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Benedict); to crime and creativity (from Valverde through Ferrell); to media effects (from Bandura to McRobbie/Thornton); and to surveillance and risk (from Foucault to Aas and Sontag). Impressively enough Greer includes, around each and... more
Benedict); to crime and creativity (from Valverde through Ferrell); to media effects (from Bandura to McRobbie/Thornton); and to surveillance and risk (from Foucault to Aas and Sontag). Impressively enough Greer includes, around each and every entry as though academically gift-wrapping them, careful introductions and conclusions which he has written himself. More specifically, encircling each entry is an ‘Introduction and Context’ (useful in garnering the historical and intellectual justification for including a particular piece) and then a short discussion of ‘Critical Connections’ (useful for understanding pitfalls and problems which have been identified since the time of the author’s originally published ideas). Scholars are likely to appreciate how, in these differently type-faced sections, Greer critically introduces us to perspectives classifiable as modern as well as post-modern, structural as well as post-structural. Quite intentionally on Greer’s part, the volume offers forays into virtual realities and cyber-crime at the same time as it encompasses relatively more traditional approaching to thinking (and feelings) about media and crime. Thus, Crime and Media: A Reader succeeds at both showcasing a fascinating array of texts and pointing readers toward critical investigation and further research of their/our own. For this reason, it is well suited for teaching not only more narrowly focused ‘crime and media’ courses but also overview courses in sociology, political science and cultural studies. The volume is organized so as to compel thinking about both the strengths and shortcomings of diverse perspectives, a process that may help to generate interest in how—and in what ways—particular research projects can best incorporate media analysis to better understand contemporary attitudes toward crime. One last word of caution, though. As stated above, Greer’s volume is excellent; I would gladly use it myself. But it sometimes reminded me of a larger trend of criminologists turning—almost embarrassedly—toward other fields and intellectual developments as though these can provide most original insights. To some extent, of course, this is valid. But I would also advocate keeping the relationship and sense of critical awareness a reciprocal one: scholars of media and cultural studies as well as sociologists can learn from criminology (classical and contemporary) and its long radical and interdisciplinary orientations, as well as the other way around. It is the combination, the synergy, that provides intellectual spark and excitement—a mix Greer’s volume helps very nicely to stir. The result, hopefully, will yield insight into how crime, culture and society interrelate.
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The last few decades have seen a general drift to a more authoritarian criminal justice system in the United Kingdom. One way to understand this drift is in terms of a shift along the continuum from a concern with the defence of due... more
The last few decades have seen a general drift to a more authoritarian criminal justice system in the United Kingdom. One way to understand this drift is in terms of a shift along the continuum from a concern with the defence of due process further towards a ...
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... Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Books. Anthea Hucklesby University of Leeds, UK ... John Lea Middlesex University, UK When children kill children: Penal populism and political culture, David A. Green. Oxford:... more
... Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Books. Anthea Hucklesby University of Leeds, UK ... John Lea Middlesex University, UK When children kill children: Penal populism and political culture, David A. Green. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2008. 328 pp. ...
