Working broadly from the perspective of cultural criminology, Crime, Media and Culture engages with theories and debates about the nature of media-audience relations, examines representations of crime and justice in news media and fiction, and considers the growing significance of digital technologies and social media. The book discusses the multiple effects media representations of crime have on audiences but also the ways media portrayals of crime and disorder influence government policy and lawmaking. It also considers the processes by which certain stories are selected for their newsworthiness. Also examined are the theoretical, conceptual and methodological underpinnings of cultural criminology and its subfields of visual criminology and narrative criminology. Drawing on case studies and empirical examples from the increasingly blurred worlds of reality and entertainment, the dynamics of crime, media and culture are illuminated across a range of chapters covering topics that include: moral panics/folk devils and trial by media; fear of crime; cop shows and courtroom dramas; female criminality and child-on-child killing; serial killers; surveillance, new media and policing; organized crime and state crime. Crime, Media and Culture will be an invaluable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in criminology and media studies. The book will also prove useful for lecturers and academic researchers wishing to explore the intersections of crime, media and cultural inquiry.

This engaging and timely collection gathers together for the first time key and classic readings in the ever-expanding area of crime and media. Comprizing a carefully distilled selection of the most important contributions to the field, Crime and Media: A Reader tackles a wide range of issues including: understanding media; researching media; crime, newsworthiness and news; crime, entertainment and creativity; effects, influence and moral panic; and cybercrime, surveillance and risk. Specially devized introductory and linking sections contextualize each reading and evaluate its contribution to the field, both individually and in relation to competing approaches and debates. This book provides a single source around which criminology, media and cultural studies modules can be structured, an invaluable revision and consultation guide for students, and an extremely useful resource for scholars writing and researching across a wide range of relevant fields. Accessible yet challenging, and packed with additional pedagogical devices, Crime and Media: A Reader will be an invaluable resource for students and academics studying crime, media, culture, surveillance and control.

This book critically examines the complex interactions between media and crime. Written with an engaging and authoritative voice, it guides you through all the key issues, ranging from news reporting of crime, media constructions of children and women, moral panics, and media and the police to ′reality′ crime shows, surveillance and social control. This third edition: Explores innovations in technology and forms of reporting, including citizen journalism. Examines the impact of new media including mobile, Internet and digital technologies, and social networking sites. Features chapters dedicated to the issues around cybercrime and crime film, along with new content on terrorism and the media. Shows you how to research media and crime. Includes discussion questions, further reading and a glossary. Now features a companion website, complete with links to journal articles, relevant websites and blogs. This is essential reading for your studies in criminology, media studies, cultural studies and sociology. The Key Approaches to Criminology series celebrates the removal of traditional barriers between disciplines and, specifically, reflects criminology’s interdisciplinary nature and focus. It brings together some of the leading scholars working at the intersections of criminology and related subjects. Each book in the series helps readers to make intellectual connections between criminology and other discourses, and to understand the importance of studying crime and criminal justice within the context of broader debates. The series is intended to have appeal across the entire range of undergraduate and postgraduate studies and beyond, comprising books which offer introductions to the fields as well as advancing ideas and knowledge in their subject areas.

Cultural Criminology: An Invitation traces the history, theory, methodology and future direction of cultural criminology. Drawing on issues of representation, meaning and politics, this book walks you through the key areas that make up this fascinating approach to the study of crime. The second edition has been fully revised to take account of recent developments in this fast developing field, thereby keeping you up-to-date with the issues facing cultural criminologists today. It includes: A new chapter on war, terrorism and the state New sections on cultural criminology and the politics of gender, and green cultural criminology Two new and expanded chapters on research methodology within the field of cultural criminology Further Reading suggestions and a list of related films and documentaries at the end of each chapter, enabling you to take your studies beyond the classroom New and updated vignettes, examples, and visual illustrations throughout Building on the success of the first edition, Cultural Criminology: An Invitation offers a vibrant and cutting-edge introduction to this growing field. It will encourage you to adopt a critical and contemporary approach to your studies in criminology. First edition: 2009 Distinguished Book Award from the American Society of Criminology′s Division of International Criminology

These articles examine how media presents prisons and punishment, and how this presentation is related to public attitudes and government penal policy.

Criminology is a broad-ranging and stimulating introduction that is ideal for undergraduates approaching the subject for the first time. Each chapter is written by an expert in their field and includes a range of learning features designed to help students engage with the material covered.

One of the longest standing traditions in sociology, interactionism is concerned with studying human interaction and showing how society to a large part is constituted by patterns of interaction. In spite of the work of figures such as Robert E. Park, Everett C. Hughes, Erving Goffman, Herbert Blumer, Norman K. Denzin and Gary Alan Fine, interactionism – perhaps owing to its association with the perspective of symbolic interactionism – remains something of an odd man out in mainstream sociology. This book seeks to rectify this apparent neglect by bringing together critical social theories and microsociological approaches to research, thus revealing the critical and cultural potentials in interactionism – the chapters arguing that far from being oriented towards the status quo, interactionism in fact contains a critical and cultural edge. Presenting the latest work from some of the leading figures in interactionist thought to show recent developments in the field and offer an overview of some of the most potent and prominent ideas within critical and cultural criminology, Critical and Cultural Interactionism will appeal to scholars of sociology with interests in interactionism, social theory research methods and criminology.

The approach of the year 2000 has made the study of apocalyptic movements trendy. But groups anticipating the end of the world will continue to predict Armageddon even after the calendar clicks to triple Os.

Sponsored by the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association (CITAMS), this volume features social science research that examines the practices, patterns and messages related to representations of crime in mass media around the world.

An Introduction to Crime & Criminology 4e, continues to bring together some of Australia’s most widely respected authorities on criminology. The text explores popular knowledge and understanding about crime, contrasting it with what we know about crime from official sources as well as from crime victims. The authors present and analyse the various ways that crime is defined and measured, the many and varied dimensions of crime, the broad range of theories offered to explain crime as well as some of the main ways governments and other agencies respond to and attempt to prevent crime.