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Beyond Criminology?

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The Palgrave Handbook of Social Harm

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology ((PSVV))

Abstract

This chapter is a reprint of the chapter ‘Beyond Criminology?’, where the social harm approach is first proposed. The chapter begins by detailing the numerous social problems arising from the current social construction of ‘crime’ and the social and criminal justice system that results from this construction. For instance, two of the many points made are that ‘crime’ ignores many of the most serious harms and criminalisation and punishment are themselves harmful. A social harm approach moves beyond these confines and does not merely explore physical harm, but also financial/economic, and psychological harms as well as cultural safety. The strengths of a social harm approach are many, but include recognition of mass harm and challenging existing power structures. Such an approach is not meant to replace criminology, but to offer another means of combatting the many social injustices.

Hillyard, P., & Tombs, S. (2004). Beyond Criminology? In Hillyard, P., Pantazis, C., Tombs, S., & Gordon, D. (Eds.), Beyond Criminology: Taking Harm Seriously (pp. 10–29). London: Pluto Press. Reprinted by permission of Pluto Press.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Paddy Hillyard

  2. The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Steve Tombs

Authors
  1. Paddy Hillyard
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  2. Steve Tombs
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Correspondence to Steve Tombs .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Pamela Davies

  2. Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA

    Paul Leighton

  3. Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Tanya Wyatt

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Hillyard, P., Tombs, S. (2021). Beyond Criminology?. In: Davies, P., Leighton, P., Wyatt, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Social Harm. Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72408-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72408-5_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-72407-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-72408-5

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