Criminology: A Sociological Understanding

by Steven E. Barkan

Completely updated and revised throughout, and featuring a new full-color design, this book provides a sociological perspective on crime and criminal justice by treating social structure and social inequality as central themes in the study of crime—and major factors in society's treatment of criminals. It gives explicit attention to key sociological concepts such as poverty, gender, race, and ethnicity, and demonstrates their influence on crime. Covers hot topics such as the death penalty, terrorism, evolutionary biology, stalking, identity theft, computer crime, white collar crime and more. Also features unique coverage of topics not found in other introductory criminology books – including “Public Opinion, the News Media and the Crime Problem,” “Political Crime,” and “How Can We Reduce Crime?” For those with current or future criminology careers.

Genres: True Crime, Textbooks, Reference

651 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1996

Reviews

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

An exceptionally biased book. The author is flagrantly anti-police and a socialist. His presumptions are evidenced by his choice of words; "police brutality" rather than "excessive force" for example. He also lumps all police into the "brutal" grouping. Very little was presented about why people commit crimes or what can be done to reduce them. A waste of money.

[Tannya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am actually reading Law and Society by Steven E. Barkan, but they don't have it listed in goodreads yet. Any who this is really interesting. It gives great insight into our constitution, bill of rights etc. This is a great season to be reading about how our gov't runs.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was decent. Not one of the best but its okay regardless.