Crimes Against Consumers

Crimes Against Consumers is a multidisciplinary anthology that combines criminal justice and consumer affairs to help readers understand consumer crime and how they can protect themselves against it through education and self-advocacy. The carefully curated readings address aspects of consumer law, white collar crime, corporate and computer crime, and more.

The anthology begins by introducing criminal justice students to fundamentals of consumerism, marketing, and behavior choice. The next sections introduce consumer affairs or general education students to criminal justice concepts. Subsequent sections are devoted to exploring specific forms of crime including financial crimes, identity theft, cyber-crime, crime in healthcare, and crimes against those who may not know how protect themselves such as the elderly. The anthology concludes with a section on the role of law enforcement and other civil protections.

Each of the five sections of the book has an original introduction to provide context for the readings and questions that can be used for in-class discussion or serve as writing prompts. The broad coverage of the topic makes the anthology suitable for a wide range of courses, particularly those in consumer affairs and criminal justice.

Kimberly Thomson earned her J.D. degree from the Southwestern University School of Law. She is a certified California Standards and Training for Corrections (STC) instructor and a lecturer at California State University, Long Beach, where she teaches courses on family law and consumer crime. In addition to teaching, Professor Thomson runs KimforJustice Mediation and Education, a family law mediation firm dedicated to giving families more control over the legal decisions that impact them by providing expert assistance outside of court.