This book challenges contemporary criminological thinking, providing a thorough critique of mainstream criminology, including both liberal criminology and administrative criminology. It sets a new agenda for theoretical and practical engagement, and for creating a more effective and just criminal justice system.

Roger Matthews is Professor of Criminology at London South Bank University, UK. He is Head of the Crime Reduction and Community Safety Research Group. He is sole author of Armed Robbery and Prostitution, Politics and Policy . He has also produced joint authored texts on community safety and edited a number of books on criminological theory, imprisonment and crime control.

Author Preface 1. The Successes and Failures of Modern Criminology 2. A Framework of Analysis 3. The Problem of Method 4. Rational Choice, Routine Activities and Situational Crime Prevention 5. From Cultural Criminology to Cultural Realism 6. The Myth of Punitiveness Revisited 7. Governing the Present Epilogue: For a Public Criminology