This article aims at giving crime-film research a stronger sense of purpose by asking: How do crime films relate to criminology? Using the example of recent films about sex crimes, I argue that crime films should be conceptualized as an aspect of popular criminology, and popular criminology as an aspect of criminology itself. If we define criminology as the study of crime and criminals, it becomes clear that film is one of the primary sources through which people get their ideas about the nature of crime. Some of those ideas echo academic criminology, while others bring to bear ethical, philosophical and psychological perspectives beyond the scope of academic research. By recognizing that popular criminology is integral to criminology, we can invigorate the study of crime films—and criminology itself.
Anderson, Jeffrey M. (2003) `A “Cut” Above the Rest', San Francisco Examiner, 31 October. Available at http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/103103a_inthecut
2.
Bailey, Frankie Y., Joycelyn M. Pollock and Sherry Schroder (1998) `The Best Defense: Images of Female Attorneys in Popular Films', in Frankie Bailey and Donna Hale (eds) Popular Culture, Crime, and Justice, pp. 180—95. Belmont, CA: West/Wadsworth.
3.
Bergman, Paul and Michael Asimow (1996) Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies . Kansas City, MO: Andrews & McMeel.
4.
Braithwaite, John (2000) `The New Regulatory State and the Transformation of Criminology', in David Garland and Richard Sparks (eds) Criminology and Social Theory, pp. 47—70. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
5.
Brown, Michelle (2003) `Penological Crisis in America: Finding Meaning in Imprisonment Post-Rehabilitation', PhD diss., Indiana University, Dept of Criminal Justice and American StudiesProgram.
6.
Campbell, Russell (2005) Marked Women: Prostitutes and Prostitution in the Cinema. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
7.
Cavender, Gray (1999) `Detecting Masculinity', in Jeff Ferrell and Neil Websdale (eds) Making Trouble: Cultural Constructions of Crime, Deviance, & Control, pp. 157—75. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
8.
Chase, Anthony (1986) `Lawyers and Popular Culture: A Review of Mass Media Portrayals of American Attorneys', American Bar Foundation Research Journal11(2): 281—300.
9.
Chase, Anthony (2002) Movies on Trial: The Legal System on the Silver Screen. New York: The New Press .
10.
Chermak, Steven (2002) Searching for a Demon: The Media Construction of the Militia Movement. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
11.
Clover, Carol J. (1992) Men, Women, and Chainsaws. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
12.
Denvir, John (ed.) (1996) Legal Reelism: Movies as Legal Texts. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
13.
De Young, M. (2004) The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
14.
DiMaggio, Paul (1997) `Culture and Cognition', Annual Review of Sociology23: 263—87.
15.
Ellis, Jack C. (1979) A History of Film. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
16.
Epstein, Su (1995) `The New Mythic Monster', in Jeff Ferrell and C.R. Sanders (eds) Cultural Criminology, pp. 66—79. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
17.
Ferrell, Jeff (1999) `Cultural Criminology', Annual Review of Sociology25: 395—418.
18.
Ferrell, Jeff and C.R. Sanders (eds) (1995) Cultural Criminology. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
19.
Ferrell, Jeff and Neil Websdale (eds) (1999) Making Trouble: Cultural Constructions of Crime, Deviance, & Control. New York: Aldinede Gruyter.
20.
Ferrell, Jeff, Keith Hayward , Wayne Morrison and Mike Presdee (eds) (2004) Cultural Criminology Unleashed. London: GlassHouse Press.
21.
Freeman, Michael (ed.) (2005) Law and Popular Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
22.
Gamson, William A., David Croteau, William Hoynes and Theodore Sasson (1992) `Media Images and the Social Construction of Reality', Annual Review of Sociology18: 373—93.
23.
Garland, David and Richard Sparks (eds) (2000) Criminology and Social Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
24.
Greenfield, Steve, Guy Osborn and Peter Robson ( 2001) Film and the Law. London: Cavendish.
