For well over one hundred years society had considered ways of helping prisoners on their release from prison, but there had been no serious attempt to assess in a scientific manner the value of such efforts. Originally published in 1974, this book broke with this tradition and was the first full-scale work published in this country evaluating carefully whether an active policy of finding suitable employment for men immediately on their release from prison had beneficial results.Th...

First published in 1991, Sex Crime in the News is a unique examination of the nature of sex crime reporting in the press. Analysing examples from forty years of newspaper coverage, the authors provide a systematic study of this controversial topic. The book reveals the misleading and trivializing nature of sex crime coverage, with serious research reports on rape and discussions on law reform being given short shrift. The authors examine the increasing gap between the reality of s...

The study of criminal careers is of increasing interest in criminology. It is now generally recognised that it is important to try to understand criminal behaviour across the life-course rather than focusing on fragmented incidents which provide only a partial picture. This is an accessible text which clarifies the crucial theoretical and methodological debates surrounding the study of criminal careers.It focuses on some major longitudinal studies discussing the onset, persistence,...

This is a comprehensive reference book on the subject of forensic mental health, looking at what forensic mental health is and its assessment, management and treatment. It focuses on key topics and the issues underpinning them in contemporary society.The book includes:an account of the historical development of forensic mental health, along with a description of the three mental health systems operating in the UKan in-depth analysis of the forensic mental he...

This anthology, selected by Tony Parker shortly before his death in 1996, provides the very essence of his quite distinctive contribution to criminology. In it he speaks intimately to all kinds of people including offenders, inadequates, professional criminals, sex offenders, frauds and false pretence merchants and prisoners on death row. Lyn Smith concludes with some reflections on his methodology. This collection celebrates an outstanding body of work and provides a fascinating insight i...

This is a text for criminology students designed to take them to the heart of the contradictions, confusions and blurred boundaries around the subject of crime, about what crime is, about social regulation and control, and about social responsibility. It focuses on the key questions and issues underpinning them in contemporary definitions, representations and explanations of crime. It aims to question the platitudes and cliches surrounding public discussion of crime, by acknowledging the i...