The Politics of Crime Control

How exactly does one define crime, crime prevention, and control? Who defines the acts labeled criminal? Who devises the sanctions, and who acts as agents of social control? These and other thought- provoking questions are raised in The Politics of Crime Control. A group of leading international criminologists from all over the political sphere play a key role in defining these terms. They examine the formation and implementation of official crime prevention and control policies, explore a range of critical perspectives which define crime, and discuss proposals for its prevention and control. Challenging and accessibly-written, The Politics of Crime Control will be excellent reading for students and professionals of criminology, social work, probation, police studies, and youth work. "This is a most useful collection of disparate ideas about crime control from an international group of authors. Credit must go to the editors for bringing such a wide range of political analyses of crime together." --British Sociological Association Newsletter "It is a powerful and useful collection, not just in terms of the platform it gives to criminologists of markedly different persuasions simply to spell out their agendas for the 1990s and beyond, and the intellectual responsibility it places directly on the reader to compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of these different positions. . . . This is a refreshing and highly stimulating contribution to criminological debate." --The Howard Journal "This book brings together the work of leading international criminologists from all sides of the political spectrum and from different countries. . . .The editors are teachers of criminology, the contributors are academics in different British, American, Canadian and Dutch Universities. The essays are of particular contemporary interest." --International Review of Administrative Services "An effective attack. . . . Stenson′s superb introductory essay situates the debates of criminology and criminal justice policy in a Foucaultian view of knowledge as a variable product of contending "power circuits." --Contemporary Sociology

`This little collection of essays is one of the most interesting and relevant criminological texts I have read in some time....this veritable feast of short essays....It is a powerful and useful collection, not just in terms of the platform it gives to criminologists of markedly different persuasions simply to spell out their agendas for the 1990s and beyond, and the intellectual responsibility it places directly on the reader to compare and contrast the strength and weaknesses of these different positions....The book is too rich in diversity of content for exhaustive review here....This is a refreshing and highly stimulating contribution to criminological debate - much needed in the criminological and political climate of Britain in 1992. It ought to be read by any student of criminology interested in the perplexity of issues involved in `thinking seriously′ about crime in 1992, as distinct from working to some prepackaged theoretical or empirical school.′ - Ian Taylor, Criminal Justice, Magazine of the Howard League

`This is the most useful collection of disparate ideas about crime control from an international group of authors, and credit must go to the editors for bringing such a wide range of political analyses of crime together.′ - BSA Network

`such a high fibre intellectual diet is ultimately worth it, allowing us to view a familiar world from the vantage point of alternative discourses, from the observatory of the abolitionist Left to the space station of the libertarian Right.′ - Probation Journal

`The essays are of particular contemporary interest.′ - International Review of Administrative Sciences

`Given the importance of crime control as a contested political issue, this is a timely book. It is also a particularly ambitious book. Aimed at a student readership, the editors set themselves a number of objectives, some of which remain elusive, but many of which they meet. They should be congratulated for three prinicpal achievements. First, they succeed in bringing together under one text a broad spectrum of authors whom one would otherwise not expect to see sharing the same pages. Second, they have successfully ensured that the contributions are written in an accessible and lively form. A number of the contributions devote welcome space to introducing the perspective from which they are working. And finally, they have drawn together contributions which not only focus upon British criminological debates but also encompass issues and perspectives from North America and the European mainland.... It is refreshing to find an edited text which draws upon and engages with the issues pertinent to both continents.... As a collection of discrete essays this book has much to offer the reader by way of an introduction to particular issues in crime prevention and control and as a `taster′ of divergent criminological perspectives.... The book does... provide useful material for teachers of criminology and deserves a prominent place on any reading list. It will also undoubtedly encourage students into wider reading by whetting their appetites for criminological argument and debate.′ - British Journal of Criminology