The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice

by Kappeler, Victor E.; Blumberg, Mark; Potter, Gary W.; Kappeler, Victor E.; Blumberg, Mark; Potter, Gary W.

• ISBN13: 9781577660781
• ISBN10: 1577660781
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc

Summary

An insightful look at the realities of crime & justice that challenges basic assumptions & misconceptions about specific crimes or parts of the criminal justice system.

Table of Contents

The Social Construction of Crime Myths	1	(26)
The Function of Crime Myths	2	(2)
Criminal Mythmakers	4	(1)
Media as Mythmaker	5	(2)
Government as Mythmaker	7	(4)
Merging Mythmakers	11	(3)
Creating Crime Myths	14	(3)
Characterizations of Crime Myths	17	(4)
Techniques of Myth Characterization	21	(3)
Analyzing Crime Myths	24	(3)
Crime Waves, Crime Fears and the Social Reality of Crime	27	(22)
How Much Crime Is There?	30	(7)
The Reality of Crime	37	(4)
Crime Images	41	(6)
Conclusion	47	(2)
The Myth and Fear of Child Abduction	49	(16)
Sensational Images	51	(3)
Creating Reality through Misleading Statistics	54	(3)
Latent Functions of Prevention	57	(2)
Legal Reform: Creating Crime and Criminals	59	(3)
Conclusion	62	(3)
Myth and Murder the Serial Killer Panic	65	(20)
Creating a Myth	66	(1)
The Lucas Case	67	(1)
The Reality of Serial Murder	68	(3)
Explaining a Panic	71	(10)
Conclusion	81	(4)
Of Stalkers and Murder Spreading Myth to Common Crime	85	(14)
Constructing the Myth of Stalking	86	(2)
Officializing the Myth	88	(5)
Measuring the Reality of Stalking	93	(2)
Consequences of Criminalization	95	(2)
Conclusion	97	(2)
Blue Smoke and Mirrors the ``War'' on Organized Crime	99	(22)
The Official Myth of Organized Crime	100	(3)
Historical Myths of Organized Crime	103	(2)
Empirical Evidence and Organized Crime	105	(3)
Headhunting	108	(6)
Controlling Organized Crime	114	(2)
Reducing Market Demand	116	(1)
Fighting Corruption	117	(1)
Cleaning Up the Money Laundries	118	(1)
Improving Intelligence	119	(2)
Myths that Justify Crime a Look at Corporate Crime in the United States	121	(22)
``Real'' Crime and Corporate Crime	122	(1)
The Costs of Corporate Crime	123	(1)
Corporate Crime and Criminal Intent	124	(9)
The Criminogenic Corporation	133	(2)
Law Enforcement and White-Collar Crime	135	(3)
Underenforcement and Nonpunitive Justice	138	(2)
A Dual System of Justice	140	(3)
Drug War Cowboys	143	(32)
The Demonization of illicit Drugs	144	(10)
Drugs and Crime	154	(3)
Law Enforcement Strategies in the War on Drugs	157	(1)
Measures of Success in the War on Drugs	158	(5)
Racism and the Drug War	163	(1)
The War on Drugs as War against Women	164	(3)
Making Peace in the War on Drugs	167	(5)
Conclusion	172	(3)
Juvenile Superpredators the Myths of Killer Kids, Dangerous Schools and a Youth Crime Wave	175	(22)
Cracking Down on Juvenile Crime: Transforming the Juvenile Justice System	178	(4)
Lock 'em Up and Throw Away the Key	182	(1)
The Myth of a Juvenile Crime Wave	183	(3)
Dangerous Schools and Violent Students	186	(3)
The Impact of Treating Juveniles as Adults	189	(3)
Blaming the Victims: Crime against Juveniles	192	(2)
Conclusion	194	(3)
Battered and Blue Crime Fighters Myths and Misconceptions of Police Work	197	(18)
Real Police Work	199	(6)
Myths of Police Stress	205	(6)
Living the Crime Fighter Myth	211	(2)
Conclusion	213	(2)
Order in the Courts the Myth of Equal Justice	215	(18)
The Role of Law in Society	216	(2)
Celebrity Cases	218	(3)
The Bias of Arrest	221	(3)
The Bias of Trial	224	(4)
The Bias of Sentencing	228	(2)
Biased Justice	230	(1)
Conclusion	231	(2)
Cons and Country Clubs the Mythical Utility of Punishment	233	(24)
Who Does the Crime Determines the Time	233	(1)
Mythical Assumptions: Unrelenting Consequences	234	(5)
Behind Bars	239	(1)
The Pains of Imprisonment	240	(5)
The Modern Prison	245	(4)
Recent Innovations in Punishment	249	(2)
Post-Institutional Adjustment	251	(3)
Conclusion	254	(3)
The Myth of a Lenient Criminal Justice System	257	(16)
International Comparison	258	(3)
The Trend Toward Greater Punitiveness in the United States	261	(7)
The Crime Rate in the United States	268	(2)
Conclusion	270	(3)
Debunking the Death Penalty Myths of Crime Control and Capital Punishment	273	(24)
The Myth of General Deterrence	274	(8)
The Cost of the Death Penalty	282	(4)
Incapacitation	286	(2)
Fighting Crime	288	(2)
The Juvenile Death Penalty	290	(4)
Conclusion	294	(3)
Merging Myths and Misconceptions of Crime and Justice	297	(14)
Recycled Frameworks	297	(2)
The Electronic Echo Chamber	299	(1)
Of Politics and Demagogues	300	(1)
Fallout from Crime Myths	301	(4)
Masking Social Problems with Myth	305	(3)
Restructuring the Study of Crime	308	(1)
Conclusion	309	(2)
References	311	(28)
Index	339