Ch 9 - Understanding Critical Criminology Flashcards
Punitive Turn
The move from criminal justice policies + programs aimed at rehabilitating offenders toward those that simply offer punishment for its own sake. This shift occurred despite declining crime rates + evidence that punishment is not always effective.
Critical Criminology
A school of thought with multiple subfields, but largely concerned with social justice + inequity, promoting active opposition to the status quo, + favouring larger scale societal transformations rather than minor policy changes.
Marxism
A school of thought developed by Karl Marx arguing that society must be understood in terms of social conflict, class relations, + the inequalities caused by capitalism. Marxists promote revolution by the working class.
Conflict Theories
Focus on unequal distribution of power in society (race, gender, class). Conflicts b/w classes/groups are driven to a large extent by this unequal power + unequal access to resources.
Interactionist Perspective
A theoretical approach that focuses on relatively small scale social interactions among individuals/ small social groups, as well as the conscious acts of individuals + their interpretation of others’ behaviour.
Moral Panic
Phenomena, socially constructed by the media, politicians, moral entrepreneurs, in which certain people/groups are labelled or stigmatized as the cause of a perceived social problem, resulting in widespread public alarm.
Patriarchy
An elitist form of social structure, in which men dominate politics, economics, + other aspects of society, + perpetuate that domination by limiting opportunities for women to exercise power.
Critical Race Theory
A theory that examines the ways in which race + racial power are constructed by law + society, + that sees the law + criminal justice system not as solutions but as part of the problem.
Post-Colonial Theory
The wide-ranging academic study of the social, political, + cultural legacy of colonial rule + its effects on individual + group identities + social power relations. Also examines the domination of other cultures through a discourse of “otherness”
Systematic Racism
The belief that racism does not occur only in isolated instances, but is entrenched in + perpetuated by our criminal justice system + other institutions.
Racial Profiling
The act/tendency of law enforcement officers + others to consider people suspicious or more likely to commit crime b/c of the colour of their skin/ their ethnicity.
Post-Structuralism
A theoretical perspective concerned w/ how power operates b/w + among individuals, groups, + social institutions. Look for differences in power in areas such as language use + social practices.
Discourses
Refers to forms of language, representation, + practices + how meaning is created + shared. Take place w/in specific cultural + historical contexts.
Foucauldian
Relating to the works of influential French thinker Michel Foucault.
Social Justice
Movement promoting the need for equality, tolerance, + fairness for all members of society, particularly w/ regard to different classes + the less privileged
