Showing papers in "Theoretical Criminology in 2019"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the main themes of the governmentality literature, as developed by Michel Foucault and subsequent writers, and outline a series of related ideas about ''the social' as a realm of government; statistics and bio-power; actuarial forms of reasoning; and government-at-a-distance.
Abstract: The article traces the main themes of the `governmentality' literature, as developed by Michel Foucault and subsequent writers, and outlines a series of related ideas about `the social' as a realm of government; statistics and bio-power; actuarial forms of reasoning; and government-at-a-distance. It goes on to illustrate the criminological value of these ideas by means of an analysis of some of the governmental rationalities and technologies that are currently emerging in the field of crime control. These include `economic' forms of reasoning about crime and its control, the emergence of `the criminogenic situation' as a practicable object of government and the use of `technologies of the self' in penal settings. The final part of the article identifies some of the limitations and problems of the `governmentality' literature. It argues that studies of governmentality beg certain sociological questions; that the governmentality analytic is quite compatible with certain forms of sociological analysis; and t...
601 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the meanings of risk in criminal justice assessment continue to evolve, making it critical to understand how particular compositions of risk are mediated, resisted and reconfigured by experts and prac...
Abstract: Meanings of risk in criminal justice assessment continue to evolve, making it critical to understand how particular compositions of risk are mediated, resisted and re-configured by experts and prac...
71 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose the concept of inclusionary control, which reframes the effects of voluntary organizations' work as inclusionary and exclusionary, respectively, and shows that exclusionary effects sometimes have inclusionary aspects, and inclusionary effects are constrained by a controlling carceral net.
Abstract: Recent penal policy developments in many jurisdictions suggest an increasing role for voluntary organizations. Voluntary organizations have long worked alongside penal institutions, but the multifaceted ways their programmes affect (ex-)offenders remain insufficiently understood. This article addresses the implications of voluntary organizations’ work with (ex-)offenders, using original empirical data. It adds nuance to netwidening theory, reframing the effects of voluntary organizations’ work as inclusionary and exclusionary. Exclusionary effects sometimes have inclusionary aspects, and inclusionary effects are constrained by a controlling carceral net. We propose the novel concept of inclusionary control. This is not an alibi for punishment but enables rich analysis of the effects of voluntary organizations’ work, and raises possibilities for change in penal practice.
29 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how the like economy of Facebook can lead to the rapid circulation of survivor selfies to large audiences, and in doing so, generate what they term viral justice: the outcome of a victim's online justice-seeking post "going viral" and quickly being viewed and shared-on by thousands of social media users.
Abstract: What has been termed the survivor selfie is a recent and growing phenomenon whereby survivors of intimate partner violence or their close supporters upload graphic photos and accounts of their injuries and suffering to social media. In this article, we examine how the like economy of Facebook can lead to the rapid circulation of survivor selfies to large audiences, and in doing so, generate what we term viral justice: the outcome of a victim’s online justice-seeking post ‘going viral’ and quickly being viewed and shared-on by thousands of social media users. Through examining the trajectory and impact of one particular case—Ashlee Savins’s viral survivor selfie—we identify the technological preconditions of viral justice and three of its key dimensions: affective contagion; swarm sociality; and movement power. Through discussing the speed, sociality and contagion of viral justice, we critically consider some of its implications for online justice-seeking, and responding to intimate partner violence.
25 citations
TL;DR: In a contemporaneity of high mobility, porous borders, and harsher immigration laws, the great majority of illegalized migrants are not deported; they remain in the territory in a condition of lega...
Abstract: In a contemporaneity of high mobility, porous borders, and harsher immigration laws, the great majority of illegalized migrants are not deported; they remain in the territory in a condition of lega...
23 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines how it might be possible to make women's lives matter in contemporary criminological understandings of security, and considers the conceptual complexity of security and reflects on the criminology engagement with that complexity and the feminist contribution to it paying particular attention to current concerns with everyday security.
Abstract: This article examines how it might be possible to make women’s lives matter in contemporary criminological understandings of security. In doing so it considers the conceptual complexity of security, and reflects on the criminological engagement with that complexity and the feminist contribution to it paying particular attention to current concerns with everyday security. The article deploys the contemporary Australian policy agenda on family violence to illustrate the paradoxes to be found within these current pre-occupations. Drawing on feminist informed work that situates violence against women within the conceptual framework of everyday terrorism, it concludes by offering further consideration to the meaning of everyday security and the implications that this has for contemporary criminological concerns with security.
22 citations
TL;DR: In recent years, there has been a growing debate on how, and whether, during the past three decades, a neoliberal penal State, with close ties to the new economic order, has emerged in the United States.
Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing debate on how, and whether, during the past three decades, a neoliberal penal State, with close ties to the new economic order, has emerged in the United S...
21 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that theoretical and methodological deficiencies are evident in the Criminology of Place and associated literatures with respect to their underlying treatment of place, time and causation.
