Law and Criminology

This textbook brings criminology theories to life through a wide range of popular works in film, television and video games including 13 Reasons Why, Game of Thrones, The Office, and Super Mario Bros, from a variety of contributors. It serves as an engaging and creative introduction to both traditional and modern theories by applying them to more accessible, non-criminal justice settings.  It helps students to think more broadly like critical criminologists and to identify these theories in everyday life and modern culture. It encourages them to continue their learning outside of the classroom and includes discussion questions following each chapter. The chapters use extracts from the original works and support the assertions with research and commentary. This textbook will help engage students in the basics of criminology theory from the outset.

This book analyzes human rights and crime prevention challenges from the perspective of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda, in particular its goal 16 on promoting peaceful, inclusive and just societies, the creation and development of which depend on the interplay between various secular and non-secular (f)actors. The book reflects on the implementation of these two legal instruments from a “back to the future” standpoint, that is, drawing on the wisdom of contributors to the 2030 Agenda from the past and present in order to offer a constructive inter-disciplinary and intergenerational approach. The book’s intended readership includes academics and educationists, criminal justice practitioners and experts, diplomats, spiritual leaders and non-governmental actors; its goal is to encourage them to pursue a socially and human rights oriented drive for “larger freedom,” which is currently jeopardized by adverse political currents.

This book discusses environmental crime and individual wrongdoing. It uses the theory of convenience throughout to examine financial motives, attractive opportunities, and personal willingness to explain deviant behavior. This book focusses primarily on the case study of the Island of Tjøme in Norway, an attractive resort where building permits were repeatedly granted to rich people in a protected zone along the shoreline. This book investigates how these crimes were detected and investigated by police over a few years with the help of whistleblowers. It discusses the interplay between the potentially corrupt public officials, professionals like architects and attorneys, and rich individuals, as an interesting and challenging arena for law enforcement. It covers attorneys’ defense strategies, evaluates private internal policing, and provides insights for those investigating individuals involved in environmental crime. It also examines the Vest Tank toxic waste dumping case and the resulting explosion where unusually both the chairperson and the chief executive were successfully sentenced to prison because of environmental crime, unlike many other environmental crime cases where individuals avoid prison. The case studies are drawn from Norway to supplement more well-known casestudies from the USA.

– Emmanuel Onyeozili, Ph.D., Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, USA

“This edited volume by an array of experts from West and Southern Africa has given a refreshing voice to psycho-criminological narratives in the continent. In a region of the world in which there is insufficient documentation of the patterns, determinants and outcomes of criminal behaviour, this book offers a culturally competent and contemporary flavour to an ancient discourse. Its focus on new areas of concern such as online dating scams, kidnapping and the mental health of officials in the criminal justice system compellingly captures the potential reader and gives good value for time. It is warmly recommended for its breadth of coverage, the authority of its claims and the multi-disciplinary outlook of its authors.”

– Adegboyega Ogunwale, MBBS, FWACP, Consultant Psychiatrist, Forensic Unit, Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Ogun State, Nigeria 

– Justice Tankebe, Ph.D., Lecturer, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK 

“Mental health and criminal justice issues are growing problems facing the world today. Questions about whether mental health affects crime or whether involvementin the criminal justice system affects an individual’s health have become part of national policy discussion. This nicely written book brings together eminent scholars and experts with extensive experience in their various fields to address these and other questions related to crime, mental health, and criminal justice in Africa. The editors did well to coordinate the efforts of the contributors into a valuable pierce. I highly recommend it for all who are interested in the nexus between crime, mental health, and criminal justice systems.”

– Francis D. Boateng, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, University of Mississippi, USA

This critical textbook looks beyond the immediate data on knife crime to try and make sense of what is a global phenomenon. Yet it especially explores why the UK in particular has become so preoccupied by this form of interpersonal, often youthful, violence. The book explores knife crime in its global and historical context and examines crime patterns including the “second wave” of knife crime in Britain. It then incorporates new empirical data to explore key themes including: police responses, popular narratives, and the various interests benefiting from the 'knife crime industry'. It captures the “voices” of those impacted by knife crime including young people, community leaders, and youth work practitioners. Drawing on criminology, sociology, cultural studies and history, the book argues that the problem is firmly located at the intersection of a series of concerns about class, race, gender and generationthat are a product of British history and its global past. It seeks to trace the several roots of the contemporary knife crime 'epidemic', ultimately to propose newer and alternative strategies for responding to it. It encourages a critical engagement with this subject, with the inclusion of some learning exercises for undergraduate students and above in the the social sciences, whilst also speaking to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

This initiating monograph provides the first thorough examination of the concept of white-collar crime online. Applying an offender-based perspective which considers the central role of convenience, it seeks to inform, improve and develop the current literature on cybercrime, whilst paying particular attention to its founding category within criminology. It argues that white-collar crime has receded from criminological perspectives on cybercrime in recent years and that a detailed, rich re-assessment of white-collar crime in contemporary digital societies is needed. Following a theoretical introduction, the book develops to discuss, inter alia, implications for corporate reputation, the various organizational roles utilized in mitigating external and internal threats, the unique considerations involved in law enforcement efforts, and likely future directions within the field.  White-Collar Crime Online recognises the strong lineage and correlation that exists between the study of white-collar crime and cybercrime. Using convenience theory within a comparative analysis which includes case-studies, the book explores both European and American paradigms, perspectives and models to determine where white-collar crime exists within the contemporary workplace and how this might relate to the ongoing discourse on cybercrime. In doing so it revaluates criminological theory within the context of changing patterns of business, the workplace, social rules, systems of governance, decision making, social ordering and control.  White-Collar Crime Online will speak to criminologists, sociologists and professionals; including those interested in cyber-security, economics, technology and computer science.

