Routledge Crooks and Squares

'Crooks and Squares' is a study of crime as a way of life. By interviewing drug addicts and property criminals, Malin Akerstrom presents a study of the demands, attractions, and drawbacks of criminal lifestyles. She discovers which elements are exciting and which are dull; what the pros and cons are in comparison to a more conventional lifestyle; whether social workers are "more trouble than they're worth"; what problems exist for criminals, and their strategies for solving them. This study is valuable not only because it enriches our knowledge of a criminal's everyday life but because it helps us understand the cause of becoming and remaining criminal. Review "I know of no other book that captures so well many subtle featuers of the thought processes of criminals and addicts." -- Daniel Glaser, University of Southern California "An important and unusual study which I am convinced will take its rightful place in the lasting criminological literature." --Donald R. Cressey, University of California, Santa Barbara "A wonderful study." --Hans L. Zetterberg, University of Stockholm, Sweden "I know of no other book that captures so well many subtle featuers of the thought processes of criminals and addicts." -- Daniel Glaser, University of Southern California "An important and unusual study which I am convinced will take its rightful place in the lasting criminological literature." --Donald R. Cressey, University of California, Santa Barbara "A wonderful study." --Hans L. Zetterberg, University of Stockholm, Sweden "I know of no other book that captures so well many subtle featuers of the thought processes of criminals and addicts." -- Daniel Glaser, University of Southern California "An important and unusual study which I am convinced will take its rightful place in the lasting criminological literature." --Donald R. Cressey, University of California, Santa Barbara "A wonderful study." --Hans L. Zetterberg, University of Stockholm, Sweden -I know of no other book that captures so well many subtle featuers of the thought processes of criminals and addicts.- -- Daniel Glaser, University of Southern California -An important and unusual study which I am convinced will take its rightful place in the lasting criminological literature.- --Donald R. Cressey, University of California, Santa Barbara -A wonderful study.- --Hans L. Zetterberg, University of Stockholm, Sweden About the Author Malin AkerstrOm is professor of sociology at Lund University in Sweden. Her research focuses on sociological criminology, cultural analysis, social control, and qualitative methods. Her recent work has appeared in Sociological Perspective, Qualitative Inquiry, Social Problems, and Symbolic Interaction. She is the author of Parenting and Expertise (in Swedish) and Betrayal and Betrayers.