25.
Hayward, Keith J. and Jock Young (2004) `Cultural Criminology: Some Notes on the Script' , Theoretical Criminology8(3): 259—73.
26.
Jenkins, Philip (1994) Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Homicide. New York: Aldinede Gruyter.
27.
King, Neal (1999) Heroes in Hard Times: Cop Action Movies in the U.S. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
28.
Loftus, E. and K. Ketcham (1994) The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse. New York: St Martin's Press.
29.
Mitry, Jean (2000) Semiotics and the Analysis of Film. London: The Athlone Press.
30.
Morgan, David L. and Michael L. Schwalbe (1990) `Mind and Self in Society: Linking Social Structure and Social Cognition', Social Psychology Quarterly53(2): 148—64.
31.
Munby, Jonathan (1999) Public Enemies, Public Heroes: Screening the Gangster from Little Caesar to Touch of Evil. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
32.
Nathan, Debbie (2000) `Complex Persecution: A Long Island Family's Nightmare Struggle with Porn, Pedophilia, and Public Hysteria', Village Voice, 26 December. Available at http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0321,nathan,44338,1.html
33.
Nathan, Debbie and Michael R. Snedeker (1995) Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American WitchHunt. New York: Basic Books.
34.
O'Brien, Martin, Rodanthi Tzanelli, Majid Yar and Sue Penna (2005) `“The Spectacle of Fearsome Acts”: Crime in the Melting P(l)ot in Gangs of New York', Critical Criminology13(1): 17—35.
35.
Philo, Greg (ed.) (1997) Media and Mental Distress. Glascow Media Group. London: Longman.
36.
Post, Robert C. (1987) `On the Popular Image of the Lawyer: Reflections in a Dark Glass', California Law Review75: 379—89.
37.
Press, Joy (2003) `Making the Cut: Jane Campion's Feminist Film Noir Stirs up Pheromones and Occult Mystery in a Malevolent East Village.' Available at http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0343,press,48035,1.html (accessed 15 January 2005).
38.
Rafter, Nicole (2005) `Badfellas', in Michael Freeman (ed.) Law and Popular Culture, pp. 339—57. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
39.
Rafter, Nicole (2006) Shots in the Mirror: Crime Films and Society (2nd edn). New York: Oxford University Press.
40.
Robson, Peter (2005) `Law and Film Studies: Autonomy and Theory', in Michael Freeman (ed.) Law and Popular Culture, pp. 21—46. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
41.
Sellin, Thorsten (1938) Culture Conflict and Crime. Bulletin41. New York: Social Science Research Council.
42.
Sparks, Richard (1996) `Masculinity and Heroism in the Hollywood Blockbuster ', British Journal of Criminology36(3): 348—60.
43.
Swidler, Ann (1986) `Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies', American Sociological Review51(2): 273—86.
44.
Swidler, Ann (2001) Talk of Love: How Culture Matters. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
45.
Swidler, Ann and Jorge Arditi ( 1994) `The New Sociology of Knowledge', Annual Review of Sociology20: 305—29.
46.
Tiso, Giovanni (n.d.) `The Spectacle of Surveillance: Images of the Panopticon in Science-Fiction Cinema.' Available at www.homepages.paradise.net.nz/gtiso/filmessay (accessed 14 October 2004).
47.
Turner, Graeme (1999) Film as Social Practice (3rd edn). New York: Routledge.
48.
Tzanelli, Rodanthi, Majid Yar and Martin O'Brien (2005) `Exploring Crime in the American Cinematic Imagination ', Theoretical Criminology9(1): 97—117.
49.
Varese, Federico (2006) `The Secret History of Japanese Cinema: The Yakuza Movies', Global Crime7(1): 107—26.
50.
Zedner, Lucia (2007) `Pre-Crime and Post-Criminology?', TheoreticalCriminology11(2): 261—81.
51.
Zerubavel, Evitar (1997) Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
