Criminology: The Essentials, 2nd edition

Book Preface

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The key to success in any criminology course is not simply to learn and use academic language. Nor is it simply to understand ‘core’ theories, although knowing the terms and concepts that mark out ‘academic criminology’ from everyday debates about crime and criminal justice is certainly part of the journey. This book will give you hints and tips about how to understand and use criminological theory, and how to apply and critique this theory when you encounter debates upon crime, criminality and the criminal justice system.

This book has been designed firstly as an introduction. Thereafter it will provide you with a guide that you can use as a reference point (to works that you should then read yourself). You should use Part 2 of this book to give you an overview of topic areas that you are likely to encounter, and build on what you find. Although there are summaries of the works of leading criminologists in textbooks, nothing can replace the knowledge that you will gain from making yourself familiar with the original works.

To that end you should not simply passively read the references here, but make use of them. In the first instance, having read a chapter you can then use the references in the text to inform your reading and look at the subjects in more detail. When you find references in the text you can trace these to the bibliography at the back of the book. Once you have the full reference for a book that you think will be useful to you try to trace the text. You can do this in several ways. The first stop should be your university library, but you can also use the internet and local bookstores to try and find a text. It is important that you do not come to rely upon one book, but instead learn how to direct your reading towards other relevant sources and material.

Contents
About the Author ix
Part 1: Introduction 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 How to use this book 2
1.3 Why use this book? 3
1.4 Criminology essentials: thinking like a criminologist 5
1.5 What is crime? 9
1.6 Perspectives on crime 10
1.7 Categorizing criminological theory 16
Part 2: Core Areas of the Curriculum 17
2.1 The origins of criminology 19
2.2 Research methods in criminology 26
2.3 Locating crime within the individual: biological and
psychological approaches 35
2.4 Crime as external to the individual: classic sociological theories 44
2.5 Contemporary criminology 62
2.6 Crime statistics and crime data 80
2.7 Crime and the media 90
2.8 Youth and crime 98
2.9 Gender and crime 105
2.10 Race and hate crime 111
2.11 Penology 119
2.12 Serious crime 128
2.13 Cybercrime 138
2.14 Victimology 144
Part 3: Study, Writing and Revision Skills 155
3.1 General introduction 155
3.2 Dealing with theory 156
3.3 How to get the most out of your lectures 160
3.4 How to get the most out of your seminars 165
3.5 Essay writing tips 170
3.6 Revision hints and tips 180
3.7 Exam tips 186
Part 4 199
Glossary 200
Bibliography 205
Index 213