Crime And Society In England 1750-1900 by Clive Emsley

Paperback:  Karl Marx once commented:  'the criminal produces not only crimes, but also criminal law, and with this the professor who gives lectures on criminal law'.

Acknowledged as one of the best introductions to the history of crime in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Crime and Society in England 1750-1900 (2010) examines the developments in policing, the courts and the penal system as England became increasingly industrialised and urbanised.

The book challenges the old but still influential idea that crime can be attributed to the behaviour of a criminal class and that changes in the criminal system were principally the work of far-sighted, humanitarian reformers.

In this fourth edition of his now classic account, Professor Emsley draws on new research that has shifted the focus from class to gender, from property crime to violent crime and towards media constructions of offenders, while still maintaining a balance with influential early work in the area.

Wide-ranging and accessible, the new edition examines:

1)  the value of criminal statistics
2)  the effect that contemporary ideas about class and gender had on perceptions of criminality
3)  changes in the patterns of crime
4)  developments in policing and the spread of summary punishment
5)  the increasing formality of the courts
6)  the growth of the prison as the principal form of punishment and debates about the decline in corporal and capital punishments

Thoroughly updated throughout, the fourth edition also includes, for the first time, illuminating contemporary illustrations.  Rather than attempting a chronological survey of crime and the various developments in the criminal justice system, the book is divided thematically.

Roughly, the first half explores perceptions and the realities of crime from several angles:  the statistical evidence, class perceptions, gender perceptions, the perceived differences between urban and rural crime, the extent of crime at the workplace.

The second half of the book looks at developments in the pursuit, the prosecution, and the treatment of offenders:  the courts, the police and punishment.

Professor Emsley's book is an outstanding work for students, scholars and readers who have an interest in English history/crime alike.

About the author:  Clive Emsley is Emeritus Professor of History and former Co-Director of the International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research at the Open University.