Criminological Perspectives

This comprehensive collection of original readings is designed to reflect and re-present the numerous and diverse lines of theoretical enquiry that constitute criminology.

This volume consists of an accessible set of classic and contemporary readings that introduce students to the eclectic nature of `criminological knowledge'. In particular it focuses on: the origins of criminology; criminology's historic and continuing concern to discover the causes of crime; processes of criminalization and why it is that only certain harmful behaviours seem to be subject to criminal sanction; competing rationales for systems of crime control - from deterrence, just deserts and rehabilitation to crime prevention; issues of social control - from the formal processes of the criminal justice to regulation and surveillance in the community; and the future of criminology and its potential for further theoretical development.

It is the set book for The Open University course D315 Crime, Order and Social Control.