Description:
Criminology has been reluctant to embrace fictional narratives as a tool for understanding, explaining and reducing crime and social harm.
In this philosophical enquiry, McGregor uses examples from films, television, novels and graphic novels to demonstrate the extensive criminological potential of fiction around the world. Building on previous studies of non-fiction narratives, the book is the first to explore the ways criminological fiction provides knowledge of the causes of crime and social harm.
For academics, practitioners and students, this is an engaging and thought-provoking critical analysis that establishes a bold new theory of criminological fiction.
Brief description: Rafe McGregor is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Edge Hill University, prior to which he spent fifteen years in the police and the prison service.
Review Quotes:
"This is a must read for all those who suspect that crime fiction and related narratives are, very often, at least as insightful as academic work in criminology." Ronnie Lippens, formerly Keele University
"McGregor's massively skilled and imaginative synthesis of theories and paradigms - narrative and more - is the best kind of contemporary criminology." Lois Presser, University of Tennessee
"By showing how knowledge may derive from narrative fictions, McGregor redefines the boundaries of criminology. This is a daring book which criminologists would wish to explore." Tzachi Zamir, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem