Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society

This book offers rich ethnographic and narrative accounts of men who have been engaged in serious violence and organised crime in the West Midlands of England, using several theoretical paradigms.  Through case study examples, it also considers contract killers and the nefarious position that ‘hitmen’ occupy in the criminal underworld.  By charting insider perspectives from retired law enforcement agents, informants, ex-military personnel and ex-offenders, this book speaks to those who have a vested interest in violence, organised crime and ethnography.

This book examines the ‘war on terror’ and radicalization from an ontological, non-state centric perspective. Since 9/11, criminology has developed in its study of terrorism, utilising alternative non-state centric frameworks to uncover and make visible state-initiated harm. Although progress has been achieved, criminology has continued to privilege the state, thereby failing to uncover forms of state crime and how such crimes facilitate radicalization and terrorism. Ahmed aims to rectify this gap by demonstrating how crimes of the state have contributed to the existence of Islamist-inspired terrorism and the emergence of global Jihadist organisations like Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
The ‘War on Terror’ abandons the dominant socially-constructed discourse and application of the ‘war on terror’ and instead favours a grounded approach whereby actors, actions and consequences are analysed according to the risk they represent. Ahmed achieves this grounded approach through situating state practices in international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Through documenting the intersectionality of these practices with radicalization in the emergence of global Jihadist organisations, the book demonstrates how state crimes contribute to terrorism. Although the book sits at the intersections of critical criminology, state crime, international/transnational crime, it is relevant to all disciplines that are concerned with state crime, terrorism and radicalization.

              

This book provides an authoritative overview of the contemporary phenomenon widely labelled as ‘acid attacks’. Although once thought of as a predominantly ‘gendered crime’, acid and other corrosive substances have been used in a range of violence crimes. This book explores the historical use of corrosives in crime, legal definitions of such attacks, the contexts in which corrosives are used, victim characteristics, offender motivations for carrying and decanting corrosives, and preventative strategies. Data is drawn from the international literature and the analysis of primary data collected in the UK (which is thought to have one of the highest rates of acid attacks in the world) from interviews with over 20 convicted offenders and from police case files relating to over 1,000 crimes involving corrosive substances. This book adds significantly to the international literature on weapons carrying and use, which to date has predominantly focused around the possession and use of guns and knives. 

This book provides an up-to-date analysis of major issues in the field of sexual abuse, both established and emerging, and asks how we can develop the most evidence-based, fit-for-purpose approach in responding to and preventing it. Sexual abuse is a multi-disciplinary, international issue that exists at the crossroads of theory, practice, and research. Therefore, the book is future-facing and asks the reader to critically reflect upon current and future research and practice, and to ask: what next? In doing this the book examines the theory, research, and practice on a range of topics including, grooming behaviors, risk management, risk assessment, sexual fantasies, professional engagement, and policy development. These, and other essential topics for effective and efficient care for people who have committed sexual offenses, are addressed as part of the ultimate goal to reduce and even eliminate sexual victimizationin the future.

The County Lines phenomenon has become one of the most significant drug market developments in the UK over recent years. This book analyses how it is being responded to by the police in affected provincial areas. Drawing on unique ethnographic fieldwork, it takes readers into police stations and out onto the streets with officers, providing timely insight into the policing of this high profile and challenging drug market context. The book considers the use of new police tactics that have been proposed and familiar methods that officers regularly embarked on. Through a sophisticated theoretical framework it argues that the policing of County Lines can often be considered ‘symbolic’, with concerns regularly placed on sending out strong messages that appear superficial when closely examined. Alongside this, however, there appears to be a progressive shift towards a more pragmatic drugs policing approach that embraces harm reduction principles. This cutting-edge research speaks to academics in Criminology and Policing, and to practitioners and policy makers.

This book examines mass shootings and attempted shootings that occurred across 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, known as post-communist states. This region of the world has been described by social scientists as possessing specific social, cultural, and political characteristics which may mean that mass shootings in this part of the world are driven by distinct causal factors in comparison to those in North America and elsewhere. This book explores trends and patterns that underpin cases in this under-explored region and tests whether Cumulative Strain Theory can account for mass shooting occurrences. It uses in-depth qualitative analysis to examine select case studies in one chapter, followed by a chapter which uses quantitative methods to identify trends across a wider set of cases and to test the theoretically-driven hypotheses. This data is then compared with data in the US. This book draws on a wide range of media, forensic and court reports and provides methodological insights and discussions of future trends including the potential incidental increase of mass shootings in these regions. It also engages in recent public policy debates pertaining to firearm ownership and regulation. 

This book provides in-depth coverage of guns, gun violence and gun homicides from a variety of perspectives, including, but not limited to, gender, suicide, peaceology and police (in)action. Reflecting changes in contemporary perceptions as well as desires for scholarship emanating from under-researched areas of the globe, this book addresses the pervasive issue of guns, gun violence and gun homicides. Authored by a wide range of Social Science experts, and premised on the notions of epistemological diversity, inclusivity and knowledge production in the Global South, this book provides comprehensive coverage on the nebulous concern of guns and their destructive force using differing approaches to the same problem, with a focus on prevention/reduction of gun violence. Readers may find the chapters contained in this book to be fascinating, provocative, informative, clearly presented and solution oriented. This book is of special interest to students, criminologists, policymakers, criminal justice system officials and laypersons. It is invaluable to policymakers at differing levels of government who provide advice on the social issue of guns and gun violence in their respective jurisdictions.

This book provides a holistic and interdisciplinary focus on the legal regulation and policing of football violence and disorder in Britain. Anchored in ground-breaking ethnographic and participant-action research, the book combines a crowd psychology and socio-legal approach to critically explore the contemporary challenges of managing football crowds. It sets out the processes by which football disorder occurs and the limitations of existing approaches to policing ‘football hooliganism’, in particular the dominant focus on controlling ‘risk supporters’, before setting out proposals for fundamental reforms to both law and policing. This book will be of value to academics, students, legal and policing practitioners, as well as policy-makers. The two authors are internationally known experts in the management and behaviour of football crowds and bring together for the first time over 30 years of research in this area from the disciplines of law and social psychology.

This book draws on a four-year ethnographic study conducted in the prisons and on the streets of Greater Manchester, England, to examine gangs and organised crime in the North of England. It includes the personal testimonies of active prison gang members and major organised crime figures, many of whom are behind bars, and some active street gang members. It presents an holistic account by exploring the linkages that exist between prisons and the streets, including the lines of continuity between gangs on both sides of the prison walls and how gang affiliation straddles this divide. It offers data on the region’s drug market (specifically Class A drugs) as this market is the lynchpin of the underworld, both within and without prison. It also includes the perspectives and insights of prison officers, police detectives, youth workers, active and former street gang members and the parents of deceased gang members. This is a ground-breaking, contemporary study, analysing English gang compositions and activities, with its findings and results based on qualitative interviews and ethnographic research.

The book provides a thorough investigation and overview of the decision making process that individuals may (or may not) go through when proceeding to commit a crime. Drawing on interviews with real offenders and conducted in a novel way, this book includes quotes throughout which make their decision making and emotional processes relatable to the reader. It examines a range of offences from petty theft to murder and includes both male and female offenders. Based on various iterations of the rational choice theories of crime, this book examines the relevance of these theories in real offending situations and the influence of emotion and context on these decisions. Finally, it explores how understanding the decision making process of committing offences can inform criminal justice practice.