This book is a critical examination of recently introduced individual accountability regimes that apply to the financial services industry in the UK (SMCR) and Australia (BEAR and the forthcoming FAR), together with a forthcoming new individual accountability regime ( in particular, SEAR) in Ireland. It provides a framework for analysing whether these regimes will achieve behavioural change in the financial services industry. This book argues that, whilst sanctioning individuals to deter future misconduct is an important part of any successful regulatory strategy, the focus should be on ensuring that individuals in the financial services industry internalise the norms of behaviour expected under the new regimes. In this regard, the analysis in this book is informed by criminological theory, regulatory theory and behavioural science. The work also argues for a “trajectory towards professionalisation” of financial services, and banking in particular, as an important means of positively influencing industry-wide norms of behaviour, which have a key influence on firms’ and individuals’ behaviours.

This book provides a novel criminological understanding of white-collar crime and corporate lawbreaking in China focusing on: lack of reliable official data, guanxi and corruption, state-owned enterprises, media censorship, enforcement and regulatory capacity.

The text begins with an introduction to the topic placing it in global perspective, followed by chapters examining the importance of comparative study, corruption as a major crime in China, case studies and etiology, domestic, regional and global consequences, and concluding theoretical and policy issues that can inform future research.

This book focuses on the displacement and convergence of transnational crimes in North Africa and in the area of the Mediterranean Sea, providing empirical analysis of human smuggling and of drug trafficking. It discusses the displacement of crime due to the exploitation of asymmetries in legislation, law enforcement, and other vulnerabilities.

Using an innovative multimethodology, this volume describes the evolution of illicit flows related to human smuggling and trafficking of illicit goods. This approach helps to provide critical information such as traffickers’ modi operandi, most exploited paths, and trafficked goods, that would not be achievable through more traditional methods.

This book examines the contemporary rise in community violence across the United States and globally from sociological and criminological perspectives. It comprehensively investigates police response to criminal incidents, engagements with criminal suspects, use of force by law enforcement, and crime control measures implemented or recommended to initiate effective crime control measures so that the unwanted rise of violence and serious crime can again be contained. 

The primary audience for the book will be upper level undergraduate and graduate level students, criminal justice and law enforcement practitioners, government policy makers, community advocates, and researchers in sociology, criminology, homeland security, criminal justice, public administration, and political science.

This book examines how Muslim communities in the Netherlands perceive and experience extremism, counter-radicalisation policies, and Islamophobia. It is based on the findings of two original qualitative research investigations conducted in the Netherlands, in which thirty scholars, imams, mosque board members, and representatives of Islamic organisations were interviewed. The book delves into topics such as the politicisation of the Dutch media, misunderstandings about ‘radicalisation’ and how they contribute to securitisation, and how Dutch Muslims have been confronted with the dilemma of dealing with radicalisation on their own, while also facing further vilification, securitisation, and Islamophobia, all of which continue to be issues. Additionally, the study examines the significance of ‘radical Salafi’ ideology and recruitment techniques as seen by Dutch Muslim communities.

This book calls attention to the impact of stigma experienced by people who use illicit drugs. Stigma is powerful: it can do untold harm to a person and place with longstanding effects. Through an exploration of themes of inequality, power, and feeling ‘out of place’ in neoliberal times, this collection focuses on how stigma is negotiated, resisted and absorbed by people who use drugs. How does stigma get under the skin? Drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks and empirical data, this book draws attention to the damaging effects stigma can have on identity, recovery, mental health, desistance from crime, and social inclusion. By connecting drug use, stigma and identity, the authors in this collection share insights into the everyday experiences of people who use drugs and add to debate focused on an agenda for social justice in drug use policy and practice.

This edited collection showcases innovative, up and coming researchers’ work in the field of sex work studies across labour/work and relationships. This research is pushing the boundaries of the subject, asking new questions, carving new methodological terrain, and contributing new ideas and empirical findings to the existing literature. Drawing on sociology, criminology, media studies, social and health policy, law and socio-legal studies, the chapters reflect a range of new topics in the sex work studies literature such as religious readings, porn workers and their interactions with fans; romantic relationships, and humour at work. Studies are drawn from Europe, South America, Turkey, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA. This book speaks to academics across the social sciences and humanities who are interested in sex work studies.

This volume introduces innovative and inspired qualitative methods through topics on crime commission, victimisation and crime control. It highlights how qualitative methods offer significant insights that frame our understanding of the narratives, events, theoretical perspectives, and realities of the social world.

