About

The Division of Critical Criminology and Social Justice

The Division on Critical Criminology & Social Justice is part of The American Society of Criminology and will be in accord with the bylaws of that Society

The inspiration for creating a division of critical criminology came from a meeting of the progressive caucus held in November 1988 at the American Society of Criminology’s annual conference. It arose out of a historical denial of critical criminology in academia and a collective desire to share work and struggles, and to network together. It aimed to provide a framework to encourage dialogue among critical, radical and progressive criminologists. In the subsequent two years a constitution was developed, officers were elected and its formal recognition as a Division was granted by the American Society of Criminology in 1990.  The Division’s first chair was Susan Caringella.  A newsletter, The Critical Criminologist, was established, which continues to be disseminated on a quarterly basis.  Following a membership vote in 2016 it was decided to change the name to that of the Division of Critical Criminology and Social Justice to better reflect the division’s social justice ethos.

The Division is intended to facilitate work on political economic structures and their interrelationships with the ideological and social control mechanisms that dehumanize, alienate, exploit, marginalize and generally subordinate people(s). Specifically, critical criminology examines class, gender and race/ethnic biases and oppression in all of their ubiquitous forms. 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. The Division provides a support network for those pursuing critical practice, scholarship and classroom pedagogy.

The purposes of the Division are:

1. To foster research and theory development in the field of critical criminology, which is widely recognized as one of the several major paradigms within criminology.
2. To provide a forum for members of the ASC to discuss ideas and to exchange information, both through events at the annual meetings and through a divisional newsletter.
3. To organize conference sessions at ASC meetings.
4. To encourage appropriate and effective teaching techniques and practices and to stimulate the development of curricula related to courses on critical criminology.