Random Violence

"Random Violence" is a deft and thought-provoking exploration of the ways we talk about - and why we worry about - new crimes and new forms of victimization. Focusing on so-called random crimes such as freeway shootings, gang violence, hate crimes, stalking, and wilding, Joel Best shows how new crime problems emerge and how some quickly fade from public attention while others spread and become enduring subjects of concern. Best's original and incisive argument illuminates the fact that while these crimes are in actuality neither new, nor epidemic, nor random, the language used to describe them nonetheless shapes both private fears and public policies. Best scrutinizes the melodramatic quality of the American public's attitudes toward crime, exposing the cultural context for the popularity of 'random violence' as a catch-all phrase to describe contemporary crime, and the fallacious belief that violence is steadily rising. He points out that the age, race, and sex of homicide victims reveal that violence is highly patterned. Best also details the contemporary ideology of victimization, as well as the social arrangements that create and support a victim industry that can label large numbers of victims. He demonstrates why it has become commonplace to 'declare war' on social problems, including drugs, crime, poverty, and cancer, and outlines the complementary influence of media, activists, officials, and experts in institutionalizing crime problems. Intrinsic to all these concerns is the way in which policy choices and outcomes are affected by the language used to describe social problems.

ISBN 0520215729   DEWEY edition DC21 ISBN13 9780520215726 (What's this?)   Pages 237 Publisher University of California Press   Volumes 1 Imprint University of California Press   Weight (grammes) 399 Format Paperback   Published in Berkerley Publication date 02 Mar 1999   Height (mm) 229 Non-book description xv, 242 p. :   Width (mm) 152 Library of Congress 98006234   Spine width (mm) 19 DEWEY 364.150973   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

		Acknowledgments
		Preface
Ch. 1		Random Violence		1
Ch. 2		From Incidents to Instances: The Media Discover Wilding and Freeway Violence		28
Ch. 3		Beyond Instances: Institutionalizing Stalking and Hate Crimes		48
Ch. 4		Gangs, Conspiracies, and Other Cultural Resources		72
Ch. 5		The New Victims		93
Ch. 6		The Victim Industry		119
Ch. 7		Declaring War on Social Problems		142
Ch. 8		Connections among Claims: The Context for New Social Problems		162
App		New Ways to Study Media Coverage of Social Problems		189
		Notes		197
		References		211
		Index		237

"This book looks at the patterns of crime and violence in U.S. society and how the language people use to describe it distorts how it is understood. Turning to roles of the news media and social activists in communicating threats to personal safety and public order, best argues that American culture tends to avoid the reality of crime and its underlying causes."--J"ournal of Social Work Education

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