This volume is an essential read for graduate students and researchers in criminology and other social science disciplines interested in qualitative empirical research and informed policy making.

Devilry, Deviance, and Public Sphere draws on criminology and social theory to explore and expand social historical themes in the analysis of perceptions of deviance and crime in the eighteenth century. Developing the theoretical device of Folk Devils and Moral Panics, instigated by Stanley Cohen and developed by Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda, the book explores the social discovery of, and public response to, crime and deviance in that period. Detailed contemporary case studies of youth violence, sexual deviance, and substance abuse are used to argue that Hanoverian London and its novel media can be identified as the initiating historical site for what might now be termed public order moral panics. In doing so, Hamerton provides a vivid historical lineage of moral panic which traverses much of the long eighteenth century. The book considers social change, allowing for points of theoretical convergence and divergence to be observed, whilst exploring historical models of public opinion, media, deviance and crime alongside the unique character and power located within the burgeoning Metropolis. Devilry, Deviance, and Public Sphere seeks to make an important contribution to the understanding of both moral panic theory and the historiography of crime and deviance, and posits that the current discourse on folk devils and moral panics can be extended and enriched via the exploration of the moral crises of earlier centuries.

This book discusses the relationship between law and memory and explores the ways in which memory can be thought of as contributing to legal socialization and legal meaning-making. Against a backdrop of critical legal pluralism which examines the distributedness of law(s), this book introduces the notion of mnemonic legality. It emphasises memory as a resource of law rather than an object of law, on the basis of how it substantiates senses of belonging and comes to frame inclusions and exclusions from a national community on the basis of linear-trajectory and growth narratives of nationhood. Overall, it explores the sensorial and affective foundations of law, implicating memory and perceptions of belonging within this process of creating legality and legitimacy. By identifying how memory comes to shape and inform notions of law, it contributes to legal consciousness research and to important questions informing much socio-legal research.

Male-dominated law and legal knowledge essentially characterized the whole of pre-modern history in that the patriarchy represented the axis of social relations in both the private and public spheres. Indeed, modern and even contemporary law still have embedded elements of patriarchal heritage, even in the secular modern legal systems of Western developed countries, either within the content of legislation or in terms of its implementation and interpretation. This is true to a greater or lesser extent across legal systems, although the secular modern legal systems of the Western developed countries have made great advances in terms of gender equality. The traditional understanding of law has always been self-evidently dominated by men, but modern law and its understanding have also been more or less “malestreamed.” Therefore, it has become necessary to overcome the given “maskulinity” of legal thought.

In contemporary legal and political orders, gender mainstreaming of law has been of the utmost importance for overcoming deeply and persistently embedded power relations and gender-based, unequal social relations. At the same time and equally importantly, the gender mainstreaming of legal education – to which this book aims to contribute – can help to gradually eliminate this male dominance and accompanying power relations from legal education and higher education as a whole.

This open access textbook provides an overview of gender issues in all areas of law, including sociological, historical and methodological issues. Written for students and teachers around the globe, it is intended to provide both a general overview and in-depth knowledge in the individual areas of law. Relevant court decisions and case studies are supplied throughout the book.

This edited volume brings together the most recent research about various aspects of organized crime and the responses that have developed worldwide as a result to contain serious criminal acts. This book focuses particularly on the way criminal networking and illegal markets have developed during the first two decades of the 21st century. It examines how these developments have influenced the motivations and opportunities to commit organized crime. The volume not only focuses on illegal activities in illegal markets, such as drug and human trafficking, but also addresses organized crime and deviance in various legitimate industries. The contributions were presented at seminars of the Centre for Information and Research on Organized Crime (CIROC), and will be of particular interest to organized crime scholars and researchers, as well as advanced students of criminology across the world.

This is an Open Access book.

Amid the growing debate about models of judicial governance and their relationship to democratic quality, this book offers a systematic and empirical study of this relationship. The book thereby contributes to filling in this gap for the European continent. Taking an interdisciplinary politics and law perspective, and combining empirical and theoretical considerations, the book addresses the important link between democracy and judicial governance. In particular, it provides for three interconnected contributions. First, the book provides for a comprehensive classification of European countries into different models of judicial governance. Second, the book analyses empirically the relationship between the design of judicial governance and the quality of democracy. Third, building on those findings, the book presents policy reflections for the reform and improvement of mechanisms for judicial governance in European countries.

The book seeks to refine our knowledge about the relationship between judicial governance and democracy, making an important academic and social contribution. In an era in which many democracies backslide and deconsolidate, it assesses to what extent existing mechanisms for judicial governance have contributed to the stability and quality of democratic systems in which they are implemented. Furthermore, the book puts forward reflections to improve the role of organs for judicial governance in fostering the quality of democracy.

Since the book introduces in an accessible form key concepts of Judicial Governance, it will be of interest for the general public as well as academics and students in the fields of Law and Political Science. The book also addresses policy makers, as based on our empirical knowledge about the interaction judicial governance and democracy it puts forward ideas for a design of judicial governance that is more capable of protecting democratic systems of government.

