Youth and Crime

Intended as a critical introduction to the field, this text for undergraduates is written with a British frame of reference, so some examples and references to laws may not apply to an American audience. Still, Muncie (International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research) takes a broad view, reviewing the literature and investigating not only criminal careers and patterns of offending but also the issues of "how and why certain aspects of young people's behaviour...are considered as deserving a criminal justice-based rather than a social welfare-based response," (from the preface) and the role of adult fear in determining whether courts are the best ways to deal with the problems. This second edition of Muncie's 1999 text adds a substantial amount of new material on anti-social behavior, street crime, victimization, social exclusion, and drugs and surveillance, and updates on globalization and the New Labour party's criminal justice reforms. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR