ABSTRACT

This book explores the ways in which criminological methods can be imaginatively deployed and developed in a world increasingly characterized by the blurred nature of social reality. Whilst recognizing the importance of positivist approaches and research techniques, it advocates a commitment to understanding the ways in which those techniques can be used imaginatively, at times in combination with less conventional methods, discussing the questions concerning risk, ethics and access that arise as a result. Giving voice to cutting edge research practices both in terms of concepts and methods that shift the criminological focus towards the kind of imaginative work that comprised the foundations of the discipline, it calls into question the utility and credentials of mainstream work that fails to serve the discipline itself or the policy questions allied to it. A call not to 'give up on numbers' but also not to be defined by statistics and the methods that produce them, Liquid Criminology sheds light on a way of doing research for criminology that is not only creative but also critical. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology, criminology and social policy with interests in research methods and design.

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

Introducing ‘liquid criminology'

part 1|64 pages

Using conventional methods imaginatively

chapter 11|15 pages

Doing imaginative criminology

chapter 1 3|16 pages

‘Snitches get stitches'?

Telling tales on homicide detectives

chapter 1 4|14 pages

Forensic criminology as a research problem

Using traditional processes in a forensic context

part 2|78 pages

Developing imaginative methods

chapter 2 6|21 pages

The ‘typical victim'

No story to tell and no one to tell it to

chapter 2 7|19 pages

Doing visual criminology

Learning from documentary, journalism and sociology

chapter 2 8|17 pages

Liquid crime history

Digital entrepreneurs and the industrial production of ‘ruined lives' 1

part 3|73 pages

The craft and challenges of imaginative liquid criminology

chapter 3 10|15 pages

Gaining access and managing gatekeepers

Undertaking criminological research with those ‘within' the system

chapter 3 12|16 pages

Conclusion

Revisiting ‘liquid criminology' – politics, poetics, pitfalls and promises

chapter 3 13|9 pages

Postscript

Under the slab