Criminology: The Basics

Criminology is a discipline that is constituted by its subject matter rather than being bound by an agreed set of concepts or way of thinking. This fully updated third edition of Criminology: The Basics is a lively and engaging guide to this compelling and complex subject. Topics covered include:

• the history and development of criminology

• myths about crime and offenders

• the search for criminological explanation

• victims of crime and state crime

• crime prevention, cybercrime, and the future of crime control
• criminology and intersectionality

This edition also includes new sections on genocide, terrorism, cultural victimology, and Westo-centric thinking.

Concise and accessible, this book utilises chapter summaries, exercise questions and lists of further reading to provide a perfect introduction to this subject.

Sandra Walklate is Eleanor Rathbone Chair of Sociology at the University of Liverpool, UK, Professor of Criminology at Monash University, Australia, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Justice, QUT, Australia.

Internationally recognised for her work in victimology and research on criminal victimisation, her recent publications include: Victims: Trauma, Testimony, Justice (2015, Routledge with Ross McGarry), The Contradictions of Terrorism (2014, Routledge with Gabe Mythen), Criminology and War: Transgressing the Borders (edited collection, Routledge, 2015, with Ross McGarry).

She is currently Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Criminology.

Table of Contents

1. What is criminology?

2. Counting Crime

3. How much crime? Challenging myths about crime and offenders

4. The search for criminological explanation

5. Thinking about the victim of crime

6. Crime, power and global relations: an introduction to critical criminology

7. A question of justice

8. Crime prevention and the future of crime control

9. Developing your criminological imagination

Glossary

Bibliography