A groundbreaking analysis of the relationship between politics, policies, and criminalization.

This anthology scrutinizes the impact of law, society, politics, and penal populism on criminalization across legal systems, advocating for a reassessment of criminal law's scope. Criminalization delves into the prevalence of resorting to criminalization for social issues, urging for a critical review. Additionally, the book examines the normative foundations of criminalization, addressing 'over'-criminalization and exploring its empirical and normative aspects. The contributors also consider the roles of prosecutorial and judicial discretion, as well as State preventive powers, in over-criminalization.

Any reader-whether scholar, policymaker, or citizen-will gain insights into the expansion of criminal laws and their consequences, making it a valuable resource for understanding the dynamics of law, politics, and power in criminal justice.

Naveed Mehmood, Chirag Balyan, Shruti Bedi, Shubhangni Jain, Charles Khamala, Sebastien Lafrance, Sidharth Luthra, David McCallum, Garima Pal, Daria Ponomareva, Alok Prasanna, Yogesh Pratap Singh, and Ekkehard Strauss.