Victims, Crime and Society

Professor Pamela Davies′ research interests coalesce around gender, crime, harm, victimization and justice. Combining her interest in victimology and social harm with a critical/feminist infused approach she has explored a range of contemporary social problems – both visible and hidden. Her early research explored female offending and the inter-play between women’s offending patterns and experiences of victimization. More recently she has examined tensions around social and environmental justice adopting a case study approach. She has lead a number of research projects and evaluations of multi-agency innovations that tackle gendered forms of harm including interpersonal violence, domestic abuse, the policing of serial perpetrators and support for victims. The ways in which gender mediates our life experiences continues to provoke new areas of inquiry and she is currently working with colleagues on ‘gendering green criminology’.Pam has published widely on the subject of victimization and social harm and on how gender connects to matters of community safety, public protection and well-being. Her most recent books are Crime and Power authored with Tanya Wyatt and Victimology Research Policy and Activism edited with Jacki Tapley. She is the series editor of the Palgrave Macmillan ‘Victims and Victimology’ book series (with Associate Professor Tyrone Kirchengast, University of New South Wales, Sydney). Peter has worked at Northumbria University since 1994 and before that at the Universities of Leicester and Hull. He gained his undergraduate degree from Northumbria University and studied at postgraduate level at Hull University. Between 2002 and 2008 he was a Senior Advisor to the Home Office and has been a council member and trustee of the independent charity the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Kings College, London since 1996.

• Victims, Crime and Society: An IntroductionDefining Victims and VictimisationNews Media, Victims and CrimeHistorical Perspectives in VictimologyTheoretical Perspectives in VictimologyGlobal Perspectives in VictimologyFear, Vulnerability and VictimisationGender, Victims and CrimeOlder People, Victims and CrimeSocio-Economic Inequalities, Victims and CrimeRace, Religion, Victims and CrimeSexuality, Victims and CrimeVictims of the PowerfulGlossary

Victimhood is never socially neutral. It involves powerful interests, diverse inequalities, and media representations that tend to privilege particular understandings of victims. This excellent text provides a critical interrogation of victimology by emphasising context and interpretation, politics and social justice. It, too, is not socially neutral, and we are all the better for it.