Cutting the Edge: Current Perspectives in Radical/Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice

(Hardback)

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This book introduces the reader to the critical issues, important trends, theories, and various subdisciplines in the current manifestation of radical and critical criminology and criminal justice, including postmodernism, left realism, feminism, and peacemaking. Since its articulation in the 1960s, radical and critical criminology has matured into a diverse body of work encompassing a variety of interesting perspectives. Contributors to this volume examine emerging issues in the theory (the importance of classics in radical theory, the market economy, the introduction of anarchist theory) and traditional concerns of criminology and criminal justice (white collar crime, police, prisons, community corrections, courts/sentencing), but from a critical perspective. This book showcases current scholarship in this often neglected area of theory and praxis with contributions by respected academics in the field of radical and critical criminology. These individuals represent a diversity of nationalities, races, ethnicities, religions, and genders. The reader will find their conclusions not only thought-provoking and stimulating, but highly accessible as well.

Reviews

.,."provides an interesting overview of the current state of affairs in radical/critical criminology."-Contemporary Sociology
"Ross has brought together some of critical criminology's most impressive scholars who write about some of the most pressing and contemporary issues within not only critical criminology but also criminology in general. The book is highly readable: the chapters are light and relatively short. For students in need of a single volume that communicates just where critical criminology currently resides and those issues of central importance, they should look no further than here. This book is especially relevant to those who are not all that familiar with critical criminology for it presents many issues (12 chapters) around the single critical criminology perspective....[T]he book deserves a good look by anyone interested in this once marginal but now central area of criminology."-Social Pathology
...provides an interesting overview of the current state of affairs in radical/critical criminology.-Contemporary Sociology
[A]n excellent introduction to radical/critical criminology & criminal justice.-The Literature of Criminal Justice
All in all, Cutting the Edge, represents a fine contribution to the field of criminology. If used as a textbook in an upper level undergraduate class, instructors should expect that students will develop a greater understanding of where radical/critical criminology has been, and of its potential future.-International Social Science Review
All the articles in this collection are well written, highly accessible and provide important insight into what critical criminology is, what it ought to be, as well as what is lacking in mainstream approaches and criminal justice policies in their various forms.-CRSA/RCSA
Cutting the Edge is thought-provoking look at current issues in criminal justice.-Social Problems and Social Welfare
Dorothy H. Bracey, in her Foreword to this fine, fine collection of grounding articles on Critical Criminology, makes the case that Critical Criminology has won the day. Bracey may be a bit early on writing the obituary for Conservative and Self-serving Crimonologies. Right or wrong; early or late, this book helps bury them.-The Red Feather Journal of Postmodern Criminology
Ross has brought together some of critical criminology's most impressive scholars who write about some of the most pressing and contemporary issues within not only critical criminology but also criminology in general. The book is highly readable: the chapters are light and relatively short. For students in need of a single volume that communicates just where critical criminology currently resides and those issues of central importance, they should look no further than here. This book is especially relevant to those who are not all that familiar with critical criminology for it presents many issues (12 chapters) around the single critical criminology perspective....[T]he book deserves a good look by anyone interested in this once marginal but now central area of criminology.-Social Pathology
This provocative book introduces the reader to the fundamental differences between critical and mainstream criminology. Organized in two discrete sections, conceptual and substantive, all twelve well balanced articles engage in rigorous "edge" work; that is, they push the boundaries of inquiry and proffer possibilities for a truly transformative criminology. The most outstanding feature of the book lies in its imaginative and sophisticated critique of contemporary research. Accessibly written, this book investigates crime as a contested terrain. As Dorothy Bracey's Foreword suggests, this book challeges, by incorporating class analysis with insights of feminism, postmodernism, and ethnography, and literary criticism....Ross' book should be required reading since it challenges the congested closures of criminological canons.-Canadian Journal of Sociology
"An excellent introduction to radical/critical criminology & criminal justice."-The Literature of Criminal Justice
..."provides an interesting overview of the current state of affairs in radical/critical criminology."-Contemporary Sociology
"[A]n excellent introduction to radical/critical criminology & criminal justice."-The Literature of Criminal Justice
"All in all, Cutting the Edge, represents a fine contribution to the field of criminology. If used as a textbook in an upper level undergraduate class, instructors should expect that students will develop a greater understanding of where radical/critical criminology has been, and of its potential future."-International Social Science Review
"All the articles in this collection are well written, highly accessible and provide important insight into what critical criminology is, what it ought to be, as well as what is lacking in mainstream approaches and criminal justice policies in their various forms."-CRSA/RCSA
"Cutting the Edge is thought-provoking look at current issues in criminal justice."-Social Problems and Social Welfare
"Dorothy H. Bracey, in her Foreword to this fine, fine collection of grounding articles on Critical Criminology, makes the case that Critical Criminology has won the day. Bracey may be a bit early on writing the obituary for Conservative and Self-serving Crimonologies. Right or wrong; early or late, this book helps bury them."-The Red Feather Journal of Postmodern Criminology
"This provocative book introduces the reader to the fundamental differences between critical and mainstream criminology. Organized in two discrete sections, conceptual and substantive, all twelve well balanced articles engage in rigorous "edge" work; that is, they push the boundaries of inquiry and proffer possibilities for a truly transformative criminology. The most outstanding feature of the book lies in its imaginative and sophisticated critique of contemporary research. Accessibly written, this book investigates crime as a contested terrain. As Dorothy Bracey's Foreword suggests, this book challeges, by incorporating class analysis with insights of feminism, postmodernism, and ethnography, and literary criticism....Ross' book should be required reading since it challenges the congested closures of criminological canons."-Canadian Journal of Sociology

Author Bio

JEFFREY IAN ROSS is Assistant Professor for the Division of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Social Policy at the University of Baltimore. He has conducted research, written, and lectured on national security, political violence, political crime, violent crime and policing for over a decade. His work has appeared in many academic journals and books, as well as popular magazines. Dr. Ross is the editor of Controlling State Crime (1995), Violence in Canada: Sociological Perspectives (1995), State Crime: A Comparative Study of Control in Six Industrialized Democracies (forthcoming), and the author of Police Violence as a Social Problem: The Cases of Toronto and New York City (forthcoming), and The Dynamics of Political Crime (forthcoming).