features thought-provoking discussion of the relativity of crime. The authors explore the crime problem, its context, and causes of crime.
The organization of the text reflects the fact that the etiology of crime must be at the heart of criminology. It examines contemporary efforts to redefine crime by focusing on family violence, hate crimes, white-collar misconduct with violent consequences, and other forms of human behavior often neglected by criminologists.
Extensive discussion of evolving laws is included, and while the prevalence of the scientific method in the field of criminology is highlighted, the impact of ideology on explanations of crime is the cornerstone of the book.
Comprehensive introductory textbook that looks at competing answers to the question, "Why do people commit crimes?"
Student-friendly figures, features, highlights, and full-color photos.
Each chapter includes learning objectives, discussion questions, and lists of key terms and concepts, key criminologists, and important legal cases.
The eighth edition includes updates throughout and expanded coverage of biosocial theories of crime and life-course criminology.

List of contents

Dedication
Preface
Part I
Foundations for Criminology 1
1 Crime and Criminology
2 The Relativity of Law and Crime
3 Production of Crime Statistics
4 Distribution of Crime
Part II
Theories of Crime 133
5 Deterrence and Rational Choice Theories of Crime
6 Biosocial Theories of Crime [new chapter title]
7 Social Structure Theories of Crime
8 Social Process Theories of Crime
9 Social Reaction Theories of Crime
10 Recent Developments in Criminological Theory
Part III
Types of Crime 389
11 Violent Crime
12 Economic Crime
13 Crimes without Victims and Victims without Crimes
Name Index
Subject Index
About the Authors

About the author

Stephen E. Brown is a Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice and Department Head at Western Carolina University. He received the Ph.D. in Criminal Justice and Criminology from The University of Maryland in 1979. He went through the professorial ranks at East Tennessee State University, serving as Department Chair for 11 years and leaving as Professor Emeritus in 2008. Brown has published articles in a number of journals, including Criminology, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Criminal Justice Review, Youth and Society and Social Science Quarterly. His areas of research interest have been broad, covering topics such as family violence, deterrence, delinquency, and application of statistics within criminology. He has served as a Trustee on the board of The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and as editor of The American Society of Criminology's The Criminologist. He is currently working with several colleagues in assessing pedagogical challenges in teaching social science statistics. Finn-Aage Esbensen is the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Youth Crime and Violence in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and is currently serving as Department Chair. He has held research positions at the Center for Criminal Justice at Harvard Law School; Catholic University; the Behavioral Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado; and the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado. He received both his B.A. (German and Sociology) and M.A. (Sociology) degrees from Tufts University and his Ph.D. (Sociology) from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Gilbert Geis is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of California, Irvine. He is a former president of the American Society of Criminology and recipient of its Edwin H. Sutherland Award for outstanding research. He has also been given research awards by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Western Society of Criminology, the American Justice Institute, and the National Organization for Victim Assistance. Geis received his undergraduate degree from Colgate University and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Before joining the Irvine faculty, he taught at the University of Oklahoma and California State University, Los Angeles. Geis has published more than 400 articles on various aspects of crime and criminal justice.

Product details

• Authors: Stephen E. Brown, Stephen E. Esbensen Brown, Finn-Aage Esbensen, Gilbert Geis
• Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 04.09.2012
• EAN: 9781455730100
• ISBN: 978-1-4557-3010-0
• No. of pages: 592
• Series: Anderson Publishing
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Law > International law, foreign law