Anarchist criminology
Criminology and penology |
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Anarchism |
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Anarchist criminology is a school of thought in
Background and precursors
The roots of anarchist criminology lie in the critiques of law and legality formulated by
Jeff Shantz and Dana M. Williams argue that "grappling with an anarchist criminology means engaging more directly and more fully with the history of anarchist writings on crime and social order",
The anarchist criminologist Jeff Ferrell also identifies the
Overview
Causes of crime
Anarchist criminologists hold that crime is caused by structures of oppression and domination.[7] Accordingly, their priority is often to critique these structures, with the goal of replacing them, rather than to develop detailed analyses of how they cause crime.[7]
Anarchist criminologists have theorised the law as a "state
Anarchist criminologists also emphasise the "definitional" role of criminal justice systems, through which such systems are empowered to define certain behaviours as criminal, and argue that many acts considered criminal are only deemed so because they are associated with less powerful social groups or with efforts to dislodge existing power structures.[18]
Ferrell argues that anarchist criminology is a critique of the way that human relationships become submerged in, and immobilised by, structures of legal authority.[6][19] Anarchist criminology contends that law solidifies and reproduces existing structures of power, thereby placing limitations on possible social relations and exacerbating crime and violence.[4]
Approach to the discipline
Anarchist criminology argues that the state is not politically neutral, and that criminology cannot be neutral either. Within this framework, anarchist criminologists argue that while much criminology takes the side of the powerful, other traditions in criminology side with the oppressed and exploited.[20]
Anarchist criminologists argue that state law and
Ferrell describes anarchist criminology as invested in a process of demystification through which the
Ferrell argues that instead of adhering to a single masterplan, anarchist criminology is characterised by a "spirit of eclectic inclusivity" and an embrace of "fluid communities of uncertainty and critique."[27] He also proposes that anarchist criminological orientations "can serve not as some rigid corrective, nor competing paradigm, but as analytic sparks within an already lively alternative criminology."[16] Ferrell argues that anarchist criminology does not purport "to incorporate reasoned or reasonable critiques of law and legal authority," but rather argues that social change requires "unreasonable" approaches.[28]
Practical implications
Anarchist criminologists propose the replacement of existing legal systems with
Many anarchist criminologists endorse
Larry Tifft and Dennis Sullivan argue that advocates of anarchist criminology "are interested not only in pointing to those persons, groups, organizations, and nation-states that deny people their needs in everyday life but also in fostering social arrangements that alleviate pain and suffering by providing for everyone's needs."[34] Tifft and Sullivan argue that "an anarchist needs-based criminology should transcend criminology",[35] resulting in "changes in our daily lives: interacting with your intimate partner differently, living with your children differently; collaborating with coworkers differently; helping children develop their talents differently; making collective investment decisions differently; and making self-development decisions differently."[36]
Relation to other schools of criminological thought
The core principles of anarchist criminology are linked to those of
Anarchist criminology shares with
In his case study of
Ferrell also writes:
Anarchist criminology certainly incorporates the sort of "visceral revolt" that characterizes anarchism itself, the passionate sense of "fuck authority," to quote the old anarchist slogan, the comes from being shoved around by police officers, judges, bosses, priests, and other authorities one time too many. Moreover, anarchists would agree with many
feminist and postmodernist theorists that such visceral passions matter as methods of understanding and resistance outside the usual confines of rationality and respect. But anarchist criminology also incorporates a relatively complex critique of state law and legality which begins to explain why we might benefit from defying authority, or standing "against the law."[47]
Anarchist criminologists
Prominent anarchist criminologists since the 1970s have included
Evaluation
Eugene McLaughlin argues that anarchist criminology furnishes criminologists with "an uncompromising critique of law, power and the state; the promise of un-coercive social relationships; the possibility of alternative forms of dispute settlement and
although its application to the study of lawlessness remains limited to a handful of works, anarchist criminology offers the field a valuable framework for deconstructing the state, its authority, and its machinery of repressive social control, as well as the resistance it evokes .... Anarchist criminology has the potential to further advance critical penology by offering a fluid approach to law and justice, inviting scholars to incorporate an array of sociological concepts into their analyses of the state, the criminal justice system, and the corrections apparatus.[50]
Stanislav Vysotsky argues that anarchist criminology's emphasis on restorative justice, as a set of methods applied after crimes or violations of norms have occurred, has resulted in it lacking accounts of how to prevent crime, and that
Notes
- ^ a b McLaughlin 2013, p. 8.
- ^ Ferrell 1994, pp. 161–2.
- ^ Ferrell 1996, p. 160.
- ^ a b Ferrell 2010, p. 42.
- ^ Ferrell 1996, pp. 161–2.
- ^ a b Ferrell 1994, p. 162.
- ^ a b c Lanier & Henry 2010, p. 371.
- ^ Ferrell 2018, pp. 12–13.
- ^ a b c d Nocella 2015, p. 44.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ferrell 2010, p. 43.
- ^ a b c d e f McLaughlin 2013, p. 9.
- ^ Shantz & Williams 2013, p. 73.
- ^ Shantz & Williams 2013, p. 70.
- ^ Shantz & Williams 2013, pp. 71–2.
- ^ Shantz & Williams 2013, pp. 94–5.
- ^ a b c Ferrell 1994, p. 161.
- ^ Ferrell 2010, pp. 43–4.
- ^ a b c Ferrell 2010, p. 44.
- ^ a b Ferrell 1996, p. 187.
