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Values in criminology and community justice

Online ISBN:
9781447311706
Print ISBN:
9781447300359
Publisher:
Policy Press
Book

Values in criminology and community justice

Malcolm Cowburn (ed.),
Malcolm Cowburn
(ed.)
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Marian Duggan (ed.),
Marian Duggan
(ed.)
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Anne Robinson (ed.),
Anne Robinson
(ed.)
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Published:
18 September 2013
Online ISBN:
9781447311706
Print ISBN:
9781447300359
Publisher:
Policy Press

Abstract

This edited book considers the values both implicit and explicit in criminology and criminal justice. Taking Becker’s influential article “Whose Side Are We On?” (1967) as a starting point, the book debates issues concerning sociological enquiry about deviancy and crime which, by its very nature, cannot ever be entirely neutral or objective: “We must always look at the matter from someone’s point of view. The scientist who proposes to understand society must, as Mead long ago pointed out, get into the situation enough to have a perspective on it…..We can never avoid taking sides.” Becker, 1967: 245). However, the ’sides’ that are taken in theorising and researching crime and in criminal justice practice are often inadequately acknowledged, frequently reflecting dominant thinking and discourses. This book arises from our perceptions that values and values-talk has been submerged by the instrumental demands of administrative criminology and managerial practices in both higher education and criminal justice system. The chapters open debate about crime, criminology and criminal justice from a broad spectrum of perspectives and, in so doing, poses key questions about policy, values and what is/what should be more valued.

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