Bean, P. (2014) Drugs and Crime. 4th ed. Oxfordshire: Routledge.
Professor Phillip Bean received his PhD in criminology from the university of Nottingham and since has made a successful career in being one of the leading academics in his field. Between 2000 and 2006 he was an associate of the general medical council in the conduct and health committees. In 2006 he became emeritus professor and went on to become a visiting scholar at Cambridge in 2013. Even after retiring he continued to publish work; the 4th edition of drugs and crime, a book titled legalising drugs as well as editing volumes of other criminological journals.
Bean outlines key themes between drug use and crime including; drug courts, drug testing, criminal informants and links between women, drugs and crime. Some explanations are lacking follow up references which hinders potential expansion on his work. One method that Bean uses to acquire his knowledge is through a series of self-reported statistics from a collection of interviews and surveys varying across different types of crime. Another method he uses is sources such as the Ministry of Justice, The home office and the department of health. Bean not only refers to other criminologists like Young, Pearson and Parker but also to his own previous work.
There is no specific argument as such for bean’s drugs and crime however it focuses more on general research of the topics that he outlines in the beginning. Using reliable sources he looks at common themes throughout drug use, crime and the treatment of individuals within the criminal justice system. Bean concludes each chapter as he goes opposed to giving one unified decision at the end of the book. Each conclusion is clear, concise and offers recommendations for improvement as well as gives commendations for areas he believes are successful.
Feest, J. (1991), ‘Reducing the Prison Population: Lessons from the West German experience’ in J. Muncie and R. Sparks (Ed) Imprisonment European Perspectives, Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf
Johannes Feest is a professor of criminal law and criminology at Bremen university. The focus of his research is based around police, courts and the German prison policy. Feest went to both Vienna and Munich university and then went on to get his sociological training at the university of California. Between the years 1995 to 1997 he was the scientific director of the international institute for sociology and law. Many of his publications include books and articles that are based on topics such as police, judges, prisoners and especially prisoner’s rights.
One of the main chapters that gives context to the book is imprisonment European perspective which gives consideration to the reduction of prison populations in west Germany in the 1980’s and how the UK can learn from this. Avenues that Feest investigated include economic and demographic explanations however he states that demographics do not sufficiently explain the reduction in prison populations. Although there was a decrease in the birth rate it could only account for one quarter of the reductions. He goes on to study the fluctuation of the crime rate but there was so significant change.
Feest concludes that the source of the decrease in the prison population is the attitudes of the criminal justice system in west Germany. In particular how the judges and prosecutors carry out justice. He adds that for the UK to have the same 10% decrease they would need to implement a new set up of not having structured separation like they do in west Germany. Feest finishes by stating that ‘the reduction of prison populations is possible without any negative effects on public order and safety’ (Feest, 1991).
Kuo, F. and Sullivan, W. (2001) Environment and Crime in the Inner City. Environment and Behaviour. 33 (3), pp. 343-367
One author, Kuo Frances, is an assistant professor and codirector of the human-environment research laboratory at the university of Illinois. The main focus of her research is on attention, nice-friendly information and defensible space. The other author, William Sullivan, works as an associate professor and is also the codirector of the human-environment research laboratory at the university of Illinois. Sullivan’s research focuses on the psychological and social benefits of urban nature and citizen participation in environmental decision making.
Kuo and Sullivan’s work in environment and crime in the inner city focuses on the effect of vegetation on crime levels as well as how that particular environment effects residents in that area. The main purpose was to see if areas with more vegetation has reduced crime rates and a general feeling of serenity and safety within the neighbourhood. Methods that the authors used were secondary sources of information such as police statistics and previous work from criminal sociologists that also studied these trends.
They discovered that those who lived in areas with a surplus of vegetation and typically more ‘green’ areas had decreased levels of fear of crime as well as less reports of violent and aggressive behaviours compare to residential areas with more urban development. However, it is also argued that higher crime rates are the cause of poverty in urban areas, not in fact because of the amount of vegetation that surrounds the area. Counteracting this, Kuo and Sullivan studied the crime rates of 98 apartment buildings and the amount of vegetation surrounding the apartments. Their results suggest that the ‘greener’ the surroundings were, the fewer crimes reported.
