Invisible Crimes and Social Harms

The continuing invisibility of much crime and victimisation, in the UK and overseas, and the lack of adequate response to them, is a central tenet of this collection. Bringing the key features of invisible crime up to date for the twenty-first century, this volume re-visits and elaborates upon the 'seven features of invisibility' that were introduced in the acclaimed earlier text Invisible Crimes (Palgrave, 1999) and aligns this with current knowledge and research. Establishing invisible crimes, social harms and victimisations as an area worthy of criminological and victimological inquiry, this unique collection forms a critical perspective on invisibility and offers new insight into methodologies capable of examining it. The volume explores the various 'spaces' of invisibility - the body, home, street, environment, state and virtual world - to develop a framework of typological underpinnings applicable to a range of crimes and harms that tend to remain obscured or hidden through various examples and case studies. It examines the broader reasons for the relative invisibility of some crimes and social harms and how various victims and injustices have become more visible or rendered less so over time and place. This fully revised collection with six new chapters shapes the lens through which the study and knowledge of criminology and victimology is approached in the twenty-first century. It will be a vital resource for scholars to think critically about research, theory and policy and practice in relation to the nature and types of invisible crimes at individual and institutional levels.