Explaining Criminals

A collection of original essays addressing theories of criminal behavior that is written at a level appropriate for undergraduate students. This book offers section introductions that provide a historical background for each theory, key issues that the theory addresses, and a discussion of any controversies generated by the theory.

This book provides a concise but comprehensive review of the full range of classic and contemporary theories of crime. With separate chapters on the nature and use of criminological theory as well as theoretical application, the authors render the difficult task of explaining crime more understandable to the introductory student. All of the main theories in criminology are reviewed including classical and rational choice, biological, psychological, and evolutionary, social structural, social process, critical, general, and integrated approaches. Copious examples of the spirit of the theories are supplied, many with a popular culture (e.g., film and music) connection.

This highly acclaimed criminology text presents an up-to-date review of rational choice theories, including deterrence, shaming, and routine activities.

Criminal Justice Theory, Second Edition is the first and only text, edited by U.S. criminal justice educators, on the theoretical foundations of criminal justice, not criminological theory. This new edition includes entirely new chapters as well as revisions to all others, with an eye to accessibility and coherence for upper division undergraduate and beginning graduate students in the field.

Comprehensive and accessible, Tim Newburn’s bestselling Criminology provides an introduction to the fundamental themes, concepts, theories, methods and events that underpin the subject and form the basis for all undergraduate degree courses and modules in Criminology and Criminal Justice. This third edition includes: A new chapter on politics, reflecting the ever increasing coverage of political influence and decision making on criminology courses New and updated crime data and analysis of trends, plus new content on recent events such as the Volkswagen scandal, the latest developments on historic child abuse, as well as extended coverage throughout of the English riots A fully revised and updated companion website, including exam, review and multiple choice questions, a live Twitter feed from the author providing links to media and academic coverage of events related to the concepts covered in the book, together with links to a dedicated textbook Facebook page Fully updated to reflect recent developments in the field and extensively illustrated, this authoritative text, written by a leading criminologist and experienced lecturer, is essential reading for all students of Criminology and related fields.

Tracing almost 200 years of history, Explaining Tort and Crime explains the development of tort law and criminal law in England compared with other legal systems. Referencing legal systems from around the globe, it uses innovative comparative and historical methods to identify patterns of legal development, to investigate the English law of fault doctrine across tort and crime, and to chart and explain three procedural interfaces: criminal powers to compensate, timing rules to control parallel actions, and convictions as evidence in later civil cases. Matthew Dyson draws on decades of research to offer an analysis of the field, examining patterns of legal development, visible as motifs in the law of many legal systems.

"This book reviews the very latest empirical evidence with regard to the risk factors that produce antisocial and criminal behavior. The authors meaningfully integrate risk factors identified by more than a dozen academic disciplines that increase the odds of antisocial behavior and criminality. The result is a new interdisciplinary theory that helps break down traditional barriers and overcomes the "disciplinary myopia" that plagues criminological theory. Unlike the typical criminological theory text, this book actually advances the state of criminological theory as well as the field of criminology"--

From Simon & Schuster, Crime & Human Nature is the definitive study of the causes of crime. Assembling the latest evidence from the fields of sociology, criminology, economics, medicine, biology, and psychology and exploring the effects of such factors as gender, age, race, and family, two eminent social scientists frame a groundbreaking theory of criminal behavior.