We are currently engaged in an existential species war against nonhuman animals. This book argues that, during this war, nonhuman animals should be granted legal personhood and treated as ‘protected persons’ rather than the property of ‘protected persons.’ The main argument is that War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity – rape, forced pregnancy and other acts of sexual violence – are being committed within the meat, egg and dairy industries.

Given the over-involvement of young men in crime and young men’s disproportionally high rates of reoffending, it is surprising that more research has not explored young men’s experiences of prison. This book is based on the findings of a nine-month ethnographic case study of Hydebank Wood College, a young men’s prison in Northern Ireland. It seeks to explore the complexity of gender construction and masculine performance during young adulthood, while also exposing and dissecting the turbulent social life of a young men’s prison.

In examining these themes, the book takes account of the unique social, economic, and political factors that impact young men in communities in Northern Ireland, paying particular attention to their feelings of powerlessness, marginalisation, and vulnerability, and the construction of identity in cultures defined by territorialism, violence, masculine stoicism, and an anti-authority code of ‘honour’. The book follows the formation of masculinitiesthrough the prison gate and considers how the penal environment contributes to the continual shaping young men’s identities. The book also adopts Gambetta’s concept of ‘signalling’ to examine how young men use different practices, such as language and embodiment, to communicate masculinity to their wider social audience. At the same time, it also considers the reluctance of young men to communicate about their sources of vulnerability.

This book explores the policing response to teen sexting – the digital exchange, both consensual and non-consensual, of intimate images among youth peers. With a particular focus in England and Wales, it also considers other international responses and the challenges faced in policing youth practices with legislation being applied beyond its intended scope. It uses the police responses in England and Wales as a case study of the challenges of policy evolving the digital cultural phenomenon and the tensions between enforcing the law, while knowing it’s not fit for purpose, and supporting vulnerable minors. It explores the policy responses that have developed from the problematic legislation and whether these policy interventions have helped or hindered the policing process. It draws in parallels with drugs policy and policing, and brings in progressive, harm reduction approaches in contrast to traditional solutions.

This book provides a cultural investigation of the police in India and how it uses data and algorithmic tools for crime mapping. The book draws on an ethnographic study of Delhi Police's hotspot mapping endeavour. It provides a sociological investigation of the police in India and how they use data and algorithmic tools for crime mapping. It discusses how ‘criminals’ are constructed in these systems, typically, the marginalised residents of slums and immigrant colonies. It explores how the algorithm reifies existing assumptions and prejudices about 'criminals' as artificial intelligence systems are deeply intertwined with the culture and beliefs of those who make and use them. It pays special attention to the discriminatory practices of relevant police officers and how this ‘predictive’ policing perpetuates harm to the most marginalised. This book contributes to discussions around big data and surveillance studies broadly.

From the perspective of institutionalism and theories of clusters, this book provides a concept of organized crime as an institutional cluster in contrast to the concept of multiple offences, associated with organized criminal groups or/and criminal organizations. 

The book offers shifts in the methodology of organized crime analysis and extrapolates the tools of cluster modelling – successfully approbated in the social and economic sciences as a method for the organization of spatially localized systems – to the criminological field. Such an approach gives a fresh view of organized crime essence and contributes to the deeper and more sophisticated understanding of organized crime modus operandi, as well as its influence on the social landscape.

Organized crime in today’s world is increasingly moving from rigidly structured entities to decentralization with unclear, blurred edges and a hybrid structure, which is dictated by the rationality of adapting to social change, including the emergence of new widespread demands for illegal goods and services, new ways to evade social control, the prevalence of poly-criminal activities, the involvement in general digitalization, and so on. Specifically, the study is focused on the evolution of organized crime models in Ukraine considering the socioeconomic, political, and ideological background. Organized crime in Ukraine has gone through numerous transitions, encompassing professionally or traditionally organized criminal groups (the so-called community of ‘thieves in law’), functional racketeering groups, businessmen who accumulated their initial capital through the shadow economy, bureaucratically constructed groups from former official vertically powerful ruling circles, networks of personal or professional connections of the Soviet special services, oligarchic-clan pyramidal structures and amorphous delocalized cyber entities.

This book also gives a broad picture of contemporary criminal clusters in Ukraine and an assessment of a full-scale war’s impact. Russia’s invasion on 24 February 2022 and massive hostilities provoked a turbulent situation for organized crime, resulting in the breaking of former criminal ties and the degradation of certain criminal and corrupt practices. At the same time, the war and the martial law regime created opportunities for organized crime in Ukraine to develop new illegal markets and relocate existing ones.

This edited collection articulates a future direction for research at the nexus of criminology and human rights by bringing together experts from different branches of criminology and criminal justice who, while they may be sceptical about certain aspects of human rights theory or practice, share an interest in realising many of the objectives set out in human rights instruments. It argues that critical criminological research has a significant role to play in identifying whether state and state-corporate power is exercised in ways that align with human rights law and principles, although the discipline has been slow to advance this agenda. This book covers a wide array of topics and seeks to develop critical human rights approaches within criminology and criminal justice.

Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com

Nigeria has become one of the hotbeds of cybercrime since the liberalization of the telecommunication industry began in 1996. The scale and magnitude have been quite disturbing, not just for Nigeria but also for the international community, given the limitless boundaries of cybercrime. Like any other type of fraud, Internet fraud is primarily driven by financial gains. 

