Criminal behaviour can be summarised in many different ways, but one method of evaluating different types of criminal behaviour is to look at its stratification, this would divide crime crudely in to three levels: blue collar crime; white collar crime; and, corporate/state crimes - that is, crimes of the powerful. While it's more likely that blue collar and white collar crime are reported and punished, crimes of the powerful are less likely to be reported or punished. In this Reader, Dave Whyte brings together key readings on crimes of the powerful. Thematically ordered sections will look at the origins of thinking about crimes of the powerful, capitalist states and the powerful, modernity and crimes of the powerful, the problem of criminilisation and crimes of the global order.