This innovative collection offers one of the first analyses of criminologies of the military from an interdisciplinary perspective. While some criminologists have examined the military in relation to the area of war crimes, this collection considers a range of other important but less explored aspects such as private military actors, insurgents, paramilitary groups and the role of military forces in tackling transnational crime. Drawing upon insights from criminology, this book's editors also consider the ways the military institution harbours criminal activity within its ranks and deals with prisoners of war. The contributions, by leading experts in the field, have a broad reach and take a truly global approach to the subject.

With the academic study of ‘war’ gaining renewed popularity within criminology in recent years, this book illustrates the long-standing engagement with this social phenomenon within the discipline. Foregrounding established criminological work addressing war and connecting it to a wide range of extant sociological literature, the authors present and further develop theoretical and conceptual ways of thinking critically about war. Within this book, whilst providing an implicit critique of mainstream criminology the authors seek to question if a ‘criminology of war’ is possible, and if so how this seemingly ‘new horizon’ of the discipline might be usefully informed by sociology.

Controlling threats to national security has long been the mission of the U.S. military, while civilian law enforcement has dealt with domestic problems of crime, illegal drugs, and internal disorder. This groundbreaking collection argues persuasively that the conventional distinctions between these two forces are becoming blurred and considers the far-reaching consequences of the disquieting trend to militarize the nation's criminal justice system. The contributors examine the historical and current interrelationships between the military and police, illuminating such areas as the ideological similarities between waging real wars and fighting the wars on drugs and crime, the reshaping of the military's role after the end of the Cold War, the rapidly growing influence of advanced military technology in civilian society, and the adaptation of military models such as boot camps and SWAT teams in policing and corrections. As the lines between the military industrial complex and the criminal justice enterprise become ever more clouded, this work provides a much-needed evaluation of the thorny issues, dangers, and public policy ramifications raised by the entanglement between militari

This interdisciplinary Handbook brings together into one coherent volume a range of international authors, who firmly establish the relevance of war within the discipline of criminology. The chapters address emerging and prevailing issues in the criminological study of war, including state crime, corporate crime, victimology, genocide, policing, security and various forms of violence. Taking a critical standpoint including feminist, cultural, and radical approaches amongst others, the Handbook is split into five clear sections: (1) The Criminogenic Contexts of War; (2) Violence and Victimization at War; (3) Violence, War and Security; (4) Perpetrators of Violence and the Aftermath of War; and (5) Cultural and Methodological Developments for a Criminology of War. Edited by two leading experts in the field, this Handbook provides an original point of reference on the contemporary debates and applications of criminology and war and will be a key resource for academics and students across criminology, international relations, critical military studies, military sociology, peace studies and law.

This interdisciplinary volume critically explores how the ever-increasing use of automated systems is changing policing, criminal justice systems, and military operations at the national and international level. The book examines the ways in which automated systems are beneficial to society, while addressing the risks they represent for human rights. This book starts with a historical overview of how different types of knowledge have transformed crime control and the security domain, comparing those epistemological shifts with the current shift caused by knowledge produced with high-tech information technology tools such as big data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The first part explores the use of automated systems, such as predictive policing and platform policing, in law enforcement. The second part analyzes the use of automated systems, such as algorithms used in sentencing and parole decisions, in courts of law. The third part examines the use and misuse of automated systems for surveillance and social control. The fourth part discusses the use of lethal (semi)autonomous weapons systems in armed conflicts. An essential read for researchers, politicians, and advocates interested in the use and potential misuse of automated systems in crime control, this diverse volume draws expertise from such fields as criminology, law, sociology, philosophy, and anthropology.

Over the past several decades, there has been a continuous and growing focus on street gangs, outlaw motorcycle gangs, and domestic extremist groups. Many of these groups have members with military training, and some actively recruit from current and former military veterans and retirees. That military experience adds to the dangerousness of veteran gang members, as well as those groups they associate with. Communities everywhere are experiencing the damaging impact of gang criminal behavior. By observing gang activity from the Revolutionary War to today Smith examines the presence of military-trained, often veteran, gang members in the communities. He looks at the turning points in gang investigations in the military, and also looks at the laws and policies designed to specifically counter the criminal activity the threats of gang activity pose on a community. Grounded in current knowledge and research, Gangs and the Military successfully addresses the growing presence of criminal gang members in the United States. As well as reflects on how the authorities that counter and combat them are doing so on a national and global level.

The initiation in criminal activities is, typically, a young phenomenon. The study of the determinants of entry into criminal activities should pay attention to major events affecting youth. In many countries, one of these important events is mandatory participation in military service. The objective of this study is to estimate the causal relationship between mandatory participation in military service and crime. The authors exploit the random assignment through a draft lottery of young men to conscription in Argentina to identify this causal effect. Their results suggest that participation in military service increased the likelihood of developing a criminal record in adulthood (in particular, for property and weapon-related crimes).

This edited volume examines the use of militarised responses to different forms of criminal activity, discussing the outcomes and unintended consequences. Politicians and policymakers frequently use militarised responses to look tough on crime. The deployment of armies, navies, military assets and militarised approaches can send a powerful message, but have produced mixed results. While they generate the perception that governments are actively engaged on issues of concern to the public, and in some cases have resulted in notable successes, on the downside they have frequently also increased the loss of life, exacerbated the humanitarian consequences of a particular crime and entrenched divides between security and state institutions and the criminal proponents, narrowing the possibilities for future negotiated solutions. By focusing on four different areas of criminality – wildlife crime, piracy, migration and drug trafficking – the book allows context and evidence-based conclusions to be drawn on the strategic value and commonality of responses and their outcomes.

It is essential that those in the criminal justice system understand the tasks that police dogs perform and the evidence that their work produces. Police and Military Dogs: Criminal Detection, Forensic Evidence, and Judicial Admissibility examines the use of police and military dogs for a wide variety of functions and explores canine biology and behavior as it applies to police work. The book begins with an overview of the changes that have occurred in the field in the past four decades as discoveries have been made about canine capabilities. The author examines how a canine handler’s work with a skilled police dog can affect the subsequent investigation and prosecution of the crime. He discusses optimal procedures for finding and processing evidence and describes the boundaries of admissibility of evidence produced by police dogs. The book examines the many diverse detection functions police dogs are being trained to perform, ranging from cadaver detection to the discovery of explosives. It also describes the use of dogs to apprehend criminals and in search and rescue operations. Written for a wide audience including canine handlers, forensic scientists, attorneys, and the judiciary, this volume covers topics pertinent to all aspects of the police dog in contemporary law enforcement.

Criminology has traditionally been a military science, a science of war. "The criminal element" is the enemy. Repression and restraint are the primary tools of criminal justice, and criminologists study how to make those tools effective in the "war on crime." We are beginning to realize that this is a war against ourselves and one that we are losing. Our inability to make peace with crime and criminals is reflected in the paucity of our daily personal relations, where we live by domination and discipline, where forgiveness and mercy are seen as naive surrender to victimization. The essays in this volume propose peacemaking as an effective alternative to the "war" on crime. They range from studies of the intellectual roots of the peacemaking tradition to concrete examples of peacemaking in the community, with special attention to feminist peacemmaking traditions and women's experience.