Social Order And The Fear Of Crime In Contemporary Times

The fear of crime has been recognized as an important social problem, affecting a significant number of people. In this book, the authors review the findings from over 35 years of research into attitudes to crime and propose a new model, separating those who only 'expressively' fear crime from those who have actual experience of worrying about it.

The past 30 years have seen vast changes in our attitudes toward crime. More and more of us live in gated communities; prison populations have skyrocketed; and issues such as racial profiling, community policing, and "zero-tolerance" policies dominate the headlines. How is it that our response to crime and our sense of criminal justice has come to be so dramatically reconfigured? David Garland charts the changes in crime and criminal justice in America and Britain over the past twenty-five years, showing how they have been shaped by two underlying social forces: the distinctive social organization of late modernity and the neoconservative politics that came to dominate the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Garland explains how the new policies of crime and punishment, welfare and security—and the changing class, race, and gender relations that underpin them—are linked to the fundamental problems of governing contemporary societies, as states, corporations, and private citizens grapple with a volatile economy and a culture that combines expanded personal freedom with relaxed social controls. It is the risky, unfixed character of modern life that underlies our accelerating concern with control and crime control in particular. It is not just crime that has changed; society has changed as well, and this transformation has reshaped criminological thought, public policy, and the cultural meaning of crime and criminals. David Garland's The Culture of Control offers a brilliant guide to this process and its still-reverberating consequences.

The Routledge International Handbook on Fear of Crime brings together original and international state of the art contributions of theoretical, empirical, policy-related scholarship on the intersection of perceptions of crime, victimisation, vulnerability and risk. This is timely as fear of crime has now been a focus of scholarly and policy interest for some fifty years and shows little sign of abating. Research on fear of crime is demonstrative of the inter-disciplinarity of criminology, drawing in the disciplines of sociology, psychology, political science, history, cultural studies, gender studies, planning and architecture, philosophy and human geography. This collection draws in many of these interdisciplinary themes. This collections also extends the boundaries of fear of crime research. It does this both methodologically and conceptually, but perhaps more importantly it moves us beyond some of the often repeated debates in this field to focus on novel topics from unique perspectives. The book begins by plotting the history of fear of crime’s development, then moves on to investigate the methodological and theoretical debates that have ensued and the policy transfer that occurred across jurisdictions. Key elements in debates and research on fear of crime concerning gender, race and ethnicity are covered, as are contemporary themes in fear of crime research, such as regulation, security, risk and the fear of terrorism, the mapping of fear of crime and fear of crime beyond urban landscapes. The final sections of the book explore geographies of fear and future and unique directions for this research.

The media continue to have a significant persuasive influence on the public perception of crime, even when the information presented is not reflective of the crime rate or actual crime itself. There have been numerous theoretical studies on fear of crime in the media, but few have considered this from a social psychological perspective. As new media outlets emerge and public dependence on them increases, the need for such awareness has never been greater. This volume lays the foundation for understanding fear of crime from a social psychological perspective in a way that has not yet been systematically presented to the academic world. This volume brings together an international team of experts and scholars to assess the role of fear and the media in everyday life. Chapters take a multidisciplinary approach to psychology, sociology and criminology and explore such topics as dual process theory, construal level theory, public fascination with gangs, and other contemporary issues.

In recent years law, crime and justice have become increasingly politicised in Hong Kong. Understanding Criminal Justice in Hong Kong, 2nd Edition offers a detailed and comprehensive overview of and introduction to the criminal justice system in Hong Kong, building upon recent events and controversies. This book provides a much-needed overview of the criminal justice system in Hong Kong, including new chapters on criminological research methods, defining crime, fear of crime, the criminal court system, police power and discretion, and plea bargaining. This revised and expanded second edition: Outlines the basic concepts of criminal law in Hong Kong, Analyses the process of the criminal justice system, ranging from the reporting of a crime through to the correctional system, Examines how criminal justice personnel work in practice, and how they deal with the offenders and victims during the criminal justice process, Invites readers to consider arguments and debates that surround the controversial issues in the Hong Kong criminal justice system. This book is a comprehensive resource for students studying this subject as part of a wider course in criminal justice, police studies, law or social work, and for practitioners working in Hong Kong in the police, prisons, probation, voluntary agencies and other criminal justice personnel. Text features include review questions, lists of cases cited, and useful websites.

"Why have some Western democracies experienced a substantial turn toward tougher law and order policies whereas others have not changed their policies to a similar extent? This book shows that an important part of the explanation has to do with political parties and how they compete. It provides empirical evidence on three channels through which partisan politics matter: First, political parties in general, and issue owners in particular, move their programmatic stance toward the more repressive pole if they are challenged by right-wing populist parties or if they are pressured by a major competitor in a two-party system. In contrast, when strong liberal parties exist in a party system and are needed to form coalitions, such a dynamic is much more improbable. Second, a tougher programmatic stance of a party does translate into tougher policies, but only if the institutional context allows for it. Strong constitutional courts are particularly successful in pushing back tougher policies. Finally, the contribution also shows that positive policy feedback occurs: An initial step toward tougher policies may generate a pressure to continue down this road - independent from changes in public opinion. Hence, partisan effects seem to have consequences in the medium term and for future governments. The book bases its arguments on large-N-quantitative analyses of 20 Western industrialized countries as well as a new hand-coded dataset on law and order legislation in Britain, France, Germany and Sweden. Besides, four in-depth case studies on these countries provide qualitative evidence on the politics of law and order"--

This book provides a thorough account of victimisation across the social spectrum of class, race, age and gender. The second edition has been fully revised and expanded, with two parts now spanning the key perspectives and issues in victimology. Covering theoretical, social and political contexts, the book: Includes new chapters on defining and constructing victims, fear and vulnerability, sexuality, white collar crime and the implications of crime policy on victims Examines a global range of historical and theoretical perspectives in victimology and features a new chapter on researching victims of crime Reinforces your learning through critical thinking sections, future research suggestions, chapter summaries and a glossary of key terms Victims, Crime and Society is the essential text for your studies in victimology across criminology, criminal justice, community safety, youth justice and related areas.