Critical Criminology

Pill Heads: Governance, Normalization & Risk in Prescription Drug Use

by Kev Dertadian

A copy of the conference proceedings is attached. The paper starts on page 61.

This paper will critically engage the discourses currently informing non-medical use and abuse of, and ‘addiction’ to... more This paper will critically engage the discourses currently informing non-medical use and abuse of, and ‘addiction’ to prescription drugs. As part of the analysis of non-medical prescription drug use the article draws from journalist and prescription painkiller addict Joshua Lyon’s successful 2008 autobiographical book, Pill Head. In particular, it will focus on the growing cultural assumption that an ever-increasing number of afflictions are pharmacologically treatable. This assumption sits behind the general normalization of taking pills, in opposition to the deep stigmatization of chemically similar illegal substances. However, there is new concern about this collective practice of non-prescribed pill-taking. This is a practice which has paradoxically been in part fostered by the pharmaceutical industry and the professional interests that it now appears to threaten. Furthermore, mental illness and addiction discourse ignores the individual agency of those who choose to take medications outside of conventional medical treatment. The paper discusses aspects of user risk-taking and the apparent clash between the practice of chosen pill taking and the deterministic official construction of the non-medical drug using subject.

"L'incertitude comme menace"

by Claude-Olivier Doron

Draft to be published in Deprins, D. (ed.), Parier sur l'incertitude, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2012

Through an analysis focusing on penal policies and how they deal with "uncertainty", this article wants to... more Through an analysis focusing on penal policies and how they deal with "uncertainty", this article wants to distinguish between different ways of perceiving and governing uncertainty, what we call different "rationalities" dealing with uncertainty.

Frederick, B. J. (2012). The marginalization of critical perspectives in public criminal justice core curricula. [in press at Western Criminology Review]

by Brian Jay Frederick

First presented at the Western Society of Criminology in Vancouver, B.C., February 2011

Although critical perspective courses in criminal justice programs have grown considerably since the 1960s, the... more Although critical perspective courses in criminal justice programs have grown considerably since the 1960s, the failure of contemporary public criminal justice programs to require critical perspectives in their undergraduate core curricula threatens to leave students without a framework for discussion of these issues within the greater context of their degree programs. Students must thus look to the other social sciences to further their knowledge in these areas, thereby perpetuating the neglect of criminal justice departments to present these views. Within most academic criminal justice programs, preference is given to the administrative facets of the criminal justice system and the theories and methods of social scientific research; for this reason, even general discussions of critical topics are limited. Furthermore, because many elective courses
also focus on various aspects of the administration of justice, critical perspectives are conspicuously absent overall. This paper reveals the extent to which core, cognate, and other required critical perspective courses are marginalized within public criminal justice programs, and how, on average, private institutions require more of these courses.

Prostituzione e contrasto: auto-etnografia di un incidente giudiziario

by Pietro Saitta

Pietro Saitta (2011) Prostituzione e contrasto: auto-etnografia di un incidente giudiziario, "Mondi Migranti", 3, pp. 121-154.

La presente autoetnografia prende le mosse dal fermo, attuato dalla polizia, di un ricercatore impegnato nello studio... more La presente autoetnografia prende le mosse dal fermo, attuato dalla polizia, di un ricercatore impegnato nello studio della prostituzione femminile di strada. L’evento si traduce in un pretesto per riflettere sulla natura delle politiche di contrasto al sesso commerciale e sull’affermazione in Italia di una nuova etica penale fondata sulla prevenzione e sul conferimento di nuovi poteri alle forze di polizia. Inoltre, in questa cornice discorso mediatico e attivismo poliziesco si fondono dando luogo ad una letale combinazione che configura scenari autoritari nel governo della sicurezza.

Movilidad bajo sospecha. El conveniente vínculo entre inmigración y criminalidad en las políticas migratorias de la Unión Europea

by Cristina Fernández-Bessa

Los efectos de la cultura de emergencia en la criminalización de los inmigrantes

by Cristina Fernández-Bessa

Book review: Racial Criminalization of Migrants in the 21st Century (edited by Salvatore Palidda) Ashgate 2010

by Giovanni Picker

Critical Sociology, vol. 38 no. 2, 333-335, 2012

Teaching Theory Analogically: Using Music To Explain Criminological Theory

by Matt Hinds-Aldrich

PLEASE NOTE: This is only the first page of the article, for the full text please see the journal or contact me directly (mhinds-aldrich*at*annamaria*dot*edu) as I am happy to send you a full text copy. Here is the journal link: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511253.2012.665934

