Crime, Harm and the State: (Studies in Social Harm)

Why are some harms defined as crimes while others are not? This pioneering collection disrupts the boundaries of criminology, offering a bold, innovative exploration of crime, state power and social harm across historical and global contexts. Bridging zemiology, governmentality studies, and decolonial theory, this book offers a fresh perspective on how the colonial roots and ongoing dynamics of global capitalism perpetuate harm, particularly in the Global South. Through compelling case studies on topics such as tourism, drugs, non-human animals, food, ecology, minoritized groups and migration, it reveals how colonial legacies and structural injustices shape who experiences harm, whose experiences are acknowledged - and how harm may be resisted.

Table of Contents:
1. Introducing Crime, Harm and the State – Lynne Copson, Eleni Dimou and Steve Tombs Part I: Drugs: A Case Study of Crime and Harm 2. The War on Drugs: From Crime To Harm? – Giulia Federica Zampini and Camille May Stengel 3. Consuming Drugs: Soft Drugs, Colonialism and Slavery – Eleni Dimou 4. Dealing in Drugs – Steve Tombs Part II: Questions of Harm 5. Criminology, Harm and Nonhuman Animals – Matthew Melsa 6. Crime, Harm and Sexuality – Teresa Willis 7. Where’s the Harm in Tourism? – Eleni Dimou 8. Crime and Harm in the Food Industry – Steve Tombs Part III: Exploring Borders 9. Understanding States: Making Law, Making Order? – Gerry Mooney and Steve Tombs 10. Crossing Borders – Evgenia Iliadou 11. Policing Borders: States of Surveillance – Teresa Willis 12. State Crime, Social Harm and Genocide – Penny Green 13. Power, Environmental Harm and the Threat of Global Ecocide – Nigel South and Reece Walters 14. Redrawing Borders: Crime Harm and the State – Lynne Copson

About the Author :
Steve Tombs is Professor of Criminology at the Open University. He has a long-standing interest in the incidence, nature and regulation of corporate and state crime, and has published widely on these matters. He works closely with the Hazards movement in the UK, was a founding member and Chair of the Centre for Corporate Accountability, and is on the Board of Inquest.

Review :
'A critical account of the possibilities of criminology for addressing the injustices of historical and social harm, as well as the discipline’s inherent limitations. It speaks to the authors’ research trajectories.' Gustavo Rojas-Páez, University of Sussex