Welcome to the Division on Critical Criminology & Social Justice (DCCSJ), part of the American Society of Criminology.

The DCCSJ fosters research and theory development in the field of critical criminology, provides a forum for members of the ASC to discuss ideas and to exchange information, organizes sessions at the annual conference of the ASC, and encourages appropriate and effective teaching techniques and practices and to stimulate the development of curricula related to courses on critical criminology.

The ASC Division on Critical Criminology & Social Justice (DCCSJ) invites nominations for this year’s awards (2024). This year, the DCCSJ will sponsor eight (8) awards:

1. The Lifetime Achievement Award honors an individual’s sustained and distinguished scholarship, teaching, and/or service in the field of critical criminology.

   Nomination process: Typically, someone – or a group of people – submit a letter, along with the CV of the nominee. Multiple letters of support are encouraged but not required. Submit Nomination Materials due by August 1 to Committee Chair David Brotherton dbrotherton@jjay.cuny.edu

2. The Critical Criminologist of the Year Award honors an early-to-mid-career individual’s distinguished accomplishments that have symbolized the spirit of the DCC in some form of scholarship, teaching, and/or service in recent years.

   Nomination process: Typically, someone – or a group of people – submit a letter, along with the CV of the nominee. Multiple letters of support are encouraged but not required. Nomination Materials due by August 1 to Committee Chair  Miltonette Craig moc006@shsu.edu

3. The DCC Praxis Award recognizes an individual whose professional accomplishments have increased the quality of justice for groups that have experienced class, ethnic, gender, racial and sexual disparities in policing and punishment. The DCC Praxis Award honors unique achievements in activism, commitment, persuasion, scholarship, service and teaching in areas that have made a significant impact on the quality of justice for underserved, underrepresented, and otherwise marginalized populations.

   Nomination process: Typically, someone – or a group of people – submit a letter, along with the CV of the nominee. Multiple letters of support are encouraged but not required. Nomination Materials due by August 1 to Chair Favian Martin martinf@arcadia.edu

    

4. The Graduate Student Paper Award is intended to recognize the work of early career researchers by honoring papers of outstanding theoretical or empirical critical criminological scholarship. Most importantly, papers must make a scholarly contribution to the broad arena of Critical Criminology. The key is that the paper must have been written by someone when he/she was a graduate student and that he/she must not have already published the piece nor is the piece under consideration with a journal. Papers also must have been written within the last two years. The papers can be sole or co-authored however the graduate/undergraduate student must be first author. In order to further the careers of critical student scholars, the DCC Awards Committee may, in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief, invite student paper awards winners to publish their papers in Critical Criminology: An International Journal.

   Nomination process: Nominations for the student paper awards must be submitted electronically and include the student’s unpublished paper.  Nomination materials are due by August 1 to Randy Myers at rrmyers@uw.edu

5. The Undergraduate Student Paper Award recognizes and honors outstanding theoretical or empirical critical criminological scholarship by an undergraduate student. The key is that the paper must have been written by someone when he/she was an undergraduate student and that he/she must not have already published the piece nor is the piece under consideration with a journal. Papers also must have been written within the last two years. The papers can be sole or co-authored however the graduate/undergraduate student must be first author.

   Nomination process: Nominations for the student paper awards must be submitted electronically and include the student’s unpublished paper. Typically, someone– a faculty member or advisor– submits a letter of support/recommendation, along with the undergraduate paper submitted for the award. Nomination materials are due by August 1 to Chair Christopher Brewer cgbrewe@ilstu.edu

6. The Teaching Award recognizes contributions that have made a significant impact on the teaching of critical criminology at the local, state, regional, national, or international level.These contributions may include a) exemplary classroom teaching and/or student engagement activities, b) leadership and innovation in teaching developments such as the preparation of teaching and curriculum-related materials and publications, c) contributions to the scholarship on teaching and learning, d) contributions to the enhancement of teaching within state, regional or national associations.