There have been a number of articles recently advocating the use of nontraditional mediums to teach criminological... more There have been a number of articles recently advocating the use of nontraditional mediums to teach criminological theory. Many of these articles have advocated using music and/or music lyrics to illustrate and enliven the various theories taught in introductory theory courses. Despite the growing attention paid to teaching criminological theory, few, if any, discuss how to help students understand the more fundamental ontological question—what is “theory.” This article proposes an alternative pedagogical approach that draws upon students’ understanding of musical genres analogically to explain: (1) the historical development of the various theoretical approaches, (2) the historical, cultural and theoretical antecedents of the various approaches, and (3) how to identify the theoretical orientation(s) and influences in an unfamiliar text. Ultimately, this approach is intended to counter the overly compartmentalized and linear understanding of theory unintentionally brought on by the dynamics of teaching schedules, generic “theory” textbooks, computerized presentation software and testing methods.

Dragiewicz, M. (2012). Antifeminist backlash and critical criminology. In W.S. DeKeseredy & M. Dragiewicz (Eds.) Routledge handbook of critical criminology (pp. 280-289). London: Routledge.

by Molly Dragiewicz

Autoritarismo e costruzione di personalità fasciste nelle forze armate italiane: un’autoetnografia

by Pietro Saitta

Charlie Barnao & Pietro Saitta (2012) Autoritarismo e costruzione di personalità fasciste nelle forze armate italiane: un’autoetnografia, "I quaderni del Cirsdig", n. 50, Messina: Cirsdig.

The present article focuses on the learning of aggression in a “total institution” within the Italian army – namely,... more The present article focuses on the learning of aggression in a “total institution” within the Italian army – namely, an elite corpse of paratroopers called Folgore. The extremely violent training and rituals of this group can be seen as both symbolic and particularly representative of the ideal model pursued within the army, and the armed forces in general. The central hypothesis of the work is that the learning of aggression within the military institution is wanted and controlled, being necessary and functional for the purposes of the military institution itself. Based on an autobiographic ethnography, main rituals and practices in the everyday life of the squad are described and analyzed by making conceptual references to the notions of rites of passage, rites of institution, and the psychological behaviourist learning model. Moreover, the authors argue that Italy is witnessing the transmission of practices and ideologies from the military to the police – thus producing a blend which makes the custom between war and peace ever more blurred.


Il presente articolo indaga le modalità di apprendimento della violenza all’interno di una “istituzione totale” e di un corpo d’elite dell’esercito italiano: la Folgore. L’addestramento e i riti estremamente violenti di questo gruppo possono essere considerati simbolici, oltre che particolarmente rappresentativi, di un modello ideale perseguito dall’esercito e dalle forze armate in genere. L’ipotesi centrale presentato nel lavoro è quella per cui l’apprendimento dell’aggressione dentro le forze armate è voluta e controllata, essendo funzionale ai fini di queste
stesse istituzioni. Attraverso un’etnografia autobiografica e il riferimento alle nozioni di rito di passaggio, rito di istituzione e, infine, al modello comportamentista di apprendimento, vengono descritti e analizzati i principali riti e le pratiche quotidiane di un reparto di paracadutisti. Gliautori sostengono inoltre che in Italia si stia assistendo alla trasmissione di pratiche e ideologie dall’esercito alla polizia, producendo una commistione che rende il confine tra guerra e pace sempre più confuso.

Critical Realist Criminology

by Jon Frauley

in Criminology: Critical Canadian Perspectives, Kirsten Kramar (ed.), Toronto, Pearson, 2011, 145-158

Heterodox Criminology: Rethinking Methodology and Criminological Knowledge Production

by Jon Frauley

in Criminology: Challenges for the 21st Century, W. Ventura (ed.), New York, Nova Science, 2008, Pp 1-25

