Publisher's Synopsis
"Textbook on Criminology" is designed to give the student a clear understanding of the essential theories of criminology. It approaches the subject as a whole and covers the issues more frequently encountered by students. Rather than concentrating on a small area of criminological learning, as most books have done in the past, it provides students with a text which covers all the key elements of the subject.;The book deals with the major questions of criminology, such as "How do you define a crime?", "Why do people become criminals?" and "What should we do to prevent crime and deal with criminals?". Each is studied from an objective and academic viewpoint and gives the reader guidelines on the issues which are at stake and how best to approach finding answers. The book should encourage a greater social, political and philosophical awareness of both crime and criminals.;This edition presents a major update of the literature and consolidates its coverage of areas such as control balance theory and the significance of new findings in genetics for criminology. It also offers a deeper insight into societal responses to crime. Over the past 20 years the landscape of crime control and of societal expectation in relation to it has altered completely, moving from a largely welfare system to a neo-liberal system. This text maps out these changes and analyzes the reasons which underlie them. It also examines political influences and the vast changes in crime control together with the theories underpinning them which have been introduced since the labour administration came to power in 1997.
