Completely updated and revised throughout, and featuring a new full-color design, this book provides asociological perspective on crime and criminal justiceby treatingsocial structureandsocial inequality as central themesin the study of crimeand major factors in society's treatment of criminals.It gives explicit attention to key sociological concepts such aspoverty, gender, race, and ethnicity,and demonstrates their influence on crime. Covers hot topics such as the death penalty, terrorism, evolutionary biology, stalking, identity theft, computer crime, white collar crime and more. Also features unique coverage of topics not found in other introductory criminology books-including "Public Opinion, the News Media and the Crime Problem," "Political Crime," and "How Can We Reduce Crime?"For those with current or future criminology careers.