Representing Theory and Theorising in Criminal Justice Studies: Practising Theory Considered

by Jon Frauley

Critical Criminology: An International Journal, 13(3), 2005, 245-265

The author considers the role and place of theory in criminal justice studies. The argument is that the operation and... more The author considers the role and place of theory in criminal justice studies. The argument is that the operation and interrogation of fundamental categories is integral to social scientific enquiry and if criminal justice studies is to resist a technocratic “protective service” orientation it must promote theorising and thinking conceptually via the texts which represent the discipline to undergraduates. Although theory is situated at the core of social science curricula, there is little or no agreement on its role or place in research and pedagogy. The dominant understanding of theory within criminal justice studies (including its sociological and criminological incarnation) is that it is something to be referred to. What is seldom emphasised in theory or methods texts is the practice of theorising. Texts that are designed to be the student’s first contact with the field of criminal justice studies, and which reflect broader attitudes toward social enquiry, seldom consider the methodological and pedagogical issues related to the production and role of analytic concepts and do not present social science as an imaginative or reflexive practice. Drawing on critical realist metatheory, this paper advances a distinction between social and sociological problems and social science and protective service toward illustrating that a social science approach to the study of criminal justice demands the operation and interrogation of analytic categories and explicit consideration of issues of epistemology and ontology. Works which seek to avoid this serve only to foster a passive rather than active engagement with their subject matter.

The Promise of Critical Realism: Toward a Post-Empiricist Criminology

by Jon Frauley

with George Rigakos. In Aaron Doyle and Dawne Moore (eds), Critical Criminology in Canada: New Voices, New Directions (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2011)

The Fictional Reality and Criminology: An Ontology of Theory and Exemplary Pedagogical Practice

by Jon Frauley

Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 21(3), March 2010, 437-459

A history of ideas model characterises the dominant pedagogical approach to criminological theory. This model,... more A history of ideas model characterises the dominant pedagogical approach to criminological theory. This model, however, is hampered by implicit assumptions about the ontological status of theories and concepts. These ontological assumptions operate as epistemological obstacles to both: (1) the stimulating of what is argued to be a craft-practice in theoretical analysis and; (2) the reproducing of a broadly theoretically informed and reflexive criminology. This article advances a craft-enterprise model for understanding theorising and the ontological status of sociological and criminological concepts. It exploits the space carved out by recent criminological interest in film and literature to explore how we might craft an exemplary pedagogical practice which utilises the fictional reality as a pedagogical tool. This model and practice are envisioned as contributions toward strengthening the social scientific and disciplinary status of both criminal justice studies and criminology.

The Pathological Approach to Crime: Individually Based Theories

by Heidi Rimke

in Kirsten Kramar (Editor) Criminology: Critical Canadian Perspectives. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada, 78-92, 2011.

Beheading Aboard a Greyhound Bus: Security Politics, Bloodlust Justice, and the Mass Consumption of Criminalized Cannibalism

by Heidi Rimke

The Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research, 1, Fall, 172-192, 2010.

Thinking (and Moving) Beyond Walls and Cages: Bridging Immigrant Justice and Anti-Prison Organizing in the United States

by Jenna Loyd

co-authored with Andrew Burridge and Matt Mitchelson. Social Justice, 2009-2010. 36(2).

Walls and cages—the shorthand we use for US migration policy and penal (AKA “criminal justice”) policy—facilitate... more Walls and cages—the shorthand we use for US migration policy and penal (AKA “criminal justice”) policy—facilitate contemporary processes of racialized dispossession and capitalist restructuring (AKA “globalization”). This makes understanding how these differentiations work so consequential for people’s lives and organizing possibilities. From the Left Forum to the US Social Forum, Critical Resistance 10, and more informal settings across the United States, people are engaging in inter-ethnic and inter-national conversations about the convergence between walls and cages. These conversations link different groups of folks who aim to break the ideological divisions that isolate struggles against prisons (and all forms of state violence) from struggles for immigrant and economic justice. We view our individual and collective work as part of this important dialogue and political project of bridging prison abolition and immigrant justice movements.

La Gran Marcha: anti-racism and immigrants rights in Southern California

by Jenna Loyd

co-authored with Andrew Burridge. ACME. 2007 6(1): 1-35.

Millions of people across the United States took to the streets in spring 2006 to protest repressive immigration... more Millions of people across the United States took to the streets in spring 2006 to protest repressive immigration legislation, demand just immigration reform, and seek justice in daily life. This article has two aims. First, we seek to intervene in the popular immigration debate, which denies racism and claims to be concerned only with law-and-order. Second, we analyze (im)migration politics in relation to national racial formations. That is, racialized immigration policies do not exist apart from a racially stratified citizenry. We rely on the concept of social death to trace state policies of immigration and criminalization as key sites in interracial and transnational struggles against racism and for justice and liberation. Thus, we seek to elucidate possibilities for anti-racist alliances and social change. We conclude with a discussion of the ways in which we see the immigrants rights movement connecting with other struggles for social justice, and the implications that concepts of national racial formation and social death have for the movement against global apartheid.

Policing protest spaces: Social control in the anti-globalization movement

by Luis Fernandez