This book focuses upon the breaking of rules and taboos involved in 'doing crime', including violent crime as represented in fictive texts and ethnographic research. It includes chapters on topics of urgent contemporary interest such as asylum seekers, sex work, serial killers, school shooters, crimes of poverty and understandings of 'madness'.

This book presents a critical portrait of the British police through a detailed ethnography of their work at football matches. Megan O'Neill not only sheds light on a topic of intense media interest, football hooliganism, but also presents the police in a totally fresh perspective. By using the work of Erving Goffman, she demonstrates how the police are a far from unified force. Their informal interaction 'teams' divide them operationally and socially.