Books in the New Perspectives in Crime, Deviance, and Law series

Since the mid-1990s, the fast-growing suburb of Amherst, NY has been voted by numerous publications as one of the safest places to live in America. This book uses the types of delinquency seen in Amherst as a case study illuminating the roots of juvenile offending and deviance in modern society.

"Study of over sixty homicide offenders who served long sentences before being released"--Foreword.

Are the unemployed more likely to commit crimes? Does having a job make one less likely to commit a crime? This book offers a carefully nuanced understanding of the links among work, unemployment, and crime.

Provides an overview and evaluation of the underlying assumptions of criminology

A former gang member and juvenile delinquent, Rios managed to escape the bleak outcome of many of his friends and earned a PhD at Berkeley and returned to his hometown to study how inner city young Latino and African American boys develop their sense of self in the midst of crime and intense policing.

Shows how African American young women are victimized and how they struggle to navigate a dangerous terrain

By comparing how adolescents are prosecuted and punished in juvenile and criminal courts, this work finds that prosecuting adolescents in criminal court does not fit with out cultural understandings of youthfulness. It suggests that justice would be better served if adolescents were handled by the system designed to address their special needs.

Offers a new understanding of the changing world of police departments and information technology's significant and undeniable influence on crime management

With the close proximity of gangs and the easy access to drugs, keeping urban neighborhoods safe from crime has long been a central concern for residents. This book draws on five years of research in a white, working-class community on Chicago's South side to see how they tried to keep their streets safe.

Illuminates the nuanced and layered realities of immigrants' lives, describing the varying complexities surrounding immigration, crime, law, and victimization

Argues that obstacles to deepening our understanding of community/crime links arise in part because most scholars have overlooked four fundamental concerns: how conceptual frames depend on the geographic units and/or temporal units used; and how to establish the meaning of theoretically central ecological empirical indicators.

Considers race and ethnicity as central organizing principles in why, how, where and by whom crimes are committed and enforced. This volume argues that dimensions of race and ethnicity condition the very laws that make certain behaviours criminal, and the determination of who becomes a victim of crime under which circumstances.

The murder of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin and the subsequent trial and acquittal of his assailant, George Zimmerman, sparked a passionate national debate about race and criminal justice in America that involved everyone from bloggers to mayoral candidates to President Obama himself. With increased attention to these causes, from St. Louis to Los Angeles, intense outrage at New York City’s Stop and Frisk program and escalating anger over the effect of mass incarceration on the nation’s African American community, the Trayvon Martin case brought the racialized nature of the American justice system to the forefront of our national consciousness. Deadly Injustice uses the Martin/Zimmerman case as a springboard to examine race, crime, and justice in our current criminal justice system. Contributors explore how race and racism informs how Americans think about criminality, how crimes are investigated and prosecuted, and how the media interprets and reports on crime. At the center of their analysis sit examples of the Zimmerman trial and Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law, providing current and resonant examples for readers as they work through the bigger-picture problems plaguing the American justice system. This important volume demonstrates how highly publicized criminal cases go on to shape public views about offenders, the criminal process, and justice more generally, perpetuating the same unjust cycle for future generations. A timely, well-argued collection, Deadly Injustice is an illuminating, headline-driven text perfect for students and scholars of criminology and an important contribution to the discussion of race and crime in America.

The murder of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin and the subsequent trial and acquittal of his assailant, George Zimmerman, sparked a passionate national debate about race and criminal justice in America that involved everyone from bloggers to mayoral candidates to President Obama himself. With increased attention to these causes, from St. Louis to Los Angeles, intense outrage at New York City’s Stop and Frisk program and escalating anger over the effect of mass incarceration on the nation’s African American community, the Trayvon Martin case brought the racialized nature of the American justice system to the forefront of our national consciousness. Deadly Injustice uses the Martin/Zimmerman case as a springboard to examine race, crime, and justice in our current criminal justice system. Contributors explore how race and racism informs how Americans think about criminality, how crimes are investigated and prosecuted, and how the media interprets and reports on crime. At the center of their analysis sit examples of the Zimmerman trial and Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law, providing current and resonant examples for readers as they work through the bigger-picture problems plaguing the American justice system. This important volume demonstrates how highly publicized criminal cases go on to shape public views about offenders, the criminal process, and justice more generally, perpetuating the same unjust cycle for future generations. A timely, well-argued collection, Deadly Injustice is an illuminating, headline-driven text perfect for students and scholars of criminology and an important contribution to the discussion of race and crime in America.

Illuminates the nuanced and layered realities of immigrants' lives, describing the varying complexities surrounding immigration, crime, law, and victimization

Argues that fears of immigrant crime are largely unfounded, as immigrants are themselves often more likely to be the victims of discrimination, stigmatization, and crime. This book covers a variety of immigrant groups - mainly from Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America - and topics, such as: victimization, racial conflict, drugs, gangs, and more.

There are now more women committing crimes and serving sentences in prison than ever before. At the same time, women are often the victims of abuse, violence, and murder. Composed of contributions by many of the top scholars in criminology, these essays will help to transform our understanding of women's relation to crime.

Considers race and ethnicity as central organizing principles in why, how, where and by whom crimes are committed and enforced. This volume argues that dimensions of race and ethnicity condition the very laws that make certain behaviours criminal, and the determination of who becomes a victim of crime under which circumstances.