(Routledge Studies in Crime and Society) 1st Edition
by Bernd Dollinger (Author)
In recent years, western societies
have experienced a fundamental transformation in the way crime is
understood and dealt with. Against the backdrop of a current great
interest in narratives in criminology, this book draws on a narrative
perspective to explore this transformation.
Drawing on
data from Germany, the book focuses on changing narratives of youth
crime in recent decades and the exact narratives that have been used,
abandoned, invented or criticized in order to instil particular
understandings of crime and measures to act against it. The author draws
upon a wide range of sources, including debates on youth crime in six
parliaments from 1970 to 2012; articles on youth crime in four police
and six social work journals from 1970 to 2009; and case studies with 15
young defendants who were interviewed before and after their trial and
whose trial was observed. In doing so, the author reconstructs
narratives over several decades and, overall, reveals a fascinating and
multifaceted scope of narratives of youth crime.
This book will
be of great interest to students and scholars of youth crime and
justice, as well as criminology, sociology, politics and social work
more broadly.
