Contributions in Criminology and Penology – serie

By exploring Shakespeare's use of law and justice themes in the context of historical and contemporary criminological thinking, this book challenges criminologists to expand their spheres of inquiry to avenues that have yet to be explored or integrated into the discipline. Crime writers, including William Shakespeare, were some of the earliest investigators of the criminal mind. However, since the formalization of criminology as a discipline, citations from literary works have often been omitted, despite their interdisciplinary nature. Taking various Shakespearean plays and characters as case studies, this book opens novel theoretical avenues for conceptualizing crime and justice issues.What types of crimes did Shakespeare's characters commit? What were the motivations put forth for these crimes? What type of social control did Shakespeare advocate? By utilizing a content analysis procedure, the author confirms that many of the crimes that plague society today were also prevalent in Shakespeare's time. She gleans twelve criminological theories as motivations for character deviance. Character analysis also provides valuable insight into Shakespeare's notions of formal and informal social control.

The rise of academic criminal justice programs from their beginnings at the University of California in the 1930s through the split into academic and vocational models during the later decades are described in this work. Academic politics and politicians are emphasized. The academic infighting in developing programs, and input from various other disciplines to the field are described. The work is addressed to professors of criminal justice, criminology, sociology, political science, and education.

This important edited collection of articles by both Chinese and American scholars attempts to promote a more accurate and in-depth understanding of crime and social control in China, as it undergoes significant cultural, economic, and social change. The editors contend that as the economic system has been transformed, many other social institutions in China have also experienced unprecedented changes, including legal institutions and other organizations responsible for social control. The essays focus on crime in China and summarize the major structural changes in Chinese society and their effects on crime and justice over the last ten to fifteen years, offer an overview of Chinese perspectives on crime, examine socio-economic changes and their impact on social control, and discuss changes in adults' and children's courts and the new changes in Chinese policing in Chinese society.Organized into four parts, this work addresses the nature, extent and special features of crime and delinquency in China under conditions of social change. It also investigates the question of the social correlation of changing patterns of crime. The impact of social transition on the changes in the grassroots level of social control is also discussed. Chinese law and criminal justice, with particular focus on the courts, police, and crime prevention are mentioned as well. This unique collection of essays is a timely and significant contribution to the fields of comparative criminology, social control, Chinese studies, and legal studies.

The author . . . focuses upon two elite categories of the criminal `underworld'--the jewel thief and the `wise guy'. . . . The author's well-documented readable work lends support to the contention that research in this area of crime problem is difficult, although feasible, and in the process fills a lacuna in the literature relative to elite categories of crime. Choice

Martin Alan Greenberg explores the origins of the two major types of citizen volunteer police--auxiliary and reserve--and examines the history and current practices of volunteer policing. The heart of the book deals with the history of New York City's volunteer police and the inner workings of the New York City Auxiliary Police, a subject the author knows intimately from his twelve years' experience as a participant-observer. Greenberg analyzes and evaluates current issues in volunteer policing. Based on his findings, he projects increased community involvement in volunteer police forces.

Jay Stuart Berman has written a clear, useful, and persuasive book. Regardless of Theodore Roosevelt's precise role in police reform, this study sheds considerable light on a crucial period in the development of American law enforcement, and Berman's analysis of the important relationship between a Progressive reform and the birth of the modern police makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the history of the police in America. Criminal Justice ReviewWhile recent research in criminal justice has made major contributions to the rapid advancements and changes that have occurred in the field, little effort has been devoted to developing a historical perspective on the processes and institutions of the criminal justice system. Seeking to expand our understanding of significant historical antecedents, Professor Berman focusses on the law enforcement reforms of Theodore Roosevelt, who was a pivotal figure in the evolution of the American police department. In the first full-length study of the subject, the author considers Roosevelt's term as police commissioner (1895-1897) in the context of Progressive Era urban reform, and he analyzes the professional model Roosevelt developed, its strengths and weaknesses, and its implications for contemporary criminal justice.

Punishing Criminals is about sentencing theory and policy and the attempt to identify punishments other than imprisonment. Davies argues for the need to develop more credible and effective community-based intermediate sanctions that have the confidence of the public and the officials in the criminal system. He shows how focus groups can be used to improve the process of consultation. He sees the need to locate sentencing policy decisions within the wider context of the criminal justice process and presents empirical evidence from ten years study of the California criminal justice system. He sets out a denunciatory-retributive rationale for punishment which links sentencing aims with a community's confidence in different forms of punishment.

Traditionally, social theorists in the West have structured models of state social control according to the tenet that socialization is accomplished by means of external controls on behavior: undesirable actions are punished and desirable actions result either in material reward or a simple respite from the oppressive attentions of an authoritarian state. In this volume, the author presents the tradition of law in China as an exception to the Western model of social control. The Confucian bureaucracy that has long structured Chinese social life melded almost seamlessly with the Maoist revolutionary agenda to produce a culture in which collectivism and an internalized adherence to social law are, in some respects, congenital features of Chinese social consciousness. Through her investigation of the Maoist concept of revolutionary justice and the tradition of conformist acculturation in China, the author constructs a fascinating counterpoint to traditional Western arguments about social control.

The rise of academic criminal justice programs from their beginnings at the University of California in the 1930s through the split into academic and vocational models during the later decades are described in this work. Academic politics and politicians are emphasized. The academic infighting in developing programs, and input from various other disciplines to the field are described. The work is addressed to professors of criminal justice, criminology, sociology, political science, and education.

By exploring Shakespeare's use of law and justice themes in the context of historical and contemporary criminological thinking, this book challenges criminologists to expand their spheres of inquiry to avenues that have yet to be explored or integrated into the discipline. Crime writers, including William Shakespeare, were some of the earliest investigators of the criminal mind. However, since the formalization of criminology as a discipline, citations from literary works have often been omitted, despite their interdisciplinary nature. Taking various Shakespearean plays and characters as case studies, this book opens novel theoretical avenues for conceptualizing crime and justice issues.What types of crimes did Shakespeare's characters commit? What were the motivations put forth for these crimes? What type of social control did Shakespeare advocate? By utilizing a content analysis procedure, the author confirms that many of the crimes that plague society today were also prevalent in Shakespeare's time. She gleans twelve criminological theories as motivations for character deviance. Character analysis also provides valuable insight into Shakespeare's notions of formal and informal social control.

This concise and accessible new text examines the correlations between runaway children and teenage prostitution in the United States from a criminological, sociological, and psychological perspective. The author takes a systematic approach to defining and describing the differences between youth who run away from home and those who leave institutional settings and distinguishes the difference between runaway and throwaway children. A careful examination of teenage prostitution among girls and boys helps to illuminate the special problems faced by children who have run away. In addition, the author discusses laws related to runaways, teenage prostitution, and the sexual exploitation of minors as well as the criminal justice response to the problems. Runaways and prostitution involving youth in other countries is also explored. The text's findings support current conclusions on the characteristics of runaways, the relationship between runaways and teen prostitution, and the implications of running away from home.Runaway Kids and Teenage Prostitution is divided into five parts. Part I examines the scope and dynamics of running away and differentiates between runaways and throwaways. Part II explores teenage prostitution and provides information on girl and boy prostitutes and the people who exploit them. Child sexual abuse and child pornography as correlates to the problem are studied in Part III, and Part IV reviews the law that atttempts to combat teenage prostitution. Part V is devoted to an examination of the scope and significance of the problem in other countries. Together, these chapters provide readers with a clear picture of the problem of runaways and teenage prostitution in the United States and around the world.