Power, Crime and Mystification (Revised)

Power, Crime, and Mystification is one of the classics of radical criminology -a compelling account of how power and powerlessness operate within the criminal justice system. Questioning the orthodox view that it is powerlessness that leads to serious criminal behaviour, Steven Box focuses on the serious crimes committed by those in positions of power and privilege, particularly in government agencies and multinational corporations. He also points out that some relatively powerless groups, such as women, hardly commit any serious crimes at all. He suggests that crime can be the extreme form of otherwise socially sanctioned behaviour and, in taking this approach, provides coherent answers to the questions How does a society define crime? and 'What is the difference between justice and social control?. A major implication of Steven Box's stimulating analysis is that definitions of serious crime, the criminal justice process, and government penal policies are all in need of review. So far these have been more concerned with regulating, controlling, and demoralizing relatively powerless groups than with tackling real crime.