ABSTRACT
Risk came to the attention of social theorists in the 1980s, when governmental practices and discourses shifted from rehabilitation and punishment to prevention based on probabilistic prediction. As risk has become more central culturally, certain 'risky' forms of offending have developed or expanded. Associated with 'edgework' – exposing oneself to extreme risk at the edge of control – it is suggested that a new generation of financial crimes has emerged in which unauthorized individuals make high-risk investments for huge sums. In addition, the cultural centrality of excitement and risk-taking has been linked to the longer-term rise of offences such as illicit recreational drug use and illicit 'sports', such as street car-racing or rooftop riding on trains. This aspect of crime and risk has received comparatively little attention, however. As risk is beginning to morph into new forms and be put into effect through new technologies, so criminological concepts and approaches are shifting accordingly.
