18. Critical criminology

This chapter investigates critical criminology. The strands that are widely regarded as most important in the development of critical criminology are labelling perspectives, Marxist-inspired critical theories, power perspectives, and feminist perspectives. The ideas and insights contained within these theories inspired and prepared the ground for more recent developments in the field, including cultural criminology and convict criminology. Critical criminology not only suggests that we make small alterations to criminal justice systems; instead, it requires us to question everything we think we ‘know’ about these systems and the societies and communities in which we live. It questions how and why we control behaviour, looks at power from the perspective of the oppressed or the powerless, and suggests alternative narratives that should be part of our accepted knowledge base.

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15. Critical criminology—part 1

Criminology ◽

10.1093/he/9780198736752.003.0015 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Steve Case ◽

Phil Johnson ◽

David Manlow ◽

Roger Smith ◽

Kate Williams

Keyword(s):

Social Construction ◽

Social Theory ◽

Power Relations ◽

Critical Criminology ◽

Critical Theories ◽

Theory Of Crime ◽

Feminist Perspectives ◽

Crime And Deviance ◽

Main Ideas ◽

And Control

This chapter examines a range of criminological perspectives which are collectively known as critical criminology, with particular emphasis on labelling perspectives, Marxist inspired critical theories, and feminist perspectives. It begins with an overview of the four main ideas of positivism (in either its biological, psychological, or sociological forms): determinism, scientism, consensus, and treatment/rehabilitation. It then considers the philosophical and political arguments that underpin critical criminologies, along with the different foundational strands within critical criminology. It also discusses the importance of the ideas of social construction, power and power relations to critical criminology, as well as the problems of ‘deviance’ and its interpretation and control. Finally, it explores the development of critical criminology in Britain, the rise of the ‘new’ criminology, Taylor et al's (1973) notion of a ‘fully social theory’ of crime and deviance, and the issue of violence in relation to gender.

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Critical Criminology

Criminology ◽

10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0064 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Michael J. Lynch

Keyword(s):

Violence Against Women ◽

Racial Bias ◽

Critical Criminology ◽

Green Criminology ◽

Cultural Criminology ◽

Marginalized Groups ◽

Power Differentials ◽

Feminist Criminology ◽

Convict Criminology ◽

Do So

Like orthodox criminology, critical criminology has developed numerous specialties, and thus it is no longer possible to describe a generic critical criminology, or to succinctly summarize this view. For this reason, this entry excludes coverage of portions of critical criminology such as critical race/racial bias, feminist criminology, violence against women, postmodern/semiotic/constitutive criminology, cultural criminology, convict criminology, and environmental justice and environmental/green criminology. Despite growing specialization, the field of critical criminology is united in its emphasis on addressing power differentials, hierarchies, and inequalities as explanations of crime, as these impact the distribution of crime over time and place, and in relation to definitions of crime and justice and processes of doing justice, as these impact the making and enforcing of laws. These power differentials also mold intermediary cultures and their relations to crime and justice. In addition, a number of critical criminology perspectives attempt to promote economic, social, and political equity to diminish the production of crime and disparities in the making and enforcement of law. Some seek to do so by empowering victims and marginalized groups, and it is this commitment to the powerless and marginalized that distinguishes critical from orthodox criminology. The bibliographic material that follows is organized to best reflect the limited segment of critical criminology that can adequately be addressed here.

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Just mercy through cultural and convict criminology

Journal of Criminal Psychology ◽

10.1108/jcp-09-2017-0038 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 80-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anna King

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Crime Control ◽

Cultural Criminology ◽

Content Type ◽

Call To Action ◽

Criminal Justice Reform ◽

Working Lives ◽

The Us ◽

Convict Criminology ◽

The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore Bryan Stevenson’s (2014, 2015) call to action from within two emergent schools of thought in criminology, “cultural criminology,” and “convict criminology”, which share a special concern with the contributions that criminological research makes to a climate of social control and punishment. The author’s central aim is to explore the capacity of what the author argues is a potentially under-leveraged tool of social change – the philosophies underlying and implemented in cultural and convict criminology. Design/methodology/approach To demonstrate the potential impact of this research, the author draws upon a purposive sample of qualitative studies that exemplify the particular emotive, moral, and aesthetic goals central to Stevenson’s call to action. The impact of the production of images of crime, crime control, and criminals that emerge in the development of the paradigms central to cultural and convict criminology is finally discussed in terms of Stevenson’s four prescriptions for social and criminal justice reform. Findings The underlying philosophies, theoretical assumptions, and methodological approaches dictated by convict and cultural criminology are uniquely equipped to make visible the forces linked to resistance to penal and social reform. Research limitations/implications In synthesizing cultural criminology and the emergent convict criminology as guides to doing empirical research, and identifying each as embodying Stevenson’s call to action, the author hopes – maybe not to extract those easily ignitable, invisible forces away from reform efforts entirely, but at least – to provide those who are interested with a more nuanced map of where they are not likely to live and breathe them. Stimulating and widening the criminological imagination might not satisfy our need to quickly and concretely apply a solution to injustice, but it might be what the problem demands. Originality/value Stevenson (2014) argues that the extent of injustice in the US criminal justice system is so pervasive, extraordinary, and long standing, that everyone has a role to play in the course of our everyday lives in turning the tide of indifference and cruelty that feed mass injustice and incarceration. Applying his proposals to the on-the-ground working lives of empirical criminologists holds potential for effecting change from the top-down.

