This handbook is designed to review the important recent developments in the sociology of crime and deviance. The chapters will identify and discuss the “hot topics” and the cutting edge research of the field. The work is divided into 5 major sections: – History of the Discipline, – Methodological Issues in Crime Research, – Explanations of Crime, – Theory-Based Practice,- Special Topics. The editors have organized a comprehensive treatment of the field of criminology at the turn of the 21st century.
Why do some people commit crimes, use the wrong fork, or speak out of turn? How does a society determine when a crime has been committed, which fork to use, and who should speak when? How have we tried to explain deviance and create categories of deviants? What has been the role of race and class in these definitions? How do deviants reconcile their behavior with society's norms? What have been the contributions of Freud, Durkheim, Lombroso, and modern literary criticism to our understanding of deviance and conformity? How is the practice of science itself an example of deviance and conformity?