   Nomination process: Typically, someone – or a group of people – submit a nomination letter, along with the CV of the nominee. Multiple letters of support are encouraged but not required. Nomination Materials due by May 15 to Chair Kevin Revier at revierk@arcadia.edu

7. The Jock Young Criminological Imagination Book Award is intended to recognize and publicize a recent book published within the last 2 years (see below) that best serves to further the goals of the DCCSJ by providing an outstanding example of an effort to highlight relevant research, topics, frameworks, theories, etc. The book can be sole or co-authored, edited or co-edited. The author of the book must be a member of the division at the time of the nomination.

   Nomination process: Nominees should initially contact the chair of the committee, Travis Linneman twl@ksu.edu by April 14, 2024.  The chair will provide the mailing addresses of the committee members. The nominees will then make arrangements with the respective publishers to mail out each book to each committee member. The nomination must include a narrative statement that specifies the contribution the book makes to the goals of the DCCSJ.  Nominations from publishers alone will not be considered. All books and narrative statements must be delivered to the committee members no later than MAY 14,  2024. 

8. The Journal Article Award will be given annually for the best peer-reviewed article, published in Critical Criminology in the previous year, that, in the opinion of the award committee, makes an outstanding original contribution to knowledge.

   Nomination process: Articles published in Critical Criminology will be considered.

In prior years, the DCC has also provided other awards.

Nominations and submissions for all awards are due to the respective chairs of the committees on or before the dates listed above.  Please note the book award has two deadlines, April 14 is the initial contact with the chair, all books must be delivered by  MAY 14, 2023.  

Other Matters

1. Articles and books can be sole or multiple-authored.
2. Membership in the Division on Critical Criminology & Social Justice is required to be either a nominee or an award recipient.
3. In order to be considered for best scholarly article the publication must not be published on-line or in print before 2022.
4. The DCC Awards Committee reserves the right to give no award in a particular year if it deems this appropriate.

The Division of Critical Criminology and Social Justice condemns the abhorrent state-sanctioned police violence that continues to disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities.  

We believe that Black Lives Matter. We believe that protests are necessary and essential to the change many of us have long worked towards.

The Division of Critical Criminology and Social Justice condemns the abhorrent state-sanctioned police violence that continues to disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities.  We condemn the murders of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, and so many others that have died due to institutionalized racism, specifically at the hands of police violence. As society struggles to organize, protest, and fight for Black and Brown communities against repressive regimes, we send our love and support to all that are in this fight, especially the families and friends of those murdered by police in this country. We condemn the systematic racism that plagues our society and the criminal justice system. As critical criminologists, it is our core mission and duty to speak out about oppression, abuse of power, failed systems, and it is embodied in our division to fight for a more just society across race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, ability, age and beyond.

During Late May and the first week of June, we witnessed uprisings across the United States in response to police violence against Black and Brown communities. We have seen increasing levels of oppressive state control including police aggression towards protestors. Outfitted in riot gear, we watched police hurl tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray at peaceful protestors. We witnessed talking heads frame police violence as an individual ‘bad cop’ scenario. Let us be clear: Police brutality is a systemic problem that cannot be addressed or changed unless we understand it as such. It is not a problem fixed by officers paying lip service or by police kneeling with protestors; nor is a problem fixed by authoritarian strategies that promote violent responses by police in the name of crowd control. Our response must be community-centered. It is communities of protesters and organizers that are banding together, checking in on one another, pooling resources, and working towards demands to defund the police that provide the greatest hope for change. As a Division, we support the right of oppressed and marginalized people to protest, march, and engage in efforts to pursue justice. We see and understand mass civil disobedience as a statement against decades of oppression, silenced voices of generational trauma, and power structures that reproduce inequality and violence.

Hard work lies ahead for us. Already we have seen many attempts to discredit and invalidate the narratives underlying protests. Police have consistently used disproportionate force at otherwise peaceful gatherings. Many continue to benefit from the systemic racism inherent to our justice system, as their responses continue to protect the system as is and work to undermine calls for justice and change experienced by marginalized communities.

