Monsters, Law, Crime reminds us in a graphic way how different societies have taken their fears of the out-of-the ordinary and portrayed and treated those deemed to be "other". They range from victims of misogyny in Israel and Jihadists through the mentally ill in Victorian Britain to modern day medical serial killers. There is much more besides. How the media over the years have responded to a variety of challenges to social norms is the subject of this collection. This happens in crime narratives, newspapers, television and film. These essays provide a fascinating kaleidoscope of how the various media have adopted the monster form as a way of showing these challenges. This is an absorbing collection of essays which shifts the focus away from the mundanity of the deviance encountered on a daily basis in the justice process. It shows how Stan Cohen's “Folk Devils” have both a rich tradition across cultures and a likely long-term future. The contexts of the moral panics change but the resort to the demonisation of the other is a recurrent feature which this collection effectively illustrates.

Peter Robson, School of Law, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Law and popular culture theorists study the relationship of real life phenomena and the media of popular culture. One of the intersections explores how pop culture often reflects (“mirrors”) what people in general think and believe. Of course, the mirror is always distorted by the biases of the filmmaker as well as the need to produce entertainment that can turn a profit. This book illustrates how people’s fear of “monsters,” whether terrorists, serial killers, or human traffickers, is exploited by and reflected in pop culture. It furnishes provocative and insightful examples of the monster phenomenon and will be a useful resource for students of this emerging body of theory.

Michael Asimow, Santa Clara School of Law, co-author of Law and Popular Culture: A Course Book

In this pathbreaking collection, editor Picart presents an assemblage of novel essays that examine the social construction and social meaning of "monsters" from a truly interdisciplinary perspective. These essays bring new insight to law, crime and justice using what Picart calls a "Gothic Criminological Framework" (initially developed with Greek, a sociologist). This framework, as applied here, grounds the analysis of monsters and the monstrous in a sound theoretical foundation. This can be seen in many ways, not least in how the use of "monster-talk" elevates the discourse of "othering" to a new level. Focusing on the social construction of crime through the lens of monsters, real-life and make-believe, this collection expands the boundaries of Law, Criminology, Media Studies and Cultural Studies.

Kenneth B. Nunn, University of Florida College of Law

As fascism ascends, the dead accumulate and planetary crisis looms, a new, harrowing world struggles to be born. If this then, is the time of monsters, Picart’s Monsters, Law, Crime is an indispensable resource for troubled times.

Travis Linnemann, Department of Sociology, Kansas State University; author of Meth Wars: Police, Media, Power