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Designed specifically for criminology students, this book takes 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.

AbstractNewspaper representation of blackmail cases from over half a century (1960–2009) is used to illustrate 'marginal' crime reporting in an era of social change: we asked how such crimes fare in attracting public attention and what meanings they represent during a period of politicised, public and criminological narratives of crime and disorder. 'Marginal' crimes sit at the edges of crime narratives and at the boundaries of criminology, yet the example of blackmail indicates wider social concerns. A macro analysis of 252 cases showed a steady public profile with six major categories of blackmail reported. At a micro level, only 33 cases achieved sustained reporting, deriving meaning from current social anxiety; acted normatively – defining current group values; or were one of a palette of charges brought against individuals.

AbstractDeception is often associated with economic gain and white‐collar crime. But studying deception highlights the need for criminologists and practitioners to move beyond legal definitions and conviction rates when attempting to achieve depth in understanding criminality, its motivations and possible specialisms. Further, to explore the complexity of deception requires recognition of the range of skills inherent in this modus operandi, which is better recognised as a potentially‐criminal tool found in much criminal behaviour. Theories that attempt to explain specialisation need to move on from a focus on crimes committed and give appropriate attention to skills employed.

Abstract: How has knowledge been constructed in British criminology since the 1960s? While histories of theory are plentiful and, due to such activities as the Research Assessment Exercise, awareness of citation counts has grown, we have become interested in a less formal – harder to assess – area of knowledge construction. Our questions have formed around the ways in which current, practising criminologists perceive the development of their discipline (if it is sufficiently unitary to be called such), and what has influenced them more directly. In so doing, we are attempting to tap into the creative impact on criminology and criminologists of the range of studies that do not necessarily figure as largely in international citation studies. In collecting from fellow‐criminologists a sense of which studies and writers have both shaped criminology and influenced their own thinking, we have arrived at a paradoxical picture of British criminology: one in which there is tension between how current practitioners present a highly‐fragmented, wide‐ranging set of influences, yet do so within a discipline in which there appears to be constant repetition of similar questions over time.

Abstract: In this paper we examine the process whereby problem pages contribute to turning what some would perceive to be private troubles' into 'public issues', while offering public acknowledgemenl of crimes committed as well as solace and advice to victims of sex crimes. The two examples used, 'male rape' and 'underage sex' illustrate the complex role of moral arbiter, whereby agony aunts and uncles act as social barometers, reflecting the confusion surrounding definitions of sex crimes. By examining problem pages we learn more about how society defines the borderlines between private problems and public, criminal, matters.

Abstract: This study describes the reporting trajectories of the 13 cases that received the most coverage in a leading British newspaper, The Times, over a period of 23 years (1977 to 1999 inclusive). We have classified these as 'mega‐cases'. This approach moves beyond merely measuring the coverage of cases to charting how cases can escalate to become 'moral panics', move into a shared 'general knowledge' of killing or, in some cases, come to occupy iconic status. Some 'mega' cases fade from consciousness when viewed over a period of time. In 'mega‐cases' there is an unexpected 'primary incident' that makes the case newsworthy in the first instance. Then the 'formal process' helps to manage a homicide within accepted and acceptable boundaries. In broad terms, the media trajectories of these 'mega‐cases' following the 'primary incident' are predictable. However, further unexpected 'incidents' unrelated to 'process'– suicides, attacks by other prisoners, escapes – challenge the predictability of these 'mega‐cases'. The trajectories of homicide cases that begin to link in with wider societal agendas are the most difficult to predict.

Abstract: In this paper we examine the effects of sentencing on the lives of women partners of prisoners. Whilst criminological theory has advanced in acknowledging issues surrounding women as offenders and as victims of crime, the effects of male imprisonment on the lives of wives and girlfriends remains little researched. The effects on partners' financial arrangements, existing poverty and relationships in the period following sentencing, when approaching the probation service for assistance, are presented. They are analysed in the context of the role stereotyping which ascribes guilt to wives and girlfriends for their partners' crimes; and in the light of the 'criminalisation of social policy' which ensures partners' needs will become even more marginalised.

Recent work on homicide and the media has focused on the United States. This study considers the British context and examines the coverage of homicide by a leading British newspaper (The Times) over a period of 23 years (1977 to 1999 inclusive). The focus is on the newspaper coverage of the top cases each year and over the whole period. This approach allows for an exploration of the hierarchy within 'media–homicides' that are distinguished in terms of 'mega–cases', 'mezzo–cases' and 'routine cases'. Hence, this issue is shown to be a more complex social and cultural phenomenon than is usually understood through the traditional binary 'reported–non reported' approach. The importance of unusualness and cultural context is emphasised in fully understanding how homicides become, particularly, mega–cases.