There is a lot of work to do. We hope to come together as a Division and share what can be done to support the change we hope for. First and foremost, our priority should be to support important work on-the-ground, which includes: listening to Black leaders and organizers about their needs and amplify their voices; collecting and disseminating information through outreach; donating if you are able- many of the links below include organizations taking donations for bail funds and mutual aid projects:

National Bail Fund Network Directory:

https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory

How to Support Protestors in Every City:

https://www.papermag.com/where-to-donate-protests-minneapolis-2646128317.html?rebelltitem=20#rebelltitem20

National Resource List:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CjZMORRVuv-I-qo4B0YfmOTqIOa3GUS207t5iuLZmyA/mobilebasic?fbclid=IwAR1fwWnA9QiRBo2zjDUMYFg_K06T2A3sUkCnTXj5c4vk72vZGqm0iWL16aQ

Keep up the fight. With love and solidarity,

DCCSJ Executive Board

The Executive Board of the Division on Critical Criminology & Social Justice condemns the treatment of UCSC Graduate Students

The Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice (DCCSJ) of the American Society of Criminology condemns the termination and police intimidation of graduate students striking at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). We wholeheartedly support the demands of the strikers, including a cost of living raise, an immediate reinstatement of fired students, and the removal of police officers from campus. Like all individuals that help to maintain campus life, graduate students are indispensable in the university learning environment. Ensuring accessibility to an education without crippling debt should be a fundamental right for these (and all) students. Yet, the striking students earn less than $2500 per month in a city where a one-bedroom apartment averages $2600 per month. Without a fair wage, graduate students are required to work second and third jobs to pay rent. As criminologists, we also strongly condemn that policing tactics used at UCSC, including arrests, threats of deportation of international students who would lose their visas if terminated, and the deployment of riot police. Because of the above, we join the growing number of groups supporting the strikers and demand a stop to threats and police intimidation. The UC needs to quickly bring the graduate students to the bargaining table and end this situation.

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EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE DIVISION ON CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE STATEMENT ON THE ELECTION OF DONALD TRUMP TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

The Executive Council of the Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice (DCCSJ) expresses its strong dissatisfaction with the recent election of Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States. His past remarks and actions demonstrate racist and misogynist attitudes, along with Islamophobia and Xenophobia. We thus join with other scholars who have denounced the president-elect’s discriminatory statements and his cabinet appointees, which reflect a clear disregard for every person who does not conform to white, male, heteronormative, or other similarly privileged identities.

As criminologists, we believe that Mr. Trump’s stated positions on a host of areas including crime, law, justice, education, the economy and the environment are dangerous and threaten the present and future well-being of the poor, the working- and middle-classes within the United States and globally. Specifically, we believe Mr. Trump and his pick for Attorney General will lead to an increase in mass imprisonment, detention and deportation, and the resurrection of McCarthyism. Such policies will lead to a greater reliance on private prisons, a roll back in federal investigations of police involved shootings of minorities and/or deaths in custody, and generally threaten democratic rights provided in the U.S. Constitution. These sentiments and potential actions are in stark contrast to the values and principles that the DCCSJ have historically stood for, defended, and embraced.

We concur with scholars in other fields that now is the time to act and to refute the rhetoric of the incoming administration. We call upon all members of the DCCSJ to voice their dissatisfaction with the election of Mr. Trump, his picks for cabinet positions, and the ensuing policies and practices. We encourage members to use their expertise to take action against these picks in the manner they deem best. We appreciate that these actions vary and may include, but are certainly not limited to, calling state and federal legislators; testifying at local, state, and federal hearings; and holding public forums on criminal justice policy and practice.

In addition, we ask all members to ensure their research is publically available and easily accessible in order to assist policy-makers in refuting criminal justice policies that threaten the safety, security, and livelihoods of often already marginalized communities. It is also our hope that this research can support the development of better policies. The DCCSJ is committed to assisting the members with the public dissemination of their work over the next four years.

Given the political climate, we encourage members to continue discussing issues important to the DCCSJ—such as the critical analysis of media portrayals of crime, broadening understandings of criminality and its relationships to inequality, and focusing on peaceful solutions to societal harm—in their classrooms and through public engagement so as to help better inform the public. We must not be complacent and must strive to reduce higher education’s role in perpetuating racial, gendered, and classist (among other) inequalities in society.

We also call upon members to continue to critique the field of criminology and its contributions to the current U.S. justice system. We, as experts and scholars, must fight against the normalization or dangerous ideological positions as well as criminal justice policies and practices that roll back much needed reform.

As DCCSJ members, we will continue to fight for justice through research, teaching, public outreach, and activism.