Crime and Crime Reduction: The importance of group processes

The problems associated with groups that commit crime are well known and notoriously complex. However, there are many questions that we still cannot answer with certainty. This book seeks to deepen understanding of the group processes involved in crime and the treatment of offenders’ thoughts and behaviour. Together, the chapters in this volume address the following questions: Are people more likely to commit crime because of the influence of their group? Does group membership cause people to become criminals, or does the group merely foster people’s pre-existing criminal inclinations? How does group membership exert such a strong hold on people so that some risk imprisonment or even death, rather than relinquish their membership? The contributors to Crime and Crime Reduction consider the social psychological influences of groups and specific forms of group crime such as street and prison gangs, terrorism, organized criminal networks, and group sexual offending. The book also addresses important questions about the role of groups in treating offenders, and why existing group membership should be considered when treating offenders. Group criminal activity is a key area of study for researchers and for students of Forensic Psychology and Criminology courses. This book will therefore be of interest to students, scholars, and law enforcement practitioners who want to understand the group processes involved in crime and its reduction.

Table of Contents:
The Social Influence of Groups on Individuals, G. T.Viki, D. Abrams. Street Gangs: The Inter- and Intra-Group Processes, J. L. Wood, E. Alleyne. Gangs: Displaced and Group-Based Aggression, E. A. Vasquez, B. Lickel, K.Hennigan. A Multi-Factorial Approach to Understanding Multiple Perpetrator Sexual Offending, L. Harkins, L. Dixon. The Role of Group Processes in Terrorism, M. A. Wilson, E. Bradford, L. Lemanski. Organized Crime: Criminal Organizations or Organized Criminals? V. Egan, S. Lock Surviving and Thriving: The Growth, Influence and Administrative Control of Prison Gangs, M. L. Griffin, D. Pyrooz, S.H. Decker. Features of Treatment Delivery and Group Processes that Maximize the Effects of Offender Programs, W. L. Marshall, D. L. Burton, L. E. Marshall. Should Group Membership be Considered for Treatment to be Effective? J. Thakker.

About the Author :
Jane L. Wood is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at CORE-FP, University of Kent, UK. Theresa A. Gannon is Director of the Centre for Research and Education in Forensic Psychology (CORE-FP) and Reader in Forensic Psychology at the University of Kent, UK.

Review :
Most people agree that crime is a bad thing and that rather less of it would be a good thing. At a time when a great deal of psychology research has retreated to the biological interior, it is refreshing to see this excellent text put social psychology to work in the cause of crime reduction. - Clive Hollin, Professor of Criminological Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Leicester, UK Most people agree that crime is a bad thing and that rather less of it would be a good thing. At a time when a great deal of psychology research has retreated to the biological interior, it is refreshing to see this excellent text put social psychology to work in the cause of crime reduction. - Clive Hollin, Professor of Criminological Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Leicester, UK Gathering the work of both rising and established authors, Wood and Gannon (both, forensic psychology, Univ. of Kent, UK) have produced an organized, comprehensive, well-written resource that adds to understanding across disciplines... As a whole, this valuable resource addresses far-reaching implications of crime across several key disciplines in the social sciences. - T. Cottledge, CHOICE, Vol. 50, No. 7