Books in the Alternative Criminology series

A haunting look inside the worlds of crack and rap

The surprising true story of Mexico's hunt, arrest, and conviction of its first female serial killer who was responsible for the ghastly deaths of 40 elderly women in a fascinating analysis of what serial killing--often considered "killing for the pleasure of killing"--represents to us.nts to us.

Explores the role of stories in criminal culture and justice systems around the world Stories are much more than a means of communication¿stories help us shape our identities, make sense of the world, and mobilize others to action. In Narrative Criminology, prominent scholars from across the academy and around the world examine stories that animate offending. From an examination of how criminals understand certain types of crime to be less moral than others, to how violent offenders and drug users each come to understand or resist their identity as `criminals¿, to how cultural narratives motivate genocidal action, the case studies in this book cover a wide array of crimes and justice systems throughout the world. The contributors uncover the narratives at the center of their essays through qualitative interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and written archives, and they scrutinize narrative structure and meaning by analyzing genres, plots, metaphors, and other components of storytelling. In doing so, they reveal the cognitive, ideological, and institutional mechanisms by which narratives promote harmful action. Finally, they consider how offenders¿ narratives are linked to and emerge from those of conventional society or specific subcultures. Each chapter reveals important insights and elements for the development of a framework of narrative criminology as an important approach for understanding crime and criminal justice. An unprecedented and landmark collection, Narrative Criminology opens the door for an exciting new field of study on the role of stories in motivating and legitimizing harm.

Car bombing, suicide bombing, abduction, smuggling, homicide, and hijacking are all profoundly criminal acts. This work presents an understanding of terrorism from a criminological point of view, arguing that the most successful way to understand, detect, prosecute and deter these acts is to use conventional criminal investigation methods.

Presses policymakers to implement humane responses to persistent substance use that remove its control entirely from the criminal justice system

Reflects the costs, challenges, and consequences the "tough on crime" age has had, especially for male youth of colour

Analyses how class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation are used to construct difference for both the heroes and the villains in ways that are both conservative and progressive

Provides an account of life behind bars in a controversial new type of prison facility: the private prison. These for-profit prisons are becoming increasingly popular as state budgets get tighter. This book provides a look inside one of these private prisons as told through the eyes of an inmate, K.C. Carceral, who has been in the prison system.

Drug testing at the work place and efforts made by some to get around it.

Explains how violent and extremist collective behaviour emerges culturally, how it informs the identity of group members socially, and how participants assume their place in these groups completely even at the expense of life-threatening harm to others or to themselves

The intense policing of women's reproductive capacity places women's health and human rights in great peril. This work looks beyond abortion to document how the law and the criminal justice system police women's rights to conceive, to be pregnant, and to raise their children.

Takes readers on a tour of the sites where culture and punishment - meet television shows, movies, prison tourism, and post 9/11 new war prisons - demonstrating that because incarceration affects people along distinct race and class lines, it is only a privileged group of citizens who are removed from the experience of incarceration.

The color of clothing, the width of shoe laces, a pierced ear, certain brands of sneakers, the braiding of hair have long been seen as indicators of gang involvement. The author provides rich descriptions and stories to demonstrate that gang identity is a carefully coordinated performance with many nuanced rules of style and presentation.

In December of 2001, Jeff Ferrell quit his job as tenured professor, moved back to his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, and, with a place to live but no real income, began an eight-month odyssey of essentially living off of the street. This is the story of this journey into the often illicit worlds of scrounging, recycling, and second-hand living.

Argues that in order to understand terrorism today, we must come to terms with how prisoners are treated behind bars

A journey deep into the underworld of graffiti artists

A fascinating insiders look at the motivations, costs and consequences of deliberately violating the law as a strategy of social change