Crime tops the headlines, leads the evening news, and is a focus of every election. But what causes crime? Is there a more rational way to address it than by law-and-order crusades?

In this fact-filled, sweeping treatment, George Winslow takes on every aspect of the topic, from the streets to the suites. Unlike conventional accounts, Capital Crimes places the issue in the context of a larger political economy. From the Burmese heroin trade to homicide, from the capital flight that has generated crime in inner cities to corporate money-laundering schemes, Capital Crimes shows how economic forces and elite interests have shaped both the world of crime and society's response to it.

Based upon extensive research and interviews, Capital Crimes presents a comprehensive alternative to a "lock 'em up" approach that has produced a gargantuan prison-industrial complex without coming to terms with the root of crime.