Abstract: This article evaluates developments in the ecological analysis of crime, which have found their most recent expression in a Criminology of Place. We argue that theoretical and methodological deficiencies are evident in the Criminology of Place and associated literatures with respect to their underlying treatment of place, time and causation. Big Data holds promise for helping address these shortfalls, but dangers also. The successful advance of the Criminology of Place requires elevating the why question to equal status with those of where and what in the analysis of crime. Ultimately, the paper positions the progress towards and prospects for a multi-scalar and time sensitive theoretical and empirical model of the Criminology of Place.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a critique of the dominant model of public safety practiced in the United States is presented, referred to as "carceral public safety", which is defined as "the criminal justice system is tasked with administering and maintaining public safety through the use of law enforcement, the courts, and prisons".
Abstract: In the United States, public safety is embraced as an unquestioned social good. Broadly speaking, the criminal justice system is tasked with administering and maintaining public safety through the use of law enforcement, the courts, and prisons. First, through a focus on racialized police violence, this article develops a critique of the dominant model of public safety practiced in the United States—identified herein as ‘carceral safety’. Second, through an analysis of findings from the (Re)imagining Public Safety Project (RPSP), this article seeks to sketch out an alternative model and practice of safety that does not rely on banishment, policing, or mass criminalization. In contradistinction to the forms of state protection exercised under the seemingly innocuous rhetoric of ‘public safety’, RPSP participants conceptualized what I am calling ‘insurgent safety’: locally determined, anti-capitalist practices and ethics for reducing, and responding to harm.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors challenge the common assumption that non-government organizations (NGOs) are "natural allies" to asylum seekers in transforming borders from below by examining theories of humanitaria.
Abstract: This article challenges the common assumption that non-government organizations (NGOs) are ‘natural allies’ to asylum seekers in transforming borders from below by examining theories of humanitaria...
18 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the political conditions that have enabled the development of restorative justice in England and Wales over the last 40 years were investigated, by applying a governmentality approach, and the results showed that the approach was successful.
Abstract: This article investigates the political conditions that have enabled the development of restorative justice, in England and Wales, over the last 40 years. By applying a governmentality approach, it...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make the case for the empirical study of the causative role of culture and ethnicity in offending and criminality, and suggest that racist subordination and structural exclusion may produce adaptive cultural practices which in turn contribute to negative outcomes such as crime.
Abstract: This article makes the case for the empirical study of the causative role of culture and ethnicity in offending and criminality. It advocates considering that racist subordination and structural exclusion may produce adaptive cultural practices which in turn contribute to negative outcomes such as crime. This article tentatively uses a case study of ‘doorstep fraud’, commonly associated with Gypsy/Traveller ‘rogue traders’ and ‘cowboy builders’ to engage with this idea. Drawing on conceptual and theoretical developments in anthropology, sociology and criminology, and using data from offender interviews with ‘doorstep fraudsters’, I examine the opportunities provided by nomadism and family self-employment for crime commission. The article speculates that Gypsy/Travellers’ cultures, structurally framed by economic insecurity, political marginalization and hostile social relations with sedentarist society are nonetheless dynamic rather than fixed, often sharing the aspirations and motivations of other ethno-...
TL;DR: The authors argue that the difficulties of reform stem, in part, from an ingrained "philosophy of necessity" that places punishment at the core of how to think about crime and social problems, and promotes a worldview that overvalues punishment's ability to provide safety, provoke change and ensure justice.
Abstract: Despite some encouraging reforms and a new optimism in criminal justice, problematic punishment persists in the USA. In this article, I argue that the difficulties of reform stem, in part, from an ingrained ‘philosophy of necessity’ that places punishment at the core of how to think about crime and social problems, and promotes a worldview that overvalues punishment’s ability to provide safety, provoke change and ensure justice. The philosophy of necessity grants punishment the ‘benefit of the doubt’, even when such confidence is unwarranted, and fosters reliance on punitive norms that encourage excess and abuse. A series of features work together to encourage the philosophy of necessity in the USA: blindness to the history of using punishment to ensure economic and social security for the privileged, ongoing policies that breed high levels of violence, and cultural endorsement of punitive logic as a substitution for social security and substantive justice.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose some hypotheses about constraints on private security growth in other settings, based on three comparative case studies in authoritarian states (Russia and Georgia), developing countries (Guyana and Trinidad) and non-Anglosphere’ industrialized democracies (continental Europe).
Abstract: While much has been written on private security expansion in a few English-speaking industrialized democracies, less is known about why the industry does not develop uniformly around the world. We propose some hypotheses about constraints on private security growth in other settings, based on three comparative case studies in authoritarian states (Russia and Georgia), developing countries (Guyana and Trinidad) and non-‘Anglosphere’ industrialized democracies (continental Europe). In authoritarian states, private policing is more politically sensitive than in democratic states, sometimes resulting in more draconian restrictions on it. In developing societies, despite widespread fear of crime, potential consumers sometimes favour in-house measures over private security firms and electronic devices. In developed democracies, variation in private security growth reflects regulatory, institutional and ideological differences between the Anglosphere and continental Europe. We conclude that constraints on the pr...
