In Crime Prevention: Programs, Policies, and Practices, criminologists Steven E. Barkan and Michael Rocque present a well-rounded exploration of evidence-based policies, programs, and practices. Grounded in criminological theory and emphasizing the social, psychological, and biological roots of crime, this text presents current research, perspectives, and examples that capture the key crime prevention concepts students should understand, including the public health model f...

A lively, up-to-date overview of the newest research in biosocial criminologyWhat is the relationship between criminality and biology? Nineteenth-century phrenologists insisted that criminality was innate, inherent in the offender’s brain matter. While they were eventually repudiated as pseudo-scientists, today the pendulum has swung back. Both criminologists and biologists have begun to speak of a tantalizing but disturbing possibility: that criminality may be inh...

Biosocial criminology—and biosocial criminologists—focuses on both the environmental and biological factors that contribute to antisocial behavior. Importantly, these two domains are not separate parts of an equation but pieces of the same puzzle that fit together for a complete picture of the causes of crime/antisocial behavior.Fitting the Facts of Crime applies a biopsychosocial lens to the “13 facts of crime” identified by John Braithwaite in his classic book, Crime...

This book explores the role of theory and research in criminology. Adopting a unique and refreshing approach to criminological theory, it focuses on the great debates in criminology from its inception as a field to the present day. It explores the debates that have motivated criminological thought, that have represented turning points in theoretical and empirical trajectories, that have offered mini-paradigm shifts, and that have moved the field forward. Coverage includes:Cla...

This book represents a brief treatise on the theory and research behind the concept of desistance from crime. This ever-growing field has become increasingly relevant as questions of serious issues regarding sentencing, probation and the penal system continue to go unanswered. Rocque covers the history of research on desistance from crime and provides a discussion of research and theories on the topic before looking towards the future of the application of desistance to policy.The ...

The most comprehensive research-based text on family violence – now more accessible and visually inviting than ever beforeStreamlined and updated throughout with state-of-the-art information, this Third Edition of the authors′ bestselling book gives readers an accessible introduction to the methodology, etiology, prevalence, treatment, and prevention of family violence. Research from experts in the fields of psychology, sociology, criminol...

In recent years, the lifecourse perspective has become a popular theoretical orientation toward crime. Yet despite its growing importance in the field of criminology, most textbooks give it only cursory treatment. Crime and the Lifecourse: An Introduction by Michael L. Benson provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary research and theory on the life-course approach to crime. The book emphasizes a conceptual understanding of this approach. A special feature is the integratio...

With chapters written by leading scholars and researchers, the third edition of A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health provides an updated, comprehensive review of the sociology of mental health. The volume presents an overview of the historical, social, and institutional frameworks for understanding mental health and illness. Part I examines the social factors that shape psychiatric diagnosis and the measurement of mental health and illness, the theories that explain the definition and...

Epidemiological criminology is an emerging paradigm which explores the public health outcomes associated with engagement in crime and criminal justice. This book engages with this new theory and practice-based discipline drawing on knowledge from criminology, criminal justice, public health, epidemiology, public policy, and law to illustrate how the merging of epidemiology into the field of criminology allows for the work of both disciplines to be more interdisciplinary, evidence-based, en...

Delinquency Theories: Appraisals and applications provides a fulsome and accessible overview of contemporary theories of juvenile delinquency.The book opens with a comprehensive description of what a theory is, and explains how theories are created in the social sciences. Following on, each subsequent chapter is dedicated to describing an individual theory, broken down and illustrated within four distinct sections. Initially, each chapter tells the tale of a delinquent you...

When community and family support systems are weak or unavailable, and when internal resources fail, populations that struggle with chronic, persistent, acute, and/or unexpected problems become vulnerable to physical, cognitive, emotional, and social deterioration. Yet despite numerous risk factors, a large number of vulnerable people do live happy and productive lives. This best-selling handbook examines not only risk and vulnerability factors in disadvantaged populations but also resilie...

Throughout the 1990s many countries around the world experienced the beginnings of what would later become the most significant and protracted decline in crime ever recorded. Although not a universal experience, the so-called international crime-drop was an unpredicted and unprecedented event which now offers fertile ground for reflection on many of criminology's key theories and debates. Through the lens of developmental and life-course criminology, this Element compares the criminal offe...