Introduction: Crime and Deviance through the Lens of Popular Culture

The introductory chapter sets out the collection’s theoretical framework, which favours a view of popular culture as an arena where issues of crime, deviance, criminal victimisation and justice are debated and negotiated. It draws attention to the mediatisation of the crime problem and the increasing academic interest in the interrelationship between crime, deviance and popular culture in the twenty-first century. In addition, this chapter introduces the five thematic sections of the collection and outlines the topics addressed in the chapters of each section.