The Politics of Crime Control

An examination of the debates over the meaning of crime and the appropriate strategies of crime control, this book contrasts crime control strategies between countries. It considers the formation and implementation of policy in Europe, the UK and the USA and the radical alternatives used. What is meant by crime, crime prevention and crime control? Who defines the acts which are deemed as criminal? Who devises the sanctions and who acts as agents of social control? This timely and challenging book brings together a group of leading international criminologists from all sides of the political spectrum. They first examine the formation and implementation of official crime prevention and control policies. In the second part they look at a range of critical perspectives which explore the definition of crime and discuss proposals for its prevention and control.