- ^ Nocella, Seis & Shantz 2018, p. 2.
- ^ Ferrell 2018, p. 17.
- ^ Ferrell 2018, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Ferrell 1996, pp. 196–7.
- ^ Ferrell 1996, pp. 189–90.
- ^ Ferrell 1994, p. 165.
- ^ Ferrell 1996, p. 191. See also Ferrell (1994, pp. 165–6).
- ^ Ferrell 2018, p. 18.
- ^ Ferrell 2018, p. 11.
- ^ a b c Lanier & Henry 2010, p. 372.
- ^ Ferrell 1994, pp. 162–3.
- ^ Nocella, Seis & Shantz 2018, p. 3.
- ^ Ferrell 2010, p. 45.
- ^ Ferrell 1996, p. 192.
- ^ Tifft & Sullivan 2018, p. 259.
- ^ Tifft & Sullivan 2018, p. 268.
- ^ a b Tifft & Sullivan 2018, p. 267.
- ^ Lanier & Henry 2010, p. 371, 376.
- ^ Ferrell 2010, p. 46.
- ^ Henry & Lukas 2009, pp. xxxiv–xxxv.
- ^ Ferrell 2010, pp. 45–6.
- ^ Ferrell 1996, p. 191.
- ^ a b Ugwudike 2015, p. 94.
- ^ Ferrell 2018, p. 15.
- ^ Ferrell 1996, p. 188.
- ^ Ferrell 1994, p. 163.
- ^ a b Ferrell 1996, p. 189. See also Ferrell (1994, pp. 164–5)
- ^ Ferrell 2018, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Ferrell 2018, pp. 13–14. For further discussion of DiCristina see Ferrell (1995).
- ^ a b c d Ferrell 2018, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Welch 2005, p. 31.
- ^ Vysotsky 2015, p. 235–6.
- ^ Vysotsky 2015, p. 249.
- ^ Lanier & Henry 2010, p. 380.
References
- Ferrell, Jeff (1994). "Confronting the Agenda of Authority: Critical Criminology, Anarchism, and Urban Graffiti". In Barak, Gregg (ed.). Varieties of Criminology: Readings from a Dynamic Discipline. Praeger Publishing. pp. 161–178.
- Ferrell, Jeff (1995). "Anarchy Against the Discipline". Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. 3 (4): 86–91. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019.
- Ferrell, Jeff (1996). Crimes of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality. Northeastern University Press.
- Ferrell, Jeff (2010). "Anarchist Criminology". In ISBN 9781412959186.
- Ferrell, Jeff (2018). "Against the Law: Anarchist Criminology". In Nocella, Anthony J. II; Seis, Mark; Shantz, Jeff (eds.). Contemporary Anarchist Criminology: Against Authoritarianism and Punishment. Peter Lang. pp. 11–21.
- Henry, Stuart; Lukas, Scott (2009). "Introduction". In Stuart, Henry; Lukas, Scott (eds.). Recent Developments in Criminological Theory: Toward Disciplinary Diversity and Theoretical Integration. Ashgate Publishing. pp. xiii–xxviii.
- Lanier, Mark M.; Henry, Stuart (2010). Essential Criminology (3rd ed.). Westview Press.
- McLaughlin, Eugene (2013). "Anarchist Criminology". In McLaughlin, Eugene; Muncie, John (eds.). The SAGE Dictionary of Criminology (3rd ed.). ISBN 9781446271766.
- Nocella, Anthony J. II (2015). "Anarchist Criminology Against Racism and Ableism and for Animal Liberation". In Nocella, Anthony J. II; White, Richard J.; Cudworth, Erika (eds.). Anarchism and Animal Liberation: Essays on Complementary Elements of Total Liberation. McFarland & Company. pp. 40–58.
- Nocella, Anthony J. II; Seis, Mark; Shantz, Jeff (2018). "Introduction: The Rise of Anarchist Criminology". In Nocella, Anthony J. II; Seis, Mark; Shantz, Jeff (eds.). Contemporary Anarchist Criminology: Against Authoritarianism and Punishment. Peter Lang. pp. 1–8.
- Shantz, Jeff; Williams, Dana M. (2013). Anarchy and Society: Reflections on Anarchist Sociology. Brill Publishers.
- Tifft, Larry; Sullivan, Dennis (2018) [2006]. "Needs-Based Anarchist Criminology". In Henry, Stuart; Lanier, Mark M. (eds.). The Essential Criminology Reader. Routledge. pp. 259–277.
- Ugwudike, Pamela (2015). An Introduction to Critical Criminology. Policy Press.
- Vysotsky, Stanislav (2015). "The Anarchy Police: Militant Anti-Fascism as Alternative Policing Practice". S2CID 144331678.
- Welch, Michael (2005). Ironies of Imprisonment. SAGE Publishing.
Further reading
- Seis, Mark; Nocella, Anthony J. II; Shantz, Jeff (2020). "Introduction: The Origins and Importance of Classic Anarchist Criminology". In Nocella, Anthony J. II; Seis, Mark; Shantz, Jeff (eds.). Classic Writings in Anarchist Criminology: A Historical Dismantling of Punishment and Domination. AK Press. pp. 5–17.
- Seis, Mark; Vysotsky, Stanislav (2021). "Anarchist Criminology: On the State Bias in Criminology". Journal of Extreme Anthropology. 5 (1): 143–159. doi:10.5617/jea.8949.
External links
- Criminology reading list, Anarchist Studies Network