Crime and Popular Culture (Routledge Studies in Crime, Culture and Media)

Crime and Popular Culture: Rule Breakers analyses society's fascination with criminals and investigates the changing acceptability of rule breakers across different times and contexts through a cultural criminological lens.

Divided into two parts, this book begins by examining factual representations of rule breakers in media, tourism, and murderabilia and then focuses on fictional representations in literature, film, music, alcohol and gaming industries. It analyses the romanticisation of criminals and the intertwined effect of popular culture on the 'real world', including cases where offenders were allegedly inspired by popular culture. Familiar case studies include crime-related dark tourism sites, moral panics surrounding music and deviance and the growing popularity of immersive criminal world experiences in gaming.

Crime and Popular Culture will appeal to students, scholars and anyone with an interest in criminology, cultural studies, crime and the media and a fascination with crime and popular culture.

Jenny Wise is Associate Professor in Criminology within the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New England. Her research focuses on the social impacts of forensic science on the criminal justice system, the role of the CSI Effect in changing criminal justice practices, dark tourism and crime as a form of leisure.