Despite illustrious origins dating to the 1920s, qualitative crime research has long been overshadowed by quantitative inquiry. After decades of limited use, there has been a notable resurgence in crime ethnography, naturalistic inquiry, and related forms of fieldwork addressing crime and related social control efforts. The Routledge Handbook of Qualitative Criminology signals this momentum as the first major reference work dedicated to crime ethnography and related fieldwork orientations. Synthesizing the foremost topics and issues in qualitative criminology into a single definitive work, the Handbook provides a first-look reference source for scholars and students alike.
The collection features twenty original chapters on leading qualitative crime research strategies, the complexities of collecting and analyzing qualitative data, and the ethical propriety of researching active criminals and incarcerated offenders. Contributions from both established luminaries and talented emerging scholars highlight the traditions and emerging trends in qualitative criminology through authoritative overviews and lived experience examples.
Comprehensive and current, The Routledge Handbook of Qualitative Criminology promises to be a sound reference source for academics, students and practitioners as ethnography and fieldwork realize continued growth throughout the 21st Century.
About the Author: Heith Copes is a Professor in the Department of Justice Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He earned his PhD in sociology from the University of Tennessee in 2001. Heith has published over 50 articles and chapters on deviance and crime and, in addition, he has published several books (e.g., Identity Thieves: Motives and Methods) and edited collections (e.g., Voices from the Criminal Justice). His research emphasis is on understanding the ways that deviants and offenders make sense of their actions.
J. Mitchell Miller is a Professor in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of North Florida and a Fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. He specializes in qualitative research methods, drug crime, and criminological theory and has conducted mixed methods program evaluation for various criminal justice system agencies including the NIJ, OJJDP, BJA, BJS, and the US State Department. He served as lead evaluator of the Moscow Police Command College and is a past president of the Southern Criminal Justice Association, former Editor of Journal of Crime & Justice and Journal of Criminal Justice Education, and an Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Fellow.
