Vincenzo Ruggiero

Il carcere scoppia in ogni parte del mondo. Il numero dei detenuti aumenta ovunque in modo esponenziale pur in una sostanziale stabilità del numero dei reati. Parallelamente cresce il senso di insicurezza dei cittadini dimostrato, tra l’altro, dal boom degli acquisti di armi per difesa personale. In questo contesto ripensare la natura, la funzione e la filosofia della pena non è una fuga in avanti ma un necessario esercizio di realismo. È questo il senso del volume di Ruggiero che esamina criticamente, partendo dai classici, le idee che stanno alla base dei sistemi penali moderni e della stessa concezione dei delitti e delle pene. Le domande sono quelle di sempre: chi punire? perché punire? come punire? L’approccio è quello “abolizionista” dove per abolizionismo si intende non tanto un programma compiuto di interventi quanto «un approccio, una prospettiva, una metodologia, uno specifico angolo di osservazione» alternativi al pensiero unico repressivo e finalizzati alla individuazione di “qualcosa di meglio” dell’attuale sistema penale.

La contro-idea abolizionista

Il delitto, la legge, la pena

Abolitionism is not only a strategy or a set of demands, aimed at the reduction (or suppression) of custody, it is also a perspective, a philosophy, an approach which challenges conventional definitions of crime. This book examines the origin, philosophy and achievements of abolitionism and reviews the literature on penal abolitionism from the 1960s to the 1980s. By collecting and discussing the key abolitionist arguments, the author critically analyzes the views expressed by its leading proponents; Nils Christie, Louk Hulsman, Thomas Mathiesen and Herman Bianchi, examining in particular how their views took shape, their philosophical foundations, and the social and political context of abolitionist ideas and perspectives. Policies, such as the virtual abolition of custody for young offenders in Italy, are presented and the area of informal justice is also addressed, with an overview of mediation and compensation practices, and an assessment of the degree of their effectiveness and desirability. Through assessment of these achievements and experiments of specific abolitionist ideas, the author attempts to identify the legacy of abolitionism from a European perspective, while bringing into focus more recent contributions concerning the study of terrorism and war.

Penal Abolitionism

Navigating financial crashes of the Late Middle Ages up to the present day and analysing them through the lenses of classical, positivist, functionalist and Marxist criminology, Dirty Money: On Financial Delinquency explores the growth of grey areas in the financial world and our understanding, or misunderstanding, of financial delinquency. Pope Francis, while denouncing the incapacity of governments to reduce poverty and fight the exploitation of cheap labour, has also condemned greed, repeating several times the old medieval adage: money is the excrement of the devil. This distinction between clean and excremental, pure and impure, informs the symbolic order of many traditional and contemporary societies; however, it can also be used to single out criminal activity as opposed to law-abiding conduct and, in particular, to separate acceptable from unacceptable practices in the economic domain. With a focus on financial crime, whose ambiguity, ubiquity and evolving nature make the separation between acceptable and unacceptable practices inherently problematic, this book examines the process whereby the excrement of the devil was slowly 'freed' from both its sinful and criminal character. It is a study of how human action turns something seemingly benign into an instrument for the production of harm. Its focus, therefore, is on dirty money - namely the illegitimate appropriation of financial resources by individuals and groups holding expert knowledge and, often, occupying positions of power. The ideological arguments accompanying this evolution are scrutinised, alongside the history of financial initiatives and the accompanying 'crunches'. The struggle juxtaposing criminalization and decriminalization is at the core of all chapters, which analyse a series of major events chronologically, from the exploits of John Law to the deeds of contemporary finance. Analytically located in the area of white-collar crime, Dirty Money examines episodes of financial delinquency and discusses the way in which observers, including criminologists, shape an understanding of their causes and consequences. It will be of interest to scholars and students of criminology, sociology, criminal justice, history, and economics, as well as policy makers, finance professionals, and fraud investigators.