This book investigates the extent of the lack of digital forensic resources in Nigeria’s financial crime agencies. It is vital to have a proper resource inventory and capabilities to successfully confront the growing threat of financial crimes. While a few studies have suggested the lack of forensic capabilities in Nigerian cybercrime investigative agencies and the justice system, none have examined this in great detail, particularly in relation to specific skills gaps and resources needed in Nigeria’s financial crime agencies. This book contributes to the growing body of knowledge and clarifies the scope of the lack of digital forensic resources. Understanding the extent of the deficiency and its impact on caseloads could be crucial for developing a roadmap toward building forensic readiness and capability maturity for the agencies. This book presents the deficiencies in forensic readiness and recommends measures to fill this gap. 

This book also examines the specifics of the cybercrime caseloads and conviction records in Nigeria, identifying trends and patterns. The book explores other cybercrime complexities in Nigeria, such as common cybercrime taxonomies, prosecution, and conviction dynamics, juxtaposing it with select case studies in other jurisdictions.

The principal aim of Corporate Crisis Recovery: Managing Organizational Deviance, Reputation, and Risk is to complement and expand criminological discourse on the concept of the social license to operate as a means of influencing the behaviour of corporations.  In recent years, the wide-spanning consequences of some very public globalized corporate crises – including fiscal and environmental impact, staff retention, and organizational survival – have led to a growing body of research on crisis perception and responsive strategic management. Developments that position corporate crisis recovery as an anticipated requirement of visible compliance to normalized and anticipated standards of ethical practice and business conduct. Utilizing convenience theory to illustrate how corporations, and the individuals therein, are able to lose, repair, and recover the corporate license to operate after corruption and scandal, the book develops to evaluate the responses of the public and criminal justice process to serious reputational damage and substantial breach of trust.

This book investigates the recent history of the drug market on the dark web and suggests interventions that can be used to curb the trade of illegal products in the internet's underbelly. It outlines the current landscape of this market, highlighting:

• What is known about drug markets on the dark web.

• How transactions involving illicit goods occur in cryptomarkets.

• How the illegal trade of drugs is conducted in the dark web.

• The role of blockchain technology in these transactions.

The chapters that follow identify effective methods suppliers and purchasers employ to trade under conditions of uncertainty. They explore the role that trust plays in network structures and vendor selections for drug markets. The volume includes a review of the targeting strategies available for law enforcement and offers new solutions to target the trade of illicit goods on the dark web. It is ideal for law enforcement officers and practitioners combatting cybercrime.

This book is an analysis of policy and law governing the development, approval, manufacture, distribution, marketing and post-market surveillance of human drugs, medical devices, foods and cosmetics in Mainland China (“China FDD Regulation”).

It analyzes the policy and general principles behind China FDD Regulation, including the history and jurisdiction of the central and local agencies that administer the laws and regulations, the administrative law structure in which these agencies operate, and other aspects of FDD Regulation interpretation and enforcement.  Although it describes practice in China, this book is written in the comparative perspective (i.e., sensitive to assumptions made by those who are steeped in FDD Regulation in the U.S., Japan, and the EU).

It includes one chapter on each regulatory space (drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, and food) organized by the lifecycle of products. It also covers subcategories of products, such as vaccines, radiopharmaceuticals, and in vitro diagnostic medical devices. The book includes specialty chapters on areas that are common to multiple types of regulated products, such as biosecurity and advertising.

It is the first English language book of its kind, and it can serve as a resource for those in the FDD law and regulatory field to understand the mechanics of developing and marketing products, but also with insights for businesspeople and others, who are developing China-strategies.

Evidence Based Policing (EBP) exerts significant influence on how actors think, act and speak about UK policing to the point that it is becoming institutionalised. Inspired by the insights of Michel Foucault into power-knowledge, governmentality and institutional reform over time, this book provides a comprehensive account of the emergence of EBP in Britain as well as original discourse analysis and analytical research into the texts produced by EBP. It presents a new history of EBP presented around EBP's story-lines, subject positions and the institutional changes it has created. This history shows EBP shares a genealogical heritage with modern discourses of managerialism and neoliberalism. EBP's roots are traced and it is re-presented as an extension of the problematic relationship in the production of criminological knowledge and the British state. This history fundamentally challenges the notion on which EBP rests: basing policing policy upon independent, robust knowledge. Instead this book argues EBP should be subject to greater illumination and challenge, suggesting EBP is a contestable device that is doing political work. It speaks to those interested in policing, critical criminology and political science.

This edited collection proposes a wide range of approaches to address the legal issues pertaining to the end of the fossil fuel era. While the fossil fuel era is coming to an end both because of the inherent limits of its resources and because of the need to prevent to further pump out CO2 in an already saturated atmosphere, the legal dispositions to ensure an ordered and rational shift toward cleaner energy still need to be developed. Not only in relation to CO2 emissions themselves but also in relation to the manifold issues related to environmental justice in an era of global climate change and global warming. This book is unique in that it provides a theoretical framework but also works to address cutting edge issues through a series of case studies.  

