Criminology's third war

Abstract

The author explores the similarities among three crime-related political wars of the past century, namely, wars on crime, drugs and terrorism. He asserts that the three wars are directly linked to presidential politics with the war on drugs receiving a major attention with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the signing of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and a declaration of war on terrorism by President George W. Bush. He offers an overview of articles featured in the issue focusing on these wars.