The text surveys and contrasts and different and uneven development of criminology across Europe, the conditions under which critical criminology developed as a counter-paradigm, and the reasons it lost this position. It notes that critical criminologists argued that deviance, normality, and disorder should be studied as a problem of society in a more structural sense rather than considering crime a problem that particular individuals or groups represent to society. The analysis places themes such as crime prevention, safety, and victims within a framework of social justice. Individual chapters examine epistemological and methodological issues, the roots of European critical criminology, the rise and decline of critical criminology and related penal reform movements, and issues related to reshaping critical criminology for the present era. The analysis concludes that critical criminological theories aid understanding both of crime and of the institutions that aim to control it. Index and approximately 500 references (Publisher summary modified)