CONSTITUTION OF THE DIVISION ON CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY
Ratified: Spring 2011
Revised: November 2016 (to reflect name change of division only)
I. NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION
The name of the organization shall be the Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice of The American Society of Criminology.
II. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES
The Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice is a division of The American Society of Criminology and acts in accordance with the bylaws of that Society. 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, through events at the annual meetings, a scholarly journal, a divisional newsletter, and a divisional website.
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.
5. To encourage and support community outreach and activism on issues of importance to critical criminology.
III. MEMBERSHIP
Membership in this division will be open to all members in good standing of the American Society of Criminology. Only members in good standing, who have paid divisional dues, are eligible to vote at divisional meetings or elections, or to hold divisional office. (Students are not eligible to vote).
IV. OFFICERS
1. There shall be seven officers of the Executive Board of the Division (hereafter Executive Board): the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary Treasurer, Past Chair, and three Executive Counselors. The officers are responsible for the smooth running of the division, including setting the annual dues for the Division, reviewing the budget and expenditure of the Division, and being the policy-making body of the Division.
a. The Chair shall provide executive direction to the Division and shall preside over Division meetings. Further, the Chair serves as Divisional liaison to the ASC Program Chair to ensure representative inclusion of critical criminology panels on each year’s program.
b. The Vice Chair shall preside over Division meetings in the Chair’s absence, succeed to all duties of the Chair in the event of a vacancy in the office, and carry out such additional tasks as assigned by the Chair.
c. The Secretary-Treasurer shall keep minutes of meetings and maintain records of the division. The Secretary-Treasurer is the divisional liaison with the Treasurer of the ASC, who will maintain a separate account in the ASC Treasury for the Division, and will make sure the Division is informed of the Division’s balance, debts, credits and any financial issues that may arise.
d. The Past-Chair. The Past-Chair will maintain a seat on the Executive Board for two years after their term is ended. The Past-Chair’s primary duties will be to provide organizational stability and continuity over time.
e. Executive Counselors. Three Executive Counselors shall be elected to serve on the Executive Board.
2. Nominees, elected officers, and appointed officers must be members of the Division in good standing.
3. The term of office for each incoming officer will begin with the close of the annual meeting following her/his election.
4. The term of tenure for all Executive Board positions is two years. The Chair, Vice- Chair, Secretary- Treasure and the Executive Counselors may be re-elected for one additional consecutive two-year term. If re-elected for a consecutive term, such officer may not run for re-election of the same office for a period of four years after the end of his/her tenure.
V. ELECTIONS
The division recognizes that in order for its proper functioning that elections will be held on a regular basis. In order to achieve this goal, the Chair first appoints a Nomination Committee of two or more members in good standing. An Elections Committee is also appointed by the Chair and shall not include members of the Nominations Committee.
1. The Chair shall appoint a Nominations Committee of three or more members in good standing. The Nominations Committee is responsible for soliciting nominations for elected offices. Any member in good standing may nominate themselves. The Chair of the Nominations Committee is responsible for creating the ballot for officer positions and ensuring that it is either mailed to voting members in good standing or providing another anonymous method for secure balloting for elections.
2. The Chair shall appoint each year an Elections Committee of two or more members in good standing who reside in the same geographic area. The Committee shall open and count all ballots together.
3. Elections for all elected officers shall be by mail ballot or otherwise secure and anonymous method of all members in good standing, and shall be held every other year in the late Spring or early Summer. All elected officers shall take office at the close of the annual meetings following their election.
VI. JOURNAL
1. The Journal editor(s) shall be appointed by the Executive Board, for a 3 year term.
2. The term of tenure for all Division Journal Editors is three years. An editor may be re- elected to serve for one additional consecutive three-year term. If re-elected for a consecutive term, no editor may serve for a period of six years after completion of previous term of service.
VII. NEWSLETTER
The Newsletter shall be an important medium of information in the Division, and the Executive Board is thus charged with providing the maximum size and frequency of publication possible.
1. The Newsletter editor(s) shall be appointed by the Executive Board.
2. The term of tenure for all Editors is three years. An editor may be re-elected to serve for one additional consecutive three-year term. If re-elected for a consecutive term, no editor may serve for a period of six years following completion of previous term of service.
3.The newsletter shall contain, at minimum, minutes of business meetings, summaries of committee reports, election results, calls for nominations, and information on the annual meetings. The editor shall strive to include information likely to be of interest to the members, information for other organizations, calls for papers, and articles of timely interest.
VIII. WEBSITE
1. The Division will maintain a website with a domain name reflective of the mission of the organization (e.g., www.divisiononcriticalcriminology.com).
2. The Executive Board will appoint a webmaster for the website. The webmaster will serve a two year term and can be reappointed.
3. The website will serve as a location to provide members of the division, and interested individuals globally, access to information on research, teaching, policy and activism related to critical criminology.
IX. AMENDING THIS CONSTITUTION
1. Amendments may be proposed by any member of the Division, but the written support of a fifth of the Divisional membership in good standing is required for any further action.
2. A proposed amendment determined by the Executive Board to be supported by the proper number of members, will be approved if it receives a two-thirds majority of those voting by ballot submitted to the members in good standing at the next election. Proponents of the amendment shall have the opportunity to provide a brief explanation in either the Newsletter or in a statement included with the ballot.
3. Approved amendments shall take effect on the first day of the year beginning immediately after the annual ASC meeting.