Completely updated and revised throughout, and featuring a new full-color design, this book provides a sociological perspective on crime and criminal justice by treating social structure and social inequality as central themes in the study of crime–and major factors in society's treatment of criminals. It gives explicit attention to key sociological concepts such as poverty, 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.