CRIM WEEK 1 READING

British Criminology and Colonial Roots

• Historical Context: Western criminology originated in the colonial era, serving as a tool for control over marginalized groups, deemed 'the other.'

• Global Influence: Despite its shortcomings in rehabilitation, colonial criminological perspectives have spread worldwide, maintaining problematic views on crime and race.

• Pathologizing Discourses: The UK gang agenda and media portrayals position young Black men as inherently criminal, reinforcing negative stereotypes.

Gaps in Current Criminological Literature

• Neglect of Race: British criminology largely ignores racial issues, reflecting an amnesiac view towards crime and race relations.

• Feminist Blind Spots: Feminist criminology has been criticized for overlooking race, particularly the experiences of Black women who remain marginalized in discourse.

• Call for BPFC: The paper advocates for a Black and Postcolonial Feminist Criminology (BPFC), highlighting the need for inclusive approaches that consider race, gender, and historical contexts.

The Need for Postcolonial Criminology

• Ineffective Rehabilitation: Current Western punitive measures, such as imprisonment, have shown high recidivism rates and ineffectiveness in rehabilitating offenders.

  • Imprisonment rates in the UK, specifically in England and Wales, have increased over two-thirds in the past three decades.

• Colonial Legacy: There is a lack of discussion linking systemic racism and mass incarceration to historical injustices such as slavery and colonialism.

• Language and Justification: Language used in criminology often perpetuates disparities by painting certain racial identities as undesirable, thus rationalizing systemic discrimination.

Evidence of Racial Disproportionality

• Mass Incarceration: In England and Wales, overrepresentation of Black individuals in prisons exceeds that of the United States.

  • Incarceration rates and stop-and-search statistics are indicative of systemic biases against racially marginalized groups, particularly youth.

• Critique of Criminology: Critiques from scholars like Agozino highlight criminology's role in supporting colonialist ideologies by failing to question entrenched power dynamics.

Historical Context in Racial Stereotyping

• Stigmatization of Black Youth: The emergence of stereotypes around young Black men, especially regarding criminal violence, can be traced back to colonial-era narratives.

  • Media portrayals and policing practices have fed into a cycle of criminalization and societal exclusion.

• Mugging Panic: Analysis of past events like the Brixton riots illustrates how crime associated with Black communities was handled through a lens of active systemic prejudice, rather than structural inequality.

Institutional Racism in Policing

• Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: The inquiry highlighted institutionalized racism within the police, pinpointing failures in service provision due to racial biases.

  • Continued surveillance and policing challenges faced by Black communities reflect ongoing discrimination.

Racialization of Gang Narratives

• Contemporary Gang Issues: Current discussions on gangs heavily align with racial stereotypes, particularly implicating young Black men as violent or criminally inclined.

  • The impact of anti-gang laws further sustains biases against these communities and exacerbates issues of over-policing.

Call for a BFC and BPFC

• Black Feminist Criminology (BFC): The call for a BFC aims to move past reductive interpretations of Black crime and to consider intