Framing Law and Crime

This edited collection is a truly remarkable interdisciplinary anthology. It is an admirable example of the possibilities inherent in holding meaningful conversations between the different disciplines making claims on the phenomenon of crime. Taken together the contributions in this volume lay down ethical, epistemological and empirical challenges to those who claim to see and know the world as if such seeing and knowing was rooted in facts separable from fiction. In this book all ‘data’ have something to say about the world and its power relations if we have a loose enough imagination to listen. In particular, Framing the Law and Crime offers a notable and hugely valuable advancement on what has become known as ‘cultural criminology’ providing a stimulating intervention in, and important development of, that agenda. It is an essential, cutting edge read for any social scientist endeavouring to understand the social world and the possibilities for making sense of it. -- Sandra Walklate, Eleanor Rathbone Chair of Sociology, University of Liverpool, England, U.K. and Professor of Criminology, Monash University, Australia; Editor in Chief, British Journal of Criminology
The study of the interface between law and the media of popular culture now spans numerous academic disciplines and is practiced everywhere in the world. Framing Law and Crime: An Interdisciplinary Anthology is a welcome addition to the literature on this subject. Some of the authors of the provocative essays in this volume are law professors but others come from criminology, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines. All of the entries concern visual media and the criminal law process, but in vastly different ways. They offer the reader insights on such diverse subjects as Baltimore policemen, survival in prison, rape revenge, serial killers, the Bosnian tragedy, and washed-up lawyers as well as profound analyses of film theory, epistemology, and criminology. Everyone with a professional or personal interest in popular culture and its relationship to law will benefit from reading these essays. -- Michael Asimow, Visiting Professor of Law, Stanford Law School; Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law; co-author of Law and Popular Culture: A Course Book; Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies; and Lawyers in Your Living Room! Law on Television.