Introduces the basic aspects of modern criminology to undergraduate students and emphasizes the importance of historical, feminist, and comparative perspectives on crime. Thoroughly revised, this comprehensive text offers a critical sociological perspective on the relationship between crime and structured social inequality and attempts to answer what crime is and why it occurs by examining the four major forms of social inequality in the U.S.--class, gender, race, age--and their influence on patterns of crime and victimization. Features: * Chapters 1-3 outline how crime is disseminated in mass media, summarize the key elements of crime as a legal category and introduce three key sociological concepts of criminology: crime, criminal law and criminalization. * Chapters 4-9 examine typologies of crime and give a comprehensive overview of the nature, extent, types and costs of crime. * Chapters 10-16 present a chronological, historical and systematic guide to modern criminological theory, providing thorought descriptions of each. New to this edition: * Offers updated crime data, criminology research and strong reorganization. * Discusses hate crimes, homosexual partner battering, crimes against animal and collective embezzlement.