NCJ Number
128702
Date Published
1991
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This survey of literature on politics and crime in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, with some references to Western Europe and the Soviet Union, focuses on political crime, policing, and justice; criminal policymaking and development; criminology and criminal policy; and politics in the administration of justice.
Abstract
The study of politics and crime in common-law countries has flourished in the past two decades due to four broad influences: the interest of the new social historians in criminal law and justice, the parallel sociological focus on crime and justice, the emphasis on political origins and the impact of law among scholars in the critical legal studies movement, and the heightened interest of American political scientists in criminal law and justice in the context of the 1960's civil rights movement. There has been some research on the practices of political-policing agencies and on the manufacture of political deviancy in times of crisis. Research in the area of criminal law policymaking assists in understanding the relative importance of social groups and political actors in government; the criminal law's role in social change; and the roles of science, technology, and expertise in law and government. In the area of politics in the administration of government, much research has addressed the politics of controlling the discretion of criminal justice officials. 100-item annotated reading list