Alternative Criminologies

Alternative Criminologies celebrates a kaleidoscopic process of permanent critique and a diversity of social and scientific knowledges. It examines complex and global crime issues in light of the many alternative scientific, artistic, empathetic, campaigning and otherwise imaginative criminologies that attempt to understand and/or fundamentally change why crime and justice take the forms they do. From cutting edge topics such as crimes against humanity, the criminology of mobility, terrorism, cybercrime, corporate crime and green criminology; to gendered perspectives on violence against women, sexualities and feminist and queer criminologies; to key issues in penology such as mass incarceration, the death penalty, desistance from crime, risk and the political economy of punishment; Alternative Criminologies demonstrates the breadth, the variety and the vibrancy of contemporary perspectives on crime, criminalization and punishment. Bringing together 34 leading experts from around the world, this international collection unites fresh and insightful theoretical positions with innovative empirical research and marks an important juncture for criminologies and their imagined futures. Alternative Criminologies is essential reading for students of crime and criminal justice.

'Alternative Criminologies is a remarkable edited collection comprised of world leaders in their respective fields. Each of these contributions offers a unique, critically informed contribution to the discipline. That feature alone would justify the title of the book. However, the editors are not content to leave it there. They demand that the reader consider what is meant by "alternative" and what that means for ways of knowing within the discipline of criminology. As a result, this collection demands that the discipline takes note of the questions it poses and asks that the discipline reflects upon its role and position within the world of crime and justice. This collection is not only a "must read"; it offers a much-needed rejuvenation of what the discipline takes to understand as criminology.’– Sandra Walklate, Eleanor Rathbone Chair of Sociology, University of Liverpool, Professor of Criminology, Monash University, Australia, and Adjunct Professor, Queensland University of Technology, Australia‘Pat Carlen's work never disappoints. Now, she and her co-editor Leandro Ayres França have brought together some of the most outstanding scholars in their particular areas of the discipline who, collectively, demonstrate the remarkable critical diversity in so much criminological scholarship in the early 21st century.’– John Pratt, Professor of Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand"Alternative Criminologies celebrates an array of diverse perspectives, focusing on cutting-edge topics while showing how creativity and sensitivity to problematic social issues can bring an academic discipline into unpredictable labyrinths of knowledge."- Vincenzo Ruggiero, University of Middlesex, UK, Critical Criminology

Pat Carlen is Visiting Professor at the Open University, UK and has published over 20 books on criminal and social justice. Co-founder (with Chris Tchaikovsky) of the UK campaigning group Women in Prison and Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Criminology 2006–2013, she has also been a recipient of: the American Society of Criminology’s Sellin-Glueck Prize for Outstanding International Contributions to Criminology, the British Society of Criminology’s Award for Outstanding Achievement and an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Lincoln University. Leandro Ayres França works as a professor, researcher, writer and translator. He is Professor of Criminology, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at Faculdade Estácio Rio Grande do Sul; Coordinator of Estácio’s Criminology Graduation Program; Doctor and Master in Criminal Sciences by Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul’s (PUCRS) Criminal Sciences Graduation Program. He is coordinator of the Contemporaneous Criminologies Study Group, member of the research group Modern Trends in Criminal System and host of the radio program Café e Fúria.