On Financial Delinquency

Dirty Money

Vincent Ryan Ruggiero

Vincent Ruggiero's wide ranging study takes in several authors, including Victor Hugo, Camus, Cervantes and Emile Zola, and addresses themes such as organized crime, the links between crime and drugs, political and administrative corruption, concepts of deviancy and the criminal justice process.

Sociology of Deviance and Fiction

Crime in Literature

Nicola Montagna

This timely Reader plays an important role in the field of social movements. It fills a significant gap by covering a number of connected areas within social studies. Responding to growing demand for interpretation and analysis of re-emerging social conflicts in the developed, as well as the developing world, this timely collection is the outcome of the recent boost received by social movement studies since the spread of contention and collective action at international level and the growth of the 'anti-globalization' movement. Intended not only as a comprehensive introduction for undergraduates and postgraduates studying social movements, this volume also provides a truly global perspective, combining classic sociological thought and contemporary concerns. This book provides an essential guide to 'who is who' in the field of social movement studies and includes reflective and documentary material on contemporary conflicts. This volume is also an incredibly valuable resource for more general modules on sociological theory, global sociology, the history of sociological thought, contemporary social theory, and international and globalization studies.

A Reader

Social Movements

Ian Taylor

Nigel South

The New European Criminology gathers together leading criminologists from all over Europe to consider crime and responses to crime within and across national borders. For the first time it allows students to experience the most exciting work in European criminology and to compare approaches to crime in different parts of Europe. The five sections of the book look at: * the effects of European harmonisation on crime * criminal justice, law enforcement and penal reform * organised crime, from the Mafia in Italy to drug running in the Balkans * local crime in international contexts * possible future directions for criminology and some suggestions for a new criminology of war.

Crime and Social Order in Europe

The New European Criminology

In this book, Vincenzo Ruggiero offers a typology of different forms of political violence. From systemic and institutional violence, to the behaviour of crowds, to armed conflict and terrorism, Ruggiero draws on a range of perspectives from criminology, social theory, political science, critical legal studies and literary criticism to consider how these forms of violence are linked in an interdependent field of forces. Ruggiero argues that systemic violence encourages more institutional violence, which in turn weakens the ability of citizens to set up political agendas for change. He advocates for a reduction of all types of violence, which can be enacted through fairer distribution of resources and the provision of political space for contention and negotiation. This book will be of interest to all those engaged in research on violence, terrorism, armed conflict and the crimes of the powerful. It makes an important contribution to criminological and social theory.

Visions of Political Violence

Economists have often paid visits to the field of criminology, examining the rational logic of offending. When economists examine criminal activity, they imply that offenders should be treated like any other social actor making rational choices. In The Crimes of the Economy, Vincenzo Ruggiero turns the tables by examining a variety of economic schools of thought from a criminological perspective. Each one of these schools, he argues, justifies or even encourages harm produced by economic initiative. He investigates – among others – John Locke’s notion of private property, Mercantilism, the Physiocrats and Malthus, and the arguments of Adam Smith, Marshall, Keynes and neoliberalism. In each of these, the author identifies the potential justification of different forms of ‘crimes of the economy’ and victimisation. This book re-examines the history of economic thought, assessing it as the history of a discipline which, while attempting to gain scientific status, in reality seeks to make the social harm caused by economics acceptable. The book will be interesting and relevant to students and scholars of social theory, criminology, economics, philosophy and politics.

A Criminological Analysis of Economic Thought

The Crimes of the Economy

This book introduces political violence in the context of sociological and criminological debates. the author distinguishes between political violence from below, for example collective violence, insurgency, armed struggle and terrorism; and political violence from above, which includes indiscriminate repression, institutional and state violence, torture and war.

A Criminological Approach

Understanding Political Violence

For 2nd and 3rd year courses in urban sociology, sociology of exclusion, social stratification, planning and cultural studies in departments of sociology and urban geography. This book provides an in depth examination of social movements and urban life in European cities today. Unique in its interdisciplinary approach, it covers traditional areas of urban studies, sociological concerns about the concept of change and the characteristics of social movements. It presents current theory as well as discursive sections based around empirical work conducted in major European cities including London, Paris and Berlin.

Vincenzo Ruggiero

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