Paddy Hillyard – författare

'This book sheds valuable light on the darker side of the operation of the act in Britain' Steven Greer, Fortnight'Written in an accessible style, this should be an invaluable reference tool for lawyers, students and human rights campaigners' Tribune'This book should be compulsory reading for anyone concerned with injustice in Britain' Catholic Herald'An important and long-overdue text ... that deserves to be read widely and should stand as a clarion call for all those interested in racism, the state and contemporary policing to incorporate the Irish far more centrally in their analyses'Paul Connolly, Capital & Class'The first systematic study of the operation of the PTA' Harry Potter, LCCJ Newsletter'The critique is precise and the arguments are clear and irrefutable, a guarantee that this book will not be read by those whose votes ensure the Act's continued retention' Books Ireland'This book deserves fulsome praise for challenging the academic silence surrounding this area and for reminding us that it is possible to conduct rigorous, scholarly and interventionist work without becoming dependent or involved with the managerial gatekeepers of the criminal justice system' Journal of Law and Society

Crime forms only a small and often insignificant amount of the harm experienced by people. While custom and tradition play an important role in the perpetuation of some types of harm, many forms of harm are rooted in the inequalities and social divisions systematically produced in - and by - contemporary states.Exploring a range of topics including violence, indifference, corporate and state harms, murder, children, asylum and immigration policies, sexuality and poverty, the contributors raise a number of theoretical and methodological issues associated with a social harm approach. Only once we have identified the origins, scale and consequences of social harms, they argue, can we begin to formulate possible responses -- and these are more likely to be located in public and social policy than in the criminal justice system.The book provides an original and challenging new perspective that goes beyond criminology - one which will be of interest to students, teachers and policy makers.