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The existence or otherwise of a ‘punitive turn’ in Western penal systems is arguably the central debate in penology today. This collection of essays, stretching over 17 chapters and 300 pages, is a very useful reflection of the current... more
The existence or otherwise of a ‘punitive turn’ in Western penal systems is arguably the central debate in penology today. This collection of essays, stretching over 17 chapters and 300 pages, is a very useful reflection of the current state of that debate. Nothing is really resolved within the covers of The new punitiveness; there are no killer arguments presented. Rather, we are reminded how diverse the perspectives are and how far the debate has yet to proceed in order to approach anything like resolution. This is not a criticism: the assemblage of such a diversity of contributions, several critical of the whole idea of a punitive turn, is a credit to the editors. The reader might attempt to find a way through this collection by asking three questions: How is the ‘new punitiveness’ defined? What theories are brought forward to explain it? What empirical evidence is enlisted in support of its existence? Many contributions define the new punitiveness as the rise of emotive denunciatory punishment combined with a toughening up of prison regimes replacing quiet rehabilitation. All this relates in one way or another to aspects of David Garland’s ‘crime complex’, with alleged middle class abandonment of support for penal welfarism, growing fear of crime and demonization of offenders. There are interesting variations on these themes to be found in the collection. Mark Brown sees the core issue as the changing status of the offender from citizen temporarily deprived of rights to that of something analogous to the colonial subject. Brown is echoed by Loic Wacquant, who argues that in the United States the prison has replaced the urban ghetto as the main vehicle for warehousing the black underclass. This underlines a second element of the alleged punitive turn: the rise, originally articulated by Malcolm Feeley and Jonathan Simon, of a new penology based on the management of an underclass identified by various actuarial indicators of risk. Both Wacquant and Katja Aas stress the rise of actuarialism and incapacitation (warehousing) along the lines of the Feeley and Simon thesis. This raises the issue of the precise relationship between punitiveness and actuarialism. The argument that penal welfarism is being replaced by warehousing the underclass does not necessarily imply rising public support for ‘emotive and ostentatious punishment’. Incapacitation need not involve a return to boot camps or varieties of Foucauldian spectacle. A more explicit grappling with the precise relationship between these distinct tendencies would have been welcome. Several contributors weave around
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Research Interests: Criminology and Law
The current debate about the privatisation of probation in the UK has tended to set up a false dichotomy between state and private that diverts attention from the fact that privatisation as part of a ‘rehabilitation revolution’ intends,... more
The current debate about the privatisation of probation in the UK has tended to set up a false dichotomy between state and private that diverts attention from the fact that privatisation as part of a ‘rehabilitation revolution’ intends, in fact, to continue the domination of the risk management approach. What is emerging is a public–private combination of increasingly centralised public sector probation and the private ‘security-industrial complex’ of global security corporations. An important consequence of this process is the annihilation of both residual elements of voluntary sector and community work within probation itself and of the smaller private charities and third sector organisations that have long collaborated with probation in traditional desistance work. This complex dynamic is a reflection of some of the key internal inconsistencies of neoliberalism as a political strategy.
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Research Interests: Criminology and Law
Research Interests: Criminology and Law
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Spanish translation of Lea J (2004) From Brixton to Bradford: Ideology and Discourse on Race and Urban Violence in the United Kingdom. In: Gilligan G and Pratt J (eds), Crime, Truth and Justice, Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
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Research Interests: Criminology and Law
Lea J (1998) Criminology and Postmodernity. In: Walton P and Young J (eds), The New Criminology Revisited, London: Macmillan.
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An analysis of crime statistics emphasizes the differential incidence of crime and victimization among certain groups and examines patterns in victim-offender relationships. The book discusses the impact of crime compared to other major... more
An analysis of crime statistics emphasizes the differential incidence of crime and victimization among certain groups and examines patterns in victim-offender relationships. The book discusses the impact of crime compared to other major social problems. An examination of the ...
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RésuméLes chercheurs en gouvernementalité explorent les nouveaux modes post-keynesiens et pluralistes de la gouverne publique en articulant les organismes étatiques et non-étatiques. L'insistance sur la «gouvernance d'en haut»... more
RésuméLes chercheurs en gouvernementalité explorent les nouveaux modes post-keynesiens et pluralistes de la gouverne publique en articulant les organismes étatiques et non-étatiques. L'insistance sur la «gouvernance d'en haut» doit être complétée, notamment dans les espaces urbains, par celle dévolue à la «gouvernance d'en bas» par des acteurs non-étatiques. La «gouvernance d'en bas» peut impliquer des acteurs allant d'associations commerciales et d'initiatives populaires au crime organisé et aux réseaux paramilitaires opérant dans les villes, au-delà de la souveraineté de l'État, au sein et entre les nations. Dans les pays riches et pauvres, de telles pratiques peuvent être conflictuelles mais peuvent aussi être inscrites dans des formes de gouverne publique. Cet article conteste l'idée que la gouvernance d'en bas comble un vide laissé par le désengagement de l'État-nation. Ces développements témoignent plutôt de complexes formes de réarticul...