TL;DR: Despite the global and pervasive reality of human mobility, many western nations are framing migration as a security risk requiring a criminal justice response as discussed by the authors, drawing on developments in the crimi...
Abstract: Despite the global and pervasive reality of human mobility, many western nations are framing migration as a security risk requiring a criminal justice response. Drawing on developments in the crimi...
TL;DR: In this article, Mezzadra and Neilson extended the theoretical concept of differential inclusion via an empirical examination of the experiences of unlawful migrant workers, which was developed in 2013 and developed in the context of criminal justice reform.
Abstract: In this article, I extend the theoretical concept of differential inclusion, as developed in 2013 by Mezzadra and Neilson, via an empirical examination of the experiences of unlawful migrant worker...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present new research that extends our understanding of the "structurally embedded border" by identifying acts of resistance to restrictive federal policies perpetrated by the United States government.
Abstract: In this article, I present new research that extends our understanding of the ‘structurally embedded border’ by identifying acts of resistance to restrictive federal policies perpetrated by provide...
TL;DR: The first season of the HBO series True Detective has drawn attention to Eugene Thacker's horror of philosophy trilogy and his tripartite mode of thinking of the world and the subject's relation to...
Abstract: The first season of the HBO series True Detective has drawn attention to Eugene Thacker’s horror of philosophy trilogy and his tripartite mode of thinking of the world and the subject’s relation to...
TL;DR: Based on a case study of border struggles within the city of Barcelona since the beginning of the 21st century, the authors examines diverse types of border activism and discusses the role of women in border struggles.
Abstract: Based on a case study of border struggles within the city of Barcelona since the beginning of the 21st century, this article examines diverse types of border activism. Border activism refers to col...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used sanctions for scientific misconduct as an exemplar case for the symbolism of punishment, using a case not traditionally an object for criminology, by looking at a case that was considered a case of scientific misconduct.
Abstract: The present article is concerned with the symbolism of punishment, using sanctions for scientific misconduct as an exemplary case. By looking at a case not traditionally an object for criminology, ...
TL;DR: Neoliberal economics play a significant role in US social organization, imposing market logics on public services and driving the cultural valorization of free market ideology as discussed by the authors. But their economic models have been criticised for being ineffective and ineffective.
Abstract: Neoliberal economics play a significant role in US social organization, imposing market logics on public services and driving the cultural valorization of free market ideology. The neoliberal ‘proj...
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of actuarial risk assessment have been investigated in socio-legal and criminological research, and the results have shown that these strands have rar...
Abstract: Considerable socio-legal scholarship demonstrates law’s constitutive power, and much criminological research has considered the effects of actuarial risk assessment. However, these strands have rar...
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of smartphones and social media in constructing social memory and consciousness of border communities is analyzed, and the authors analyze the role that smartphones play in constructing the social memory (and consciousness) of borders.
Abstract: Technology challenges social, economic and political borders. This article analyses the role smartphones and social media play in constructing social memory (and consciousness) of bordering practic...
TL;DR: This paper examined the entrenchment of punitive dispositions in the context of appeals for alternative practices, by tracing the contours of punitive norms within a non-criminal justice context, capturing the mechanisms through which penal logics infuse into society and extend beyond criminal justice systems.
Abstract: Reflecting the punitive turn in criminal justice, schools have adopted a crime control orientation when responding to student misconduct. Termed the ‘criminalization of school discipline’, this trend has diminished student and school outcomes while also establishing a school-to-prison pipeline. Consequently, there has been mounting pressure to reform punitive and disproportionate practices. While research has evaluated the impact of remedial programs, little work explores how punitive logics continue to structure disciplinary responses. Drawing from ethnographic and interview data, this study examines the entrenchment of punitive dispositions in the context of appeals for alternative practices. By tracing the contours of punitive norms within a non-criminal justice context, this study captures the mechanisms through which penal logics infuse into society and extend beyond criminal justice systems.
TL;DR: For instance, this paper pointed out that the death of Black individuals at the hands of the US legal system is interpreted in relation to the social science research on implicit bias, which has flourished in the past decade.
Abstract: Increasingly, the death of Black individuals at the hands of the US legal system is interpreted in relation to the social science research on implicit bias. Having flourished in the past decade, th...
TL;DR: In this paper, private companies are increasingly involved with the security concerns of victims of domestic violence, and this involvement manifests in a number of forms including the proliferation of technology and the...
Abstract: Private companies are increasingly involved with the security concerns of victims of domestic violence. This involvement manifests in a number of forms including the proliferation of technology and...