Critical criminology is a form of criminology using conflict perspectives, like Marxism, feminism, and critical theory. In critical criminology, the focus is on locating the genesis of crime and the interpretation of what is justice within a structure of social class and social status inequalities. In critical criminology, law and the definition and punishment of crime are seen as connected to a system of social inequality, inequality of condition and inequality of opportunity. Critical criminology should reconsider its role in relation to the discipline and ally itself even more closely with progressive social movements. Classical Criminology had developed as a question about punishment and neo-classical criminology as a question about the criminal. 'Post-Critical Criminology' refers to a time following the period in which a critical or conflict perspective was dominant.
Facing Change: New Directions for Critical Criminology in the Early New Millennium? Richard Hil - Western Criminology Review. Abstract: The following article examines the process of self-reflection that has characterized critical criminology over recent years. This process of 'narcissistic contemplation' has resulted in a confused range of responses to the study of crime and crime control.
Since 1970s, critical criminology has been characterised by a range of dramatic and often paradigmatic changes that have taken it from the bounds of social reaction theory and Marxism to its contemporary expression as a project focused on deconstruction and governmentality. Critical criminology has been left battered by the ebbs and flows of politics, history and theory over the past few decades, and it remains ontologically confronted by the challenge of relevance.
Rethinking critical criminology: A panel discussion
Rene van Swaaningen,
Ian Taylor. Journal Crime, Law and Social Change.
Abstract: This paper takes the form of a report on the panel discussion held at the
conclusion of the 1992 meetings of the European Group for the Study of Deviant
Behavior and Social Control
in Padua in September 1992. A conference dedicated to
the theme of human rights in a uniting Europe, eight panellists from Italy, England, and
Canada via Ireland debated their different versions of the project of critical criminology
in the last years of the twentieth century.
Criticism and Criminology: In Search of Legitimacy - George Pavlich, Univ of Auckland - Theoretical Criminology, Vol. 3, No. 1, 29-51 (1999). Influential strands of radical criminology like left realism have inadvertently succumbed to the lure of an insubstantial critical pragmatism. By not paying sufficient attention to such issues, many critical criminologists have not appreciated the extent to which their favored critical genres are ill-suited to an ethos wracked by uncertainty. I refer to developments within critical criminology.
Richard Quinney's Journey: The Marxist Dimension - Kevin B.
Anderson
Crime & Delinquency, Vol. 48, No. 2, 232-242 (2002).
The relationship of Richard Quinney's critical criminology to Marxism is explored in this
article. The originality of his version of critical criminology is discussed, from its
origins in social constructionism, to his engagement with Marxism in the 1970s, to the
importance in his later work of issues such as existentialism,
Eastern thought, and Erich Fromm's socialist humanism.
Critical Criminology, Existential Humanism, and Social Justice: Exploring the Contours of Conceptual Integration - Arrigo B.A., Critical Criminology, Vol 10, Num. 2, 2001. Abstract: The relationship between critical criminology and social justice has been well documented, but efforts to provide a unified theory of social justice that cuts across and embodies the various strains of critical criminological thought have not been systematically researched. One useful approach for engaging in such a project comes from existential humanism, which draws attention to a number of life themes and is compatible with critical criminology's commitment to radical social change. This discussion concludes with an outline of the implications of a commentary for the future of critical criminology.
The American Society of Criminology is an international organization concerned
with criminology, embracing scholarly, scientific, and professional knowledge
concerning the etiology, prevention, control, and treatment of crime and
delinquency.
Critical Justice includes writings provided by members of the American Society of Criminology Division on Critical Criminology and
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Section on Critical Criminology.
Although Critical Justice is not intended to be a continuing online journal,
this technology provides many benefits and offers a foundation for future site
content.
Reclaiming Critical
Criminology: Social Justice and the European Tradition
RENE VAN SWAANINGEN.
This article seeks to examine the relevance of the continental European tradition in
critical criminology for the theoretical elaboration of criminological theory today.
How did critical criminology
develop historically on the European continent? The social and
cultural developments which accompanied the heyday of critical criminology in the 1970s
is analysed. The same cultural sociological line of thought is
followed in the explanation of the rather abrupt decline of critical criminology. A reconstruction of critical
criminology is proposed.
Critical Criminology in the Classroom. - Kramer, Ronald
C.
Abstract: The major objective of the labeling perspective and conflict/power
approaches to teaching college level criminology is to increase student
understanding of crime as a sociological phenomenon. The labeling perspective
maintains that the way in which criminology concepts are defined influences the
kinds of questions and issues which are focused upon.
Rebuilding Utopia? Critical criminology and the difficult road of reconstruction
in Latin America, Journal Crime, Law and Social Change.
Carlos Alberto Elbert - Universities of Buenos Aires and, USA, del Litoral, de
la Patagonia.
Abstract This contribution assesses the developmentof criminology, during the last few
decades, and contemplates the future course of critical criminology in view of
developments in current capitalism, and their impact on "Third World'' societies.
CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY AND PENAL GUARANTEEISM. - LEAL SUAREZ, Luisa and GARCIA PIRELA,
Adela. Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to present some reflections on the
importance of penal guaranteeism as a theoretical-methodological tool in order to approach
the objective of the study of Critical Criminology, and as a rationalization strategy in
punitive control. The arguments center around a questioning of certain basic
postulates of guaranteeism that could be seen as contradictory to the critical character
of criminology and within its limitation, as a pacifying mechanism in social conflict.
British and U.S. Left Realism: A Critical Comparison
Walter S. DeKeseredy, Martin D. Schwartz.
Left realism has generated enormous interest and controversy in critical criminology over
the past several years both in North America and in the United Kingdom. While there are
important similarities between the writings from these countries, there are also some deep
differences and divisions.
Left Out? The Coverage of Critical Perspectives in Introductory Criminology
Textbooks, 1990-1999 - Richard A. Wright.
The article measures the average number of pages that the textbooks devote to critical
criminology and compares the amounts of space the books give to these perspectives. It
assesses the claim that texts that discuss critical perspectives "limit themselves to
ancient intellectual and political battles and a detailed coverage of long discredited
leftist theories." The article confirms that critical/radical perspectives in
general, but in particular recent developments in critical criminology are often
omitted from contemporary criminology textbooks.
Erich Fromm and Critical Criminology: Beyond the Punitive Society.
Kevin Anderson and Richard Quinney.
Richard Quinney makes more of an effort to connect Fromms socialist humanism to
critical criminology.
Ian Taylor, Crime in
Context: A Critical Criminology of Market Societies
Barak G. - Source: Critical Criminology, Volume 10, Number 2, 2001, pp. 137-145(9)
The Rise of Critical Criminology - Gresham M. Sykes
The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), Vol. 65, No. 2 (Jun., 1974), pp.
206-213