This book presents critical reflections on the professionalisation of policing through the delivery of the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA), Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP) and Pre-Join degrees by HEIs in the UK. Each chapter is written by lecturers and staff from a single policing teaching team who deliver these degrees, to cover inception of the programme through to delivery and their practical reflections and insights. The chapters are underpinned with academic theories of pedagogy and topics appropriate to the delivery of material to (student) police officers which encourage critical thinking, evidence and reflection. This diverse teaching team includes academics and pracademics working side-by-side to engage and support student officers with the learning needed for 21C police officers. This book includes an outline of the UK policing model to assist readers from other countries who are interested in the learnings. It is a resource for police students, police and law enforcement leaders and overseas academics in policing, criminology, sociology and education.

This book provides a wide-ranging, global exploration of policies and practices which have sought to undermine dissent during recent and less recent social, political, economic and health ‘crises’. Examining various cases of activism and opposition from both the Global North and the Global South, and drawing on multi-disciplinary insights, this book analyses the many ways in which state and non-state actors have targeted dissent, activism and protest, including by vulnerable groups. This includes strategies that have silenced dissenting opinions, restricted the right to protest, intensified policing practices and the surveillance of activists, imposed onerous administrative fines, criminalised and prosecuted dissenters, and even killed activists. Fundamentally, this volume considers ‘criminalisation’ as a process that develops on a continuum of control and repressive practices that aim to undermine dissent. It contributes to the broader discussion on criminalisation processes, policing, the rule of law, and the quality of our democracies.

This book explores the effective policing of public protection issues, from chapter authors with varied research and practitioner experience. The collection is aimed at detective police officers in specialist units, response and neighbourhood officers, as well as new recruits in policing public protection. Each chapter offers an understanding of victimology, perpetration, and the effective policing and investigation of such crimes. It explores questions such as why crimes happen, who the victims are, what perpetrators do, and why they might target certain victims. This book explores international literature, the evidence base, past mistakes, and what effective and professional policing should ‘look like’. The intention is to improve the policing and investigation of such complex crimes. Each chapter provides a concise summary, a comprehensive literature review, and a list of key actions for practice that officers should consider. It closes with a list of key resources. These chapters specifically cover the following thematic crime areas such as domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, gendered violence, and trafficking. This book also speaks to local authorities (Social Services, Trading Standards), professionals in Education, Health and Probation, academics, and Non-Government Organisations (NGO) in the charitable sector.

This textbook provides an overview of international drug policy using a comparative framework to explore contemporary drug issues. Using a topical approach, each chapter examines a different topic pertaining to drug policy to illustrate the range of contrasting approaches adopted including: decriminalisation, prohibition, legalisation, and harm reduction. In this way, it speaks to students in the field of criminology and justice and beyond with a focus on criminal laws and the administration of criminal justice. It draws on global examples from over 30 countries throughout to discuss and compare drug policies. The book includes a host of pedagogic features including case studies, exercises, study questions, web resources and chapter summaries. It starts by providing an overview of the psychoactive and pharmacological effects of illicit drugs, discusses how to compare policies across many countries, and provides a history of the global drug prohibition regime and how it is evolving internationally. Many of the chapter topics that follow relate to “drug control regimes” which are different forms of regulatory strategies found operating in many countries around the world. It also discusses the global movement toward the decriminalization of all drugs.

It incorporates multidisciplinary, theoretical and methodological approaches drawing on the work of a wide range of scholars including historians, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, economists, and lawyers.

The two-volume set, LNICST 613 and 614, constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 15th EAI International Conference on Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime, ICDF2C 2024, held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, during October 9–10, 2024.

The 40 full papers presented here were carefully selected and reviewed from 90 submissions. These papers have been organized in the following topical sections:

Part I- Artificial Intelligence & Security; Multimedia Forensics; Intrusion Detection; Intrusion and Fraud Detection; Large Language Models, Advances in Security and Forensics; Advances in Security and Forensics.

Part II- Security Analytics, Threat Intelligence, Multimedia Forensics; Generative AI, Emerging Threats.

This book analyses the nature, causes, logic, and culture of prison victimisation in an English young offender institution for young men aged 18-21 years old. Drawing on ethnographic and qualitative research, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of the gendered, situational, individual, and moral components of prison victimisation. It explores how wider technological, economic, policy, political, and cultural changes have altered the texture and structure of prison life and prison violence, and with what consequences. Ultimately, the book argues that high levels of prison violence are not inevitable. Rather, the prevention of prison violence requires a just, lawful, humane, and hopeful environment, and failing to create such is tragically life-changing for young prisoners.

This short Pivot argues for a paradigm shift towards a human-centric approach, emphasising the importance of understanding and managing human behaviour as a fundamental aspect of effective security strategies. It explores the intersection of psychology, criminology, and security, providing a comprehensive framework for integrating behavioural insights into security practices.

The book questions the dependence on technology solutions and provides a new viewpoint, emphasising human behaviour as the core cause of security challenges. It explains complex psychological and criminological insights and provides straightforward explanations of psychological and criminological ideas that are critical to comprehending security issues. It advocates for paradigm shift in security practices and encourages a move from control-based to cooperative security paradigms.

