Comprehensive, critical and accessible, this text offers an authoritative overview of the study of criminology, from early theoretical perspectives, to contemporary criminal justice, to pressing international issues in crime and punishment.



Comprehensive, critical and accessible, Criminology: A Sociological Introduction offers an authoritative overview of the study of criminology, from early theoretical perspectives to pressing contemporary issues such as the globalisation of crime, crimes against the environment, terrorism and cybercrime. Authored by an internationally renowned and experienced group of authors in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex, this is a truly international criminology text that delves into areas that other texts may only reference. It includes substantive chapters on the following topics: • Histories of crime; • Theoretical approaches to crime and the issue of social change; • Victims and victimisation; • Crime, emotion and social psychology; • Drugs, alcohol, health and crime; • Criminal justice and the sociology of punishment; • Green criminology; • Crime and the media; • Terrorism, state crime and human rights. The new edition fuses global perspectives in criminology from the contexts of post-Brexit Britain and America in the age of Trump, and from the Global South. It contains new chapters on cybercrime; crimes of the powerful; organised crime; life-course approaches to understanding delinquency and desistance; and futures of crime, control and criminology. Each chapter includes a series of critical thinking questions, suggestions for further study and a list of useful websites and resources. The book also contains a glossary of the criminological terms and concepts used in the book. It is the perfect text for students looking for a broad, critical and international introduction to criminology, and it is essential reading for those looking to expand their ‘criminological imagination’.