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16. Critical criminology—part 2

Criminology ◽

10.1093/he/9780198736752.003.0016 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Steve Case ◽

Phil Johnson ◽

David Manlow ◽

Roger Smith ◽

Kate Williams

Keyword(s):

Critical Criminology ◽

Environmental Crime ◽

Prison Reform ◽

Green Criminology ◽

Cultural Criminology ◽

Crime Problem ◽

Policy Debates ◽

The World ◽

Convict Criminology ◽

And Control

This chapter examines four main strands of critical criminology: zemiology, the study of social harm; cultural criminology, which re-focusses the critical criminological imagination on the emotional and carnivalesque aspects of crime and control; green criminology, which deals with environmental crime as a growing crime problem committed by powerful groups; and convict criminology, which is concerned with how knowledge is produced and how the marginalised voices of prisoners are silenced and muted in both criminological and policy debates. The chapter also considers some basic economic concepts and ideas and how these fit into the world of critical green criminology when studying crimes of the (economically) powerful, and how and why the features of subcultures and emotions are important to cultural criminologists. It concludes by evaluating the claim made by convict criminologists that the prisoner voice should be a central one when considering prison reform and penal change.

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Restorative Justice and Criminal Justice Systems in Europe

MINORIGIUSTIZIA ◽

10.3280/mg2016-001003 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 24-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katrien Lauwaert ◽

Ivo Aertsen

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Restorative Justice ◽

Criminal Justice Systems ◽

Justice Systems

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“We’ll Take the Tough Ones”

New Criminal Law Review An International and Interdisciplinary Journal ◽

10.1525/nclr.2019.22.4.542 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 542-584

Author(s):

Chrysanthi S. Leon ◽

Corey S. Shdaimah

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Diversion Programs ◽

Social Emotional ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Material Resources ◽

Professional Goals ◽

Criminal Justice Systems ◽

Working Groups ◽

Justice Systems

Expertise in multi-door criminal justice enables new forms of intervention within existing criminal justice systems. Expertise provides criminal justice personnel with the rationale and means to use their authority in order to carry out their existing roles for the purpose of doing (what they see as) good. In the first section, we outline theoretical frameworks derived from Gil Eyal’s sociology of expertise and Thomas Haskell’s evolution of moral sensibility. We use professional stakeholder interview data (N = 45) from our studies of three emerging and existing prostitution diversion programs as a case study to illustrate how criminal justice actors use what we define as primary, secondary, and tertiary expertise in multi-agency working groups. Actors make use of the tools at their disposal—in this case, the concept of trauma—to further personal and professional goals. As our case study demonstrates, professionals in specialized diversion programs recognize the inadequacy of criminal justice systems and believe that women who sell sex do so as a response to past harms and a lack of social, emotional, and material resources to cope with their trauma. Trauma shapes the kinds of interventions and expertise that are marshalled in response. Specialized programs create seepage that may reduce solely punitive responses and pave the way for better services. However empathetic, they do nothing to address the societal forces that are the root causes of harm and resultant trauma. This may have more to do with imagined capacities than with the objectively best approaches.

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Privacy and security of computerized criminal justice systems

ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society ◽

10.1145/958660.958661 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 3-7

Author(s):

Melvin F. Bockelman

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Privacy And Security ◽

Criminal Justice Systems ◽

Justice Systems

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Fear of a School-to-Deportation Pipeline: How Teachers, Administrators, and Immigrant Students Respond to the Threat of Standardized Tests and Deportation

Urban Education ◽

10.1177/00420859211026403 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 004208592110264

Author(s):

Patricia Maloney ◽

Duke W. Austin ◽

SaunJuhi Verma

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Standardized Tests ◽

Justice System ◽

Immigrant Students ◽

Zero Tolerance ◽

School Authority ◽

Funding Sources ◽

Criminal Justice Systems ◽

Authority Figures

Existing studies evaluate zero tolerance policies and the school-to-prison pipeline. Additional research identifies the role of criminal justice systems in deporting immigrants. Our work bridges these two literatures by discussing how immigrant students navigate the criminal justice system within schools. Using interviews with immigrant students, teachers, and administrators, we address the question: How is the school-to-deportation pipeline maneuvered by stakeholders? Our study identifies how school authority figures react to and even use the fear of the pipeline to (1) either protect students from becoming criminalized or (2) exclude students from standardized exam participation so as to maintain funding sources.

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