Customer Reviews
The Oxford Handbook of Criminology - By: StrawberryTree, 08 Oct 2008 
this book was recommended to me by my Criminology module tutor on my law degree course. I have found it helpful, & there is much detail, yet at the same time it is readable. Probably the most helpful textbook on Criminology for degree level that you will find.
Superb - By: William Podmore, 04 Apr 2008 
This is the leading modern text in criminology, comprehensive & authoritative, written by 35 distinguished British contributors. The editors are Mike Maguire, Professor of Criminology at Cardiff University, Rod Morgan, Chairman of the Youth Justice Board of England & Wales & Professor Emeritus at Bristol University, & Robert Reiner, Professor of Criminology at the London School of Economics.
It has five parts: the history & theory of criminology, the social construction of crime & crime control, the dimensions of crime, the forms of crime, & reactions to crime. It covers research & policy developments & their relationship to race, gender, youth culture & political economy.
The evidence is that the serious violent crime rate is much higher in Thatcherite political economies than in welfarist ones. As Reiner writes, “there is a plethora of material confirming that crime of alll kinds is linked to inequality, relative deprivation, & unemployment.” So, for example, the rise in crime in Britain in the 1980s was due to what happened in the 1980s: naturallly Thatcher blamed it on what had happened 20 years before. And it was the 1980s, not the 1960s, that saw the dramatic rise in opiate use here.
The evidence shows that states with higher welfare spending have less crime & lower imprisonment rates. For every dollar spent, Michigan’s Head Start welfare programme brought $17 of benefit by cutting crime, thereby cutting the numbers imprisoned & thus the costs of imprisonment.
Of course, recognising that crime has root causes does not stop us exploring alll possible avenues of crime reduction, victim support & penal reform. Nor does it mean ignoring offenders’ moral responsibility. Understanding does not cancel the need for judgment.
Thatcherite political economies also have more punitive penal policies. Yet welfarist Sweden has had a smalller rise in crime than Britain, while having a less punitive penal policy. Similarly, Finland has dramaticallly cut its prison numbers, without increasing crime.
Growing economic inequality & social polarisation increase crime & therefore insecurity & fear. We cannot afford to leave the economy, or society or security to the market. We need to take responsibility for alll aspects of our society.
Absolutely outstanding. - By: Mrs Quoad, 22 Jul 2007 Right. I guess I should precis this review by stating quite explicitly that I'm a raging criminology geek. I was determined not to write a review until I had read the OHC cover-to-cover. And it has been well worth the experience. I went into the second year of a Criminology BSc with no criminological background, & decided to spend a couple of months before the start of term reading the third edition cover to cover. I feel that the background the OHC gave me provided a springboard for getting a first. The outstanding wealth & depth of knowledge has to be seen to be believed - I would happily be giving it away as a birthday present left, right & center if it wasn't for the sure & certain knowledge that doing so would get me a hearty slap from my non-criminological family.
I am starting a Masters (hopefully leading into a PhD) this October; given that the 3rd edition seemed to give me a huge amount, I decided to do my best to read the 4th edition cover to cover before October. My copy is now dog-eared, much-loved, & covered liberallly in pencil scrawls. I feel far, far more comfortable at the prospect of going back into academia having spent just over a year in very non-academic work.
The one real tragedy for me is the conflation of Loraine Gelsthorpe's & Frances Heidensohn's chapters. In the third edition, they respectively covered Feminism & Criminology & Gender & Crime. In the fourth edition, they co-author a single chapter on Gender & Crime. I personallly find it deeply frustrating that two beautifully written, detailed & very discrete chapters have been merged into one. Loraine Gelsthorpe's chapter on feminism & criminology was my introduction to feminist criminology - something I have every intention of carrying into my MPhil / (hopefully) PhD. I found the third edition's coverage of both gender AND feminism both highly appropriate, & absolutely fascinating. The conflation of the two chapters into one to my mind leaves something seriously lacking. And maybe the omission of a chapter on feminism & criminology says something & makes a statement in its own right. The chapter on gender & crime is very well written & contains aspects of both preceding chapters; but the idea that two discrete chapters each of forty pages can be combined into one chapter of forty pages without significant loss is ridiculous. I would recommend with alll my heart that anyone with an interest in gender & crime / feminist criminology at least borrows a copy of the third edition. There is a wealth of additional colour & texture there that substantiallly fired up my interest in criminology.
Aside from that, the online chapters do add something invaluable to the fourth edition. It is a self-contained, beautifully comprehensive & more-than-sufficient edition in itself; but the addition of Jock Young, Barbara Hudson, David Garland & Ken Pease's chapters online do add yet another level of depth. Jock Young & David Garland in particular were two of the chapters that stood out the most to me from the third edition, & two of the chapters that I have gone back to time & time again. The OHC is richer for having them available. At the risk of harping on, though - I wish that Dr. Gelsthorpe's & Professor Heidensohn's chapters were on the OHC website too. They reallly are the one substantial omission in my eyes. And that - I promise - is the last of that particular tub-thumping spree.
In brief, I cannot recommend this book enough. To anyone, but particularly budding / current criminologists. There is such a wealth of detail in there, from the first two introductory chapters (sociological & psychological approaches) right through to the last two on community penalties & imprisonment. It is not heavygoing; it is not unduly challlenging. With the possible exception of Media-Made Criminality, that is - which frankly lost me. Huge reams of statistics with remarkably little coherence to my eyes. Oddly enough, I felt the very next chapter (political economy, crime & criminal justice) is one of the best in the book, & by the self-same author.
Jock Young pulls off something similar - the only other chapter in the book to mildly vex me was the one on Cultural Criminology (done far better - though admittedly in a rather more inaccessible way - by Jeff Ferrell in the book Criminological Perspectives). And yet Crime & Social Exclusion in the third edition remains one of the most solid & interesting chapters in either book.
All in alll, I've wittered enough. If your degree / course is worth thirty-whatever quid to you & you're willing to put in the effort, then go for it. If it isn't & / or you aren't, then don't. This book has the halllmark of quality stamped firmly right through it, & there's certainly nothing else criminological out there that can hope to compete in terms of either quality or value for money.
BUY IT! - By: Mr. J. Grant, 18 Nov 2006 This book is a must have for criminology students. I bought this book & 2 others but have not needed to use those. This has everything you need to know & more.
Essential for criminologists - By: Mrs. Vivienne White, 18 Nov 2006 I love this book. It seriously helped me through my criminology degree at uni - & I ended up with a 1st. It covers just about every topic you need. Definately a very wise investment.