This collection brings together academics and practitioners currently researching topics relevant to Polish criminology. It showcases the breadth and depth of criminological research in Poland. Furthermore, it places the volume within its post-Soviet past and global context, alongside the international literature, outlining its many contributions to the field. It encompasses a broad range of criminological interests, such as critical criminology and social control, policing, penitentiary and post-penitentiary systems, restorative justice, crimes of the powerful, white-collar crime etc. The edited collection serves as an invaluable resource for scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners seeking a comprehensive understanding of crime and justice in Poland, as well as those interested in comparative criminology and the broader European context.

Chapter 3 is available open access under a Creative Commons Non Commercial No Derivatives Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The updated second edition of this textbook focuses on understanding and addressing the criminality and victimization experienced by the elderly population globally. It offers insights into the prevalence of elderly crime and victimization through international comparisons and explores effective strategies to tackle this issue.

The book covers a wide range of topics, including the types of crimes committed by the elderly, the characteristics of older offenders, and the responses of the criminal justice system, such as diversion programs and community-based treatments. It also delves into specialized programs providing health and mental health services for older prisoners.

Furthermore, the new edition expands on processing and rehabilitation approaches for elderly offenders, along with services aimed at preventing, protecting, and caring for elderly victims. It also includes comparative international research on crime prevention methods and legislative measures, making it a valuable resource for students in criminology, criminal justice, sociology, and gerontology.

How much legal discretion do arbitrators truly have in investment treaty arbitration? Iura novit curia – literally "the judge knows the law" – is a well-established procedural principle across various legal systems, empowering and/or requiring adjudicators to ascertain and apply the law independently, even beyond the arguments presented by the parties. Yet, its specific role in investment treaty arbitration remains largely unexplored. This book presents a comprehensive and in-depth examination of iura novit curia in investment treaty arbitration. Against the backdrop of ongoing global reforms of the international investment protection regime, the principle holds the potential to enhance accurate decision-making and reinforce the substantive equality of arms between parties. The book traces the historical development of iura novit curia, from Roman law to contemporary civil and common-law procedures, providing a comparative foundation for its modern application. It then examines how international courts and tribunals allocate responsibility for legal ascertainment, exploring its role in public international law and international commercial arbitration. Building on this background, the book shifts its focus to the core question: whether and how iura novit curia should be applied within the unique legal framework of investment treaty arbitration. In this context, the book inter alia addresses the following legal questions: On which legal basis can iura novit curia be applied in investment treaty arbitration? Does its application align with the policy objectives driving the ongoing reform of the international investment protection regime? Is the independent ascertainment of law a power or a duty for investment arbitrators? After answering these foundational questions, the book then delves into the two main elements of iura novit curia: the notion of legal knowledge and the ex officio ascertainment of law. It critically examines the level of legal knowledge expected from investment arbitrators and whether specific knowledge requirements should be mandatory. Regarding the ascertainment of law, it explores the role of different methods – reliance on party submissions, external experts, autonomous interpretations, and the introduction of new legal sources – while also analysing the procedural constraints arbitrators face when independently ascertaining the applicable law.

This practical handbook utilises criminological research to produce comprehensive Designing Out Crime solutions for practitioners. It covers a large spectrum of Designing Out Crime applications courtesy of concise and easily understood short chapters. The handbook includes a Good Practice section with examples of where (and why) success has been achieved. It speaks to crime prevention practitioners, managers, and academics in the field of criminology (especially environmental criminology). It also provides solutions to those who seek to deliver sustainable, long-term benefits at the coalface of preventing crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour within the built environment.

Rapid advancements in Generative Artificial Intelligence (like ChatGPT and LLMs) are fundamentally reshaping the landscape of both criminal activity and law enforcement. Artificial Intelligence and Crime collates seminal and insightful published materials into a single, accessible volume.

Currently, scholarship exploring the dual dimensions of AI and the critical intersections is emerging rapidly but remains dispersed across various journals, conference proceedings, and edited volumes. This curated collection will provide readers with a structured understanding of how AI is used maliciously, how it can be leveraged to fight crime, the complex legal challenges it poses, and the ethical considerations surrounding its implementation in the justice system. By bringing these key resources together, the book will serve as an indispensable reference tool, facilitating further research, informing policy, and providing a crucial resource for academic curricula.

The auto-summaries have been generated by a recursive clustering algorithm via the Dimensions Auto-summarizer by Digital Science handled by Subject Matter Experts and the editor of this book. The editor of this book selected which SN content should be auto-summarized and decided its order of appearance. Please be aware that these are extractive auto-summaries, which consist of original sentences, but are not representative of the original papers and/or book chapters, since we do not show the full length of the publications. Please note that only published SN content is represented here, and that machine-generated books are still at an experimental stage.