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published in: Criminalisation and advanced marginality: Critically exploring the work of Loïc Wacquant Edited by Peter Squires and John Lea. Bristol: Policy Press
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This article attempts a critical re-evaluation of the concept of social crime. A brief review of the deployment of the concept by radical historians in studies of crime in 18th-century England is followed by an analysis of attempts to... more
This article attempts a critical re-evaluation of the concept of social crime. A brief review of the deployment of the concept by radical historians in studies of crime in 18th-century England is followed by an analysis of attempts to apply the term to crime in modern industrial capitalism. The article concludes with an attempt to rehabilitate the concept as useful in the present context in particular as a counterbalance to an overemphasis on the victim perspective in contemporary critical criminologies.
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This article develops an account of the current emergence of the security state as successor to the liberal welfare state. It is argued that the security state heralds a new type of authoritarianism which, beginning at the periphery and... more
This article develops an account of the current emergence of the security state as successor to the liberal welfare state. It is argued that the security state heralds a new type of authoritarianism which, beginning at the periphery and pre-occupied with the management of the marginalized and socially excluded, is gradually infecting the core social institutions, the criminal justice system in particular. The article considers three areas in which the security state is emerging—the transition from welfare to workfare and risk management; new measures to combat terrorism and organized crime; and the blurring of warfare and crime control. The article concludes by stressing the mutually reinforcing effect of these developments.
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ABSTRACT
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Emerging Issues in Green Criminology: Exploring Power, Justice and Harm. By Reece Walters, Diane Westerhuis and Tanya Wyatt (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 265 pp. 24.00) * Environmental Harm: An Eco-Justice Perspective. By Rob White (Policy Press, 2013, 216 pp. 70.00) * Eco-Global Crimes: Contempor...more
Exploring Power, Justice and Harm. By Reece Walters, Diane Westerhuis and Tanya Wyatt (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 265 pp. 24.00) * Environmental Harm: An Eco-Justice Perspective. By Rob White (Policy Press, 2013, 216 pp. 70.00) *... more
Exploring Power, Justice and Harm. By Reece Walters, Diane Westerhuis and Tanya Wyatt (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 265 pp. 24.00) * Environmental Harm: An Eco-Justice Perspective. By Rob White (Policy Press, 2013, 216 pp. 70.00) * Eco-Global Crimes: Contempor...
Research Interests: Criminology and Law
Research Interests: Criminology and Law
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... Tuttavia, queste organizzazioni si conformano all'ideale del cittadino che agisce di propria iniziativa, nonché alla necessità di in ... Le raccomandazioni entusiastiche, ma poco coerenti intellettual-mente, della... more
... Tuttavia, queste organizzazioni si conformano all'ideale del cittadino che agisce di propria iniziativa, nonché alla necessità di in ... Le raccomandazioni entusiastiche, ma poco coerenti intellettual-mente, della geografa Alice Coleman (1985), tra i principali sostenitori della ...
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This literature scoping project engaged with a series of issues concerning the ‗connectedness' of young people with their communities and community agencies. We consulted research which has explored the life-worlds of young people in... more
This literature scoping project engaged with a series of issues concerning the ‗connectedness' of young people with their communities and community agencies. We consulted research which has explored the life-worlds of young people in materially poor ...
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The UBR (University of Brighton Repository) is a central institutional repository that records the work of the University's researchers. It is an open access, organic resource and is freely available via the web to researchers... more
The UBR (University of Brighton Repository) is a central institutional repository that records the work of the University's researchers. It is an open access, organic resource and is freely available via the web to researchers worldwide.