McClintock, F. and Howard Avison, n (1968) Crime in England and Wales. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.
Fredrick Hemming McClintock, educated at the university of Edenborough where he became professor of criminology, has made a successful lifelong career from researching the mainstream history of modern British criminology. From 1960 he was the director of research at the university of Cambridge, whilst there he also worked on crime of violence which was later published in 1963. McClintock became one of the leading authorities on criminal statistics during the mid 1960’s which gives his work a lot of validity when it comes to evaluating his research. For over 25 years he helped build the institute of criminology at Cambridge university which gives him a lot of distinction. Co-author to crime in England and wales is professor Howard Avison who lectures criminology and criminal law at the university of Edinburgh.
Over the course of the last decade there has been a recognised problem with indictable crime but not much is known in terms of the direction of the trends. Using in depth empirical studies crime in England and wales attempts to try and understand more about crime trends and the direction it is heading. The authors start by examining trends starting from the 1950’s and then they dive into more detail concerning regional and local variations, detection rates, and the special problems of crime in the major cities. They make it clear the purpose of the book is to survey a crucial period of crime in England and wales thoroughly so that it can be used and reused in criminological and sociological studies.
McClintock concludes with a final chapter called summary of the main findings of the report which gives a summary of each chapter and a short conclusion. Within the summaries he gives praise to the survey’s attributes but also recommendations as to what can be improved to maximise the effectiveness of law enforcement and penal system.
McCulloch, J. (2009) Pre-crime and Counter-terrorism: Imagining Future Crime in the ‘War on Terror’. British Journal of Criminology. 49 (5), pp. 628-645.
Professor Jude McCulloch received her degrees in law and commerce as well as her PhD and master’s in criminology from Melbourne university. She is currently the inaugural director of the Monash gender and family violence prevention centre.
After the September attacks in New York in 2001, many agencies both foreign and domestic drew their focus onto counter terrorism. This idea of ‘pre-crime’ stems from the anticipation of premeditated criminal acts. This article argues that a change to a pre-crime attitude will integrate national security into criminal justice and blurs the boarders between the states capabilities when it comes to terrorism. McCulloch explores the implications of a shift in how crime is handled in terms of anticipation and how these fits into the criminal justice system.
McCulloch finishes by examining the practicality of a pre-crime state. She states the loss of human life in terrorist attacks is so great that post crime due process may be unreasonable. The aim of counterterrorism is to disrupt, restrict and incapacitate but anticipation of these events can lead to highly discriminative pre-emptive policing. She concludes that a crime free society, if successful via pre-crime, is a vison of a ‘dystopian’ world of state power.
Unnever, J. (2019) Ethnicity and Crime in the Netherlands. International Criminal Justice Review [online]. 29 (2), pp. 187-204.
Dr. James Unnever graduated from Duke university in 1980 and went on to become Professor of criminology at the university of south Florida. His research generally looks at the relationships between race, racism and crime. Much of his latest research and publications focus on racial divide in support of capital punishment, religious beliefs and the support of the death penalty, and the relationship between religious connection and punitiveness.
The purpose of the article is reviewing the research on whether immigrants in the Netherlands are likely to engage in crime with a specific focus on whether Moroccans have a greater propensity to offend than the native Dutch. Research like this, especially Europe, is difficult because government agencies do not collect data on ethnicity, therefore the research methods used to investigate this topic are; asking questions pertaining to a person’s ethnicity via surveys alongside self-reports of crime, using official databases that hold information regarding if their parents or the suspects were born outside of the Netherlands.
An issue with the official data is that is considers third generation immigrants as native Dutch which causes confusion with statistics on ‘native’ Dutch and crime. Another drawback from the methodology is the self report which lacks reliability due to the facts subjects can lie which affects the validity of the results. Unnever concluded that although immigrants self-reported less crime however after analysing official police data he found ethnic groups committed more crime than the native Dutch.
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