This handbook provides an essential reference to the pivotal and dynamic field of business and human rights from an African perspective. Grounded in human rights frameworks, it presents the status quo of the prevailing fundamental and intersectional issues related to business and human rights regulation in Africa. The handbook covers topics such as land and institutional governance, corporate social responsibility, and gender issues as some of the main themes and offers practical regulatory solutions based on doctrinal, empirical, and comparative methods. Exploring the intersection of business and human rights deepens our understanding of the legal, policy,  and regulatory challenges involved and clarifies how and to what extent human rights concerns are addressed in Africa, a continent often marked by human rights violations by multinational corporations. It is hoped that the solutions provided here will help advance policy, regulatory, and legal developments related to business and human rights in Africa.

This book critically examines the primary challenges associated with the indirect implementation of the European Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR) in Brazil. The EUDR is a demand-side regulatory measure designed to mitigate the European Union's (EU's) contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation, thereby aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss.

The regulation has raised concerns among certain countries that its compliance requirements may impose significant costs on their production chains, leading to potential extraterritorial effects. While the EUDR does not directly apply to the normative frameworks of third countries, it mandates compliance for market access to the EU.

Therefore, this study addresses the following research question: What are the challenges to the indirect implementation of the EUDR in Brazil? To answer this question, the book analyzes the relationship between Brazil's national forest-related framework and the EUDR. It posits that the extraterritorial nature of the EUDR does not fully consider the unique specificities of other countries, which may lead to potential incompatibilities with their existing regulatory mechanisms.

This volume presents pioneering research for the purpose of developing a common analytical foundation and framework for the emerging interdisciplinary research field of investment control and national security. It deals with legal and regulatory aspects of investment controls, specifically from an international, transnational, and comparative law perspective.

The book deals with illicit trafficking in the Mediterranean, seen as a borderline issue between mobility and security under a strongly interdisciplinary approach. The opening part is dedicated to issues that transversally concern illegal trafficking: criminological, criminal law, criminal procedure, but also international law issues. This part presents a kind of general theory of illegal trafficking, showing its recurring aspects and identifying the legal and criminal-political issues that would be best addressed by a unified approach to the matter. The other parts are devoted to presenting, instead, a special part overview of illegal trafficking. The second and the third section are devoted, in particular, to illegal traffics having human beings as their objects. More specifically, the second part examines smuggling of migrants, which has a central - criminological and criminal-political - relevance among the illegal traffics taking place in the Mediterranean. The third part dealswith the neighbouring theme of human trafficking, especially in its connection with the problem of labour exploitation. Finally, the fourth part focuses on some trafficking in goods, offering a selected and representative overview of some of the most significant forms that such trafficking can take: tobacco trafficking, drug trafficking and trafficking in cultural goods.

Blockchains and smart contracts are emerging technologies that pose unique challenges for legal systems. This book outlines the extent to which these new and innovative technologies could have potentially disruptive effects on contract law in Europe. It does so through a comparative, three-part analysis of the recognisability and effects of smart contracts in European legal systems. First of all, in light of the technologies’ transboundary nature, the book employs a comparative approach, considering French law, German law, English law, and Dutch law to analyse the impact on the different systems of contract law. While doing so, it also addresses the formation, interpretation, and vitiation of contracts. Secondly, it analyses the impact of these technologies on European laws regarding unfair terms in consumer contracts and argues that the existing rules should be applied to smart legal agreements in business-to-consumer relations. Lastly, it analyses the current European rules of private international law on the basis of which jurisdiction and applicable law are developed. In this respect, the book concludes that the vast majority of these European rules are “smart contract-proof”.

This book examines the diversity of enforcement titles in cross-border debt collection, focusing on the types, structure, contents and effects of enforcement titles. It offers a comprehensive overview of judgments, court settlements and authentic instruments from a variety of EU Member States. It primarily employs the comparative legal method to draw conclusions on commonalities and differences, as well as prospects for future approximation of laws.

The premise of the research is rooted in the finding that national authorities of EU Member States continue to treat enforcement titles from other Member States with reservations and mistrust despite being committed to the principle of mutual trust. The book identifies the issues of mistrust stemming from the diversity of enforcement titles. The research is based on a rich database of national reports compiled during the course of several large-scale EU Justice Projects.

Divided into five parts, the book offers first somegeneral considerations and presents attempts at a systemisation of enforcement titles. The following parts are then devoted to more specialised approaches toward the different types of enforcement titles. However, the connecting line between all parts of the book are the considerations of cross-border enforcement in the EU (and in a limited manner with third States). Herein, research also addresses critical factors regarding the free movement of judgments in the EU, including those of lis pendens and related actions.

This book provides a valuable contribution to the Theory of European Civil Procedure. Since it is based on a comparative approach and employs both empirical and doctrinal viewpoints, it should also greatly benefit practitioners involved in cross-border dispute resolution. Overall, the findings should be of interest to a broad audience, including policymakers, judges, practitioners and scholars.

The Asian Yearbook of International Economic Law (AYIEL) 2022 addresses the rapidly evolving field of international economic law with a special focus on Asia and the Pacific. This region has long been and remains a major engine of the world economy; at the same time, it is characterized by a host of economies with varying developmental levels, economic policies and legal jurisdictions. The AYIEL 2022 especially focuses on trade law, investment law, competition law, dispute settlement, economic regulation and cooperation, and regional economic integration, as well as other legal developments in Asian countries.