Canadian Criminology Today, 7th edition
Published by Pearson Canada (October 1, 2021) © 2022
  • Frank Schmalleger
  • Rebecca Volk

Title overview

For courses in criminal law.

A timely, real-world perspective on criminal law

Canadian Criminology Today: Theories and Applications offers students a clear, contemporary, and comprehensive introduction to criminology that encourages critical thinking about the causes of crime and crime-prevention strategies. The thematic approach of Canadian Criminology Today is dualistic: on the one hand, it presents a social responsibility framework, which holds that crime may be a manifestation of underlying cultural issues, such as poverty, discrimination, and the breakdown of traditional social institutions. On the other, it contrasts the social responsibility approach with an individual responsibility perspective, which claims that individuals are fundamentally responsible for their own behaviour and maintains that they choose crime over other, more law-abiding courses of action.

The Who’s Responsible—the Individual or Society? boxes in each chapter highlight this theme by illustrating some of the issues that challenge criminologists and policymakers today. The thematic contrast is an important one because it provides students with a useful framework for integrating the large amount of material contained within the field of criminology. Contrasting the two perspectives, as this book does, provides fertile ground for discussion and debate, allowing students to better understand the central issues defining contemporary criminology and to reach their own conclusions about the value of criminology theory.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Current crime stories opening each chapter pique interest and alert students to key topics.
  • Updated Who's Responsible - The Individual or Society? boxes provide case studies and critical-thinking questions to help students focus on the book's overall theme of social responsibility versus individual responsibility.
  • An increased use of visuals in the form of infographics, additional graphics, boxed information, and photos enhance reader focus and support comprehension.

New and updated features of this title

  • As the world shifts to a greater reliance on digital media, it is appropriate that this resource evolves as well. This seventh edition is the first fully digital version of Canadian Criminology Today. Instructors and students will find that, although the medium has changed, the content is fully consistent with prior editions
  • UPDATED:
    • Expanded examination of terrorism to include domestic, international, and cyberterrorism, countering the terrorism threat and international crime-fighting organizations
    • Expanded discussion of the use of technology and crime in the fight against crime, including a consideration of the extent of cybercrime and cybercrime and the law
    • Expanded discussion of crimes against the public order to include impaired driving and new laws addressing illicit drugs 
    • Analysis of various new legislation and strategy, including the Cannabis Act, the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, 2019–2024 and a National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence

Key features

Important Digital Assets in Revel

  • Current Event Bulletins bring currency into your classroom with author-written articles that connect key concepts with real-life current events. Our authors regularly add new or revised articles to ensure that your students have relevant examples to help them engage with the course. New for 2023:
    1. Minor update of the age of Melissa Shepard aka "Black Widow". Update of a single source line on the crimes and trial of Melissa Shepard. Shepard's last run-in with the law earned her the nickname the “Internet Black Widow” for her ability to persuade grieving widowers to marry her; she then steals their money and kills them.
    2. New CEB about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Gender-Diverse People. Statistics on high rate of death among Indigenous women. Call for action by various groups withn Canada and the world. 2015 Government of Canada Inquiry. 2019 Report Reclaiming Power and Place. Red Dress Day.
    3. "Freedom Convoy": blockades, vaccine/mask mandate protests. National Emergencies Act invoked. Individual rights vs. power of the government and the collective rights of citizens. 
    4. Stockholm Prize in Criminology. Update on recipients. The prize recognizes outstanding achievements in criminological research or in the practical implementation of research findings in order to combat crime and promote human rights. 
  • Videos and interactives integrated directly into the narrative get students learning actively, making it more likely that they'll retain what they've read.
  • Embedded assessments afford students regular opportunities to check their understanding. The results enable instructors to gauge student comprehension and provide timely feedback to address learning gaps along the way.
  • Video quizzes offer students opportunities to further their knowledge by applying concepts and testing their understanding. Instructors can share videos accompanied by time-stamped multiple-choice questions.

Table of contents

  1. What Is Criminology? Understanding Crime and Criminals
  2. Crime Statistics: It's How We Count
  3. Patterns of Crime: It's What We Count
  4. Victimology: The Study of the Victim: It's Personal
  5. Classical and Neoclassical Thought: Choice or Consequences
  6. Biological Roots of Criminal Behaviour: Interaction Is Key
  7. Psychological and Psychiatric Foundations of Criminal Behaviour: It's How We Think
  8. The Meaning of Crime: Social Structure Perspective: It's Where and How We Live
  9. The Meaning of Crime: Social Process Perspective: It's What WeLearn
  10. The Meaning of Crime: Social Conflict Perspective: It's How We Relate
  11. Criminology and Social Policy: From Research to Evidence-Based Policy
  12. The Globalization of Crime: Our Small World

Author bios

Frank Schmalleger, PhD, is professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where he also was recognized as distinguished professor. Dr. Schmalleger holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University; he earned both a master's (1970) and a doctorate (1974) in sociology, with a special emphasis in criminology, from Ohio State University. From 1976 to 1994, he taught criminology and criminal justice courses at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and for the last 16 of those years, he chaired the university's Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice. As an adjunct professor with Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, Schmalleger helped develop the university's graduate program in security administration and loss prevention and taught courses in that curriculum for more than a decade. Schmalleger also taught in the New School for Social Research's online graduate program, helping build the world's first electronic classrooms in support of distance learning through computer telecommunications.

Rebecca Volk currently oversees the Centre for Organizational Learning at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario, after many years as a coordinator and professor in the Police Foundations Program at the college. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and an applied master's degree in criminology from the University of Ottawa. She is also co-author of Police Ethics: A Matter of Character. Volk's professional experience has included involvement with a variety of offender aftercare and advocacy agencies, federal and provincial correctional institutions and residential centres, legal aid services, and various police agencies. She serves on the boards of several organizations devoted to promoting social justice for the most vulnerable among us.

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