Crime, Media, Culture current issue

Subculture, style, chavs and consumer capitalism: Towards a critical cultural criminology of youth

Martin, G. — 2009-08-13

This article examines current controversies in youth culture studies and relates them to recent developments in ‘cultural criminology’. On the one hand, post-subcultural theorists argue the concept of ‘subculture’ is redundant and obsolete and should be replaced by less bounded or rigid concepts, such as ‘neo-tribe’, which supposedly better capture the essence of identity formation and lifestyle choices in postmodern consumer culture. On the other hand, critics argue postmodern subcultural theory is an apology for consumerism and posit the continuing relevance of social class as an analytical category. In the last decade or so, and unbeknownst to those working in youth culture studies, cultural criminologists have attempted to adapt ‘traditional’ subcultural theory to new experiences of ‘transgression’ which now emerge in the transition to late modernity. Cultural criminology nevertheless has poststructural tendencies. By examining the ‘chav’ phenomenon in Britain as well as research in youth transitions under ‘consumer capitalism’, this article argues that ‘old’ theories and concepts, such as subculture, ought not be so readily disregarded and discarded, and that the notion of ‘style’ remains applicable to some young people who are marginalized and disadvantaged. The article thus proposes a ‘critical cultural criminology’ of youth.

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann: Public drama and trial by media in the Portuguese press

Machado, H., Santos, F. — 2009-08-13

The extraordinary media coverage regarding the disappearance of the British 3-year-old Madeleine McCann emerges as an illustrative example of a ‘public drama’ and ‘trial by media’. This article presents a comparative analysis of the perspectives and narrative devices employed by two Portuguese newspapers in establishing a dialogue with their respective audiences. High-profile mediatized criminal cases have the potential to linger in the public memory and become cultural references which may affect long-term public representations of crime and justice. Our analysis is limited to a sample of representative Portuguese newspapers. We found a basic distinction between ‘quality’ and ‘popular’ press which may be related to inherent differences of their market and implicit audiences. A distanced, neutral and reflexive style of the quality press contrasts with the construction of a sensationalistic narrative by the popular press. The latter provided the audience with a daily dose of vicarious participation in a criminal drama which developed into a trial by media, sustained by a rhetoric that encourages the audience to ‘take sides’. Sensationalist media narratives can potentially undermine the principles of fair trial and the presumption of innocence. But they can also elicit relevant collective energies directed at starting processes of change.

Modern serial killers

Haggerty, K. D. — 2009-08-13

The study of serial killing has been dominated by an individualized focus on the aetiology and biography of particular offenders. As such, it has tended to downplay the broader social, historical and cultural context of such acts. This article addresses this lacuna by arguing that serial killers are distinctively modern. It highlights six modern phenomena related to serial killing: (a) the mass media and the attendant rise of a celebrity culture; (b) a society of strangers; (c) a type of mean/ends rationality that is largely divorced from value considerations; (d) cultural frameworks of denigration which tend to implicitly single out some groups for greater predation; (e) particular opportunity structures for victimization; and finally (f) the notion that society can be engineered. Combined, these factors help to pattern serial killing in modernity’s own self-image, with modernity setting the parameters of what it means to be a serial killer, and establishing the preconditions for serial murder to emerge in its distinctive contemporary guise.

Naming, shaming and criminal justice: Mass-mediated humiliation as entertainment and punishment

Kohm, S. A. — 2009-08-13

Shame has long been a dubious tool of criminal justice and has been carried on by state authorities in a variety of ways through the ages. However, since the latter part of the 20th century, humiliation has become amplified through the mass media in the name of crime control and entertainment. This article situates mass-mediated humiliation within broader trends in criminal justice and popular culture. While the enactment of humiliation via popular culture works powerfully within prevailing cultural beliefs about crime and criminality, there also exists a subversive possibility that threatens to disrupt the forces that attempt to invoke shame for purposes of profit or social control. The popular American tabloid news magazine, Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator, is used as an example to highlight the ambiguous cultural place of shame.

Coca no es droga: By Scott Brennan

Brennan, S. — 2009-08-13

Book Review: Deviance and Social Control in Sport: Michael Atkinson and Kevin Young Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2008. 267 pp. US$45.00. ISBN 9780736060424

Sefiha, O. — 2009-08-13

Book Review: Psychosocial Criminology: An Introduction: David Gadd and Tony Jefferson London: SAGE, 2007. 216 pp. {pound}20.99. ISBN 1412900794

Gelsthrope, L. — 2009-08-13

Book Review: Cultural Criminology: An Invitation: Jeff Ferrell, Keith Hayward and Jock Young London: SAGE, 2008. 240 pp. ISBN 9780412931264

Coyle, M. — 2009-08-13

Book Review: Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-income Neighborhood (3rd edn): Jay MacLeod Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2009. 537 pp. ISBN 9780813343587

Brisman, A. — 2009-08-13

Book Review: Russian Criminal Tattoo: Encyclopaedia Volume III: Danzig Baldaev, Sergei Vasiliev and Alexander Sidorov London: Fuel, 2008. 400 pp. {pound}16.95. ISBN 9780955006197

Antonopoulos, G. A. — 2009-08-13

Book Review: A History of Murder: Personal Violence in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present: Pieter Spierenburg Cambridge: Polity, 2008. 274 pp. {pound}17.99. ISBN 0745643787

Hall, S. — 2009-08-13

I Hate it Here

Tunnell, K. — 2009-08-13