Publisher's Synopsis
Addicted to Crime? Edited by John E. Hodge, Mary McMurran, and Clive R. Hollin Are there features of criminal behaviour that parallel those of addiction more closely than we realise? By drawing together current expertise from these two areas, can the sum of the parts yield positive new options for working with offenders? As every practitioner knows, substantial numbers of offenders persist with their offending even when it brings risk to their personal well–being and fails to produce obvious rewards. On the basis of such cases emerges the possibility of a theoretical link between offending and addiction. Criminal behaviour that is highly repetitive appears to bring "internal rewards" for some offenders. Understanding such behaviour often invokes concepts such as motivation and emotion, excitement, control and reward, as similarly found in the addiction literature. Is there more than coincidence to this overlap? Using previous research, conceptual development, empirical work, and individual casework, expert researchers and practitioners attempt to explore the potential link between addiction and crime. This offers new insights into offending behaviour and presents perspectives for assessment and intervention.
