This book offers a critical introduction to trends and developments in contemporary criminological theory. Designed both as a companion to An Introduction to Criminological Theory – also by Roger Hopkins Burke and published by Routledge – and as a standalone advanced textbook, it develops themes introduced previously in more detail, incorporates new critical and radical concepts and explores cutting-edge advances in theory. Key topics include the following:

• Constitutive, anarchist, green and species, bio-critical, cultural, abolitionist and convict criminologies

• Globalization and organized crime

• Southern theory

• Critical race theory

• Terrorism and state violence

• Gender, feminism and masculinity

• Ultra-realism

• Radical moral communitarianism

These key issues are discussed in the context of debates about the fragmentation of modernity and the postmodern condition; the rise of political populism, risk, surveillance and social control, and speculation about living in post-COVID-19 society and the future of neoliberalism.

Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to both undergraduate and postgraduate students of criminology, sociology and politics and is essential reading for advanced students of criminology looking for a way to engage with contemporary themes and concepts in theory.