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.
Join us in congratulating the winners of the
2024 DCCSJ awards!
Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Onwubiko (Biko) Agozino, Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Virginia Tech University
Jock Young Criminological Imagination Book Award: The Shaming State by Dr. Sara Salma, Professor in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at Victoria University of Wellington
Critical Criminologist of the Year Award: Dr. David Rodriquez Goyes, Senior Researcher in the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo
Praxis Award: Dr. Jennifer Ortiz, Associate Professor of Criminology at The College of New Jersey
Teaching Award: Dr. Sarah Rogers, Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina
Graduate Student Paper Award: Co-award Winners, Diego Taboada (University of Tennessee, Department of Sociology) and Dylan Sears (Kansas State University, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work)
Undergraduate Paper Award: Brenna Jones, Department of Criminal Justice at Illinois State University
The Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice (DCCSJ) Executive Statement Opposing the Genocide of Palestine
Approved, Voted, and Passed, November 11, 2024
The Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice (DCCSJ) unequivocally stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people: against the genocide in Gaza and the pogroms in the West Bank being perpetrated by Israel; against the relentless historic and continued colonization of their land; and for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea. In accordance with international law and the morality that is at the core of our commitment to liberation, we likewise recognize the Palestinian people’s right to armed resistance in Gaza and the West Bank and throughout historic Palestine, as well as those defending the Palestinian people by force of arms in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Furthermore, we emphatically denounce the draconian suppression of free speech and academic freedom that has resulted in the discipline and termination of hundreds of academics and college students across the US and beyond as a result of their nonviolent support for the Palestinian people and opposition to the genocide being perpetrated by Israel. As a body with a long history of critical scholarship on the violence of capitalism, the state, and settler colonialism, we note the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel forged through police, the arms industry, and military strategy (see Loewenstein, 2023).[1] As we move about our campuses this academic year, the violent crackdown on student encampments last year is fresh on our minds. It underscores the urgency of linking our abolitionist work against the prison industrial complex with the broader struggle against apartheid and for Palestinian liberation. For these reasons, the Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice supports the academic and public work of students and scholars worldwide that brings attention to this violence and uplifts the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.
The DCCSJ is rooted in a commitment to justice, equity, and human dignity. This means confronting systems of oppression that perpetuate inequality and exploitation while striving for a world built on solidarity and compassion. This also means facilitating work on political and economic structures and their interrelationship with ideological and social control mechanisms that dehumanize, alienate, exploit, marginalize, and generally subordinate people(s). We not only critically examine what is, but also what might be, through placing a premium on developing insights into generating more humanistic social formations, institutions, interactions, and forms of social justice. As we critically examine the forces that dehumanize and divide, we must also envision and work toward a future defined by liberation. Let us continue to challenge structures of domination and advocate for transformative justice that respects the humanity of all people.
We stand in solidarity with scholars and academic associations worldwide and align ourselves with the statements issued by our colleagues and the following divisions, listed in no particular order:
American Anthropological Association Statement (Published, October 2023)
American Studies Association Gaza Statement (Published, October 2023)
Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) Statement (Passed, January 2024)
American Sociological Association, Resolution for Justice in Palestine (Passed, May 2024)
[1] Loewenstein, A. (2024). The Palestine laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world. Verso Books.
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:
National Resource List:
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.
The Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice (DCCSJ) Executive Statement
on the Presidential Election of Donald Trump (2016)
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.