Criminology: The Basics
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.55
Trade in Criminology: The Basics for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.55, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
As crime continues to be a high profile issue troubling politicians, the public and the media alike, the study of criminology has boomed. Providing an international and comparative introduction to the discipline, Criminology: The Basics is an accessible guide to the theoretical and practical approaches to the phenomena of crime. Topics covered in this new edition include:
- challenging myths about crime and offenders
- the search for criminological explanation
- thinking about the victim of crime
- introduction to critical criminology
- crime prevention and the future of crime control
- looking to the future, cultural criminology and terrorism.
Easy to read, concise and supported by a glossary of terms and pointers to further reading, Criminology: The Basics is a perfect introduction to this important and popular subject.
About the Author
Sandra Walklate is Eleanor Rathbone Chair of Sociology at the University of Liverpool. Her previous publications include Understanding Criminology (3/e, Open University Press, 2007), Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice (2/e Willan Publishing 2004) and Imagining the Victim of Crime (Open University Press, 2007).
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Excellent first introduction to the subject for a social sciences undergraduate persuing pre course reading for the OU second level criminology course.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
this book is good for beginners. It tells you the facts without too much technical jargon and was easy to understand.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Professor Walklate's introduction to the field of criminology promises to be "easy to read, concise and supported by a glossary of terms and pointers to further reading". The first is sadly wide of the mark, though the latter claims are substantiated by a reading of the text.
Criminology is a complex field and Professor Walklate's range of reference is helpful in breaking down the completing claims of various groups (sociologists, politicians, the judiciary etc) and their definition of the field. The use of case studies is also helpful, locating the sometimes obtuse academic praxis of the subject in readily identifiable narratives which shed an interesting light on both those narratives and the subject itself. As a basic guide, then, this is informative.
Unfortunately, the writing itself is, at times, shockingly bad. Whether this is the fault of the author herself or the editors at Routledge is of course unclear, but that such obfuscating and grammatically erroneous writing should be published is a sad reflection on both parties. Some examples from the first 15 pages:
"Psychologists, for example, explore how the mind works, sociolgists are interested in social structures, economics in economic systems..." (3)
"...pointing not only to its multi-disciplinarity but also to its theoretical diversity. Thus emphasising the highly contested nature of the discipline..." (7)
"However in order to do that it is important..." (7)
"Criminology embraced Comte's understanding of positivism and its historically significant links with policy; that is in wanting to manage social problems." (8)
"That understanding of positivism; a concern to measure the..." (8)
"...can still be felt contemporarily in two ways; first in the continuing presence of biological positivism and second in ideas around who is, and who is not, likely to be criminal: the Criminal Other." (9-10)
And, worst of all:
"Thinking about this categorisation critically, it is possible to see that Von Hentig thought the normal person was the white, heterosexual male. Rather like in the work of Lombroso discussed earlier. Von Hentig does not suggest that there is a 'born victim', however, that parallels with the ideas of Lombroso." (15)
Professor Walklate, or her editors, seem sadly unable to identify incomplete sentences lacking a main verb, to use the semi-colon with any precision or accuracy, or to, at times, write with the clarity that a 'basic' introduction demands or that the back-cover spiel promises. It is very sad that an otherwise helpful book is so badly written that it fails to deliver its information in a readable format, frustrating this reader time and again.
Criminology is a complex field and Professor Walklate's range of reference is helpful in breaking down the completing claims of various groups (sociologists, politicians, the judiciary etc) and their definition of the field. The use of case studies is also helpful, locating the sometimes obtuse academic praxis of the subject in readily identifiable narratives which shed an interesting light on both those narratives and the subject itself. As a basic guide, then, this is informative.
Unfortunately, the writing itself is, at times, shockingly bad. Whether this is the fault of the author herself or the editors at Routledge is of course unclear, but that such obfuscating and grammatically erroneous writing should be published is a sad reflection on both parties. Some examples from the first 15 pages:
"Psychologists, for example, explore how the mind works, sociolgists are interested in social structures, economics in economic systems..." (3)
"...pointing not only to its multi-disciplinarity but also to its theoretical diversity. Thus emphasising the highly contested nature of the discipline..." (7)
"However in order to do that it is important..." (7)
"Criminology embraced Comte's understanding of positivism and its historically significant links with policy; that is in wanting to manage social problems." (8)
"That understanding of positivism; a concern to measure the..." (8)
"...can still be felt contemporarily in two ways; first in the continuing presence of biological positivism and second in ideas around who is, and who is not, likely to be criminal: the Criminal Other." (9-10)
And, worst of all:
"Thinking about this categorisation critically, it is possible to see that Von Hentig thought the normal person was the white, heterosexual male. Rather like in the work of Lombroso discussed earlier. Von Hentig does not suggest that there is a 'born victim', however, that parallels with the ideas of Lombroso." (15)
Professor Walklate, or her editors, seem sadly unable to identify incomplete sentences lacking a main verb, to use the semi-colon with any precision or accuracy, or to, at times, write with the clarity that a 'basic' introduction demands or that the back-cover spiel promises. It is very sad that an otherwise helpful book is so badly written that it fails to deliver its information in a readable format, frustrating this reader time and again.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Law & Disorder > Criminology
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Reference
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology
- Books > Study Books > Undergraduate & Postgraduate > Social Sciences > Criminology
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
