Dangerous Offenders: Punishment and Social Order

In this era of unparalleled affluence, the dangerous offender has become a figure of collective anxiety for the citizens of rationalised Western societies. Questions of why sexual and violent offences seem so ubiquitous, and of how we should protect ourselves, has produced a glut of political and media rhetoric in recent years. Dangerous Offenders takes a different view of the problem. The image of the dangerous offender, and the idea that such individuals pose quantifiable 'risks' to the public are interrogated by scholars from the fields of criminology, sociology and law. The authors consider: * ideas of danger and social threat in historical perspective * legal responses to violent criminals * attempts to predict dangerous behaviour * why particular groups, such as women, remain at risk from violent crime. This collection invites us to rethink the received wisdom on dangerous offenders. it concludes that the control of these people has become such a potent issue in 'risk' societies as their apparently random offences represent the antithesis of the calculable risk. Dangerous Offenders will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of criminology and the sociology of Risk. Roderic Broadhurst University of Hong Kong, Mark Brown University of Melbourne, Australia, Nils Christie University of Oslo, Norway, Arie Freiberg University of Melbourne

Table of Contents:
List of Contributors. Introduction Mark Brown and John Pratt Part I: Dangerousness: A Social History 1. Risk societies and the government of crime Pat O'Malley 2. The birth of dangerousness John Pratt Part II: Legal Responses and Responsibilities 3. Guerillas in our midst? Judicial responses to governing the dangerous Arie Freiberg 4. Civil commitment as social control: Managing the risk of sexual violence Eric Janus Part III: Practical Risks: Danger in the Penal Context 5. Calculations of risk in contemporary penal practice Mark Brown 6. Criminal careers, sex offenders and dangerousness Rod Broadhurst 7. Danger and penal politics Richard Sparks Part IV: Violence, Danger and Modern Government: The Future 8. Naturalising danger: Women, fear and personal safety Elizabeth Stanko 9. Drugs and dangerousness: Perception and management of risk in the neo-liberal era Adam Sutton 10. Dangerous states Nils Christie

About the Author :
Mark Brown is lecturer in Criminology at the University of Melbourne. John Pratt is reader in Criminology at the Victoria University of Melbourne.

Review :
'This volume presents a solid framework of current data and theoretical analyses of the meaning of 'dangerousness' in the current political and penal climate. At the same time, it illuminates many of the puzzles, with which professionals have to wrestle.' - Current Issues in Criminal Justice