Aiming to foster dissent among those who claim to know what criminology is about - and those who don't - this collection contains the responses of 12 writers, from different schools of thought, to the question "what is criminology about?" Building on a resurgence of interest in the nature of the object of criminology, their responses aim to deepen and expand the current debate. This collection will therefore be of considerable interest to contemporary proponents and students of criminology and law.

Introduction Ronnie Lippens and Don Crewe, Elements 1. What is criminology about? Reflections on the image of the line Ronnie Lippens, 2. To criminology and beyond! A Polemic Don Crewe, 3. Criminology as 'chaosmic' art: a jazz perspective Claudius Messner, 4. The quantum holographic turn. 'Normal Science' versus Quantized, holographic, affirmative nomadology Dragan Milovanovic, 5. Criminology: What is it about? Raffaele De Giorgi and Luciano Nuzzo, Themes 6. Individuals and groups of individuals breaking laws,Anthony Amatrudo, 7. What is Criminology About? The study of harm, special liberty and pseudo-pacification in late-capitalism's libidinal economy Steve Hall, 8. Sartre on edgework James Hardie-Bick, 9. Criminology and 'criminalizable' legal persons George Pavlich, 10. The pursuit of a general theory of crime and the indeterminacy of human experience, David Polizzi, 11. Critical realism, overdetermination and social censure Colin Sumner, Index