Kenneth D. Tunnell

Film at eleven: Recent developments in the commodification of crime

Recent increases in the number of crime‐related commodities (e.g., burglar alarms, security systems, private security forces, and crime‐related television news programs) are critically examined in relation to mildly fluctuating national crime rates. Increasing sales of crime‐related and target‐hardening products during the time when crime oscillated only slightly are explained as capitalisms ability to create commodities from both social problems and unfounded needs. Using secondary data, I describe these crime trends and the consumption of crime‐prevention goods. Although the media apparently contributed to increasing concerns about victimization while crime was fairly stable, the process of commodity exchange for crime goods is far from simply a media‐induced phenomenon. This article relies on a critical and dialectical approach as a way of analyzing these contradictory developments.

Political crime and pedagogy: A content analysis of criminology and criminal justice texts

Political crime, as a category, is widely recognized as one of the oldest types of crime in human history and one that has affected numerous societies. However, from content analysis research, we find that political crime typically is absent from introductory criminology and criminal justice texts. This paper describes the content analysis research and the quantitative and qualitative coverage given to political crime in contemporary introductory texts. Furthermore, this paper shows that the concept rarely appears in introductory texts; when it does so, the coverage is, superficial, at best.

Choosing crime: Close your eyes and take your chances

Previous research on the incidence of property crimes shows that a small group of repeat offenders is responsible for 60 percent of armed robberies and burglaries. Little is known, however, about the nature and the incidence of their offending and how they incorporate the threat of punishment into the decision to commit a crime. To learn about such processes, I selected and interviewed a purposive sample of repetitive property offenders who had been undeterred by the threat of legal punishment. The most common responses explaining the lack of deterrent effects on their actions are that they 1) thought they would not get caught, 2) thought that if they were caught they would be incapacitated for a relatively short time, and 3) considered prison a nonthreatening environment.

Inside the drug trade: Trafficking from the dealer's perspective

Over the past decade drug laws have increased in number and in punishment severity. Prison sentences for drug trafficking have increased in length and greater numbers of individuals have been incarcerated for violating new, “get tough” drug policies. Yet, we know little about once-active drug traffickers who presently receive longer prison sentences than at any time previously. We know little about their trafficking networks, their modes of connecting with buyers and sellers of drugs, and how their drug use contributes to their dealing. To address these issues, a sample of incarcerated drug traffickers was selected and interviewed. The major findings indicate that: (1) nearly all participants were low-level dealers; (2) they dealt primarily to have access to drugs to which they were addicted; (3) they “drifted” into dealing and neither made conscious decisions to become drug dealers nor had images of themselves as dealers; and (4) although they were low-level drug dealers, the majority received very long prison sentences. This descriptive study adds to our understanding of the character of drug dealing among individuals netted in the on-going war on drugs.

Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line Pirates

Digital piracy—a type of copyright infringement—is a global phenomenon that allegedly contains grave economic consequences for intellectual property industries. Its pervasiveness has produced a global piracy subculture. This article describes our study of digital pirates who actively participate in an on-line discussion board dedicated to copyright infringement. It explores their motivations, techniques of neutralization, and contradictions within a community-wide belief system. Motivations among this group include a desire to share content, to sample content before purchasing, to acquire intellectual property that is unaffordable, and to subvert copyright law. We then apply Sykes and Matzas (1957) techniques of neutralization. Finally, we discuss contradictions within this groups belief systems; specifically acceptance and rejection of capitalism and state power and formal control.

Singing across the scars of wrong: Johnny Cash and his struggle for social justice

The life and music of Johnny Cash are explored in this article as we detail his commitment to social justice. Situating his politics and biography within a cultural criminology orientation, we show that Cash’s lived politics and edgy music reflect his concerns with the working class, the dispossessed, the rebellious, the American Indian, and above all, the convict. A pusher of social causes, Cash advocated for prison reform through decades of social activism and public and private politics.

Applying a subculture of violence thesis to an ongoing criminal lifestyle

This article describes our case study of a random violent abduction and murder in a rural part of southeastern Kentucky located in the Appalachian mountains. The offender, who was raised in this rural and isolated part of Kentucky, had a long history of violence and had been socialized into what we identify as a subculture of violence that is still found today in homogeneous and isolated pockets of some Appalachian regions (among other areas). In our description and analysis of his ongoing criminal way of life and this specific act of violence, we rely on Millers (1958) subcultural explanations. We particularly use Millers focal concerns, that is, daily behavioral patterns that are reflected in this offenders culturally based and lower class lifestyle and his violent subcultural traits.

Reflections on Visual Field Research

This article describes ongoing visual field research by focusing on its self-reflective and auto-ethnographic components. Photographs and field notes are presented and personal encounters from the field are described. Recognizing the symbiotic order of the personal and political, the author details confrontations and emotions from ongoing efforts at recording visually.

Sexually Aggressive Murder: A Case Study

This paper, from research of a larger qualitative case study, describes a random abduction and murder that involved both sexual and aggressive components. The social-psychological and psychiatric history of the of fender and the interactive effects associated with the murder episode are described. This study reveals the complexities of a capital case involving an offender with overt psychiatric and psychological disorders. Further more, we demonstrate the complexity of a capital case with the components of sex and aggression and situate this offender as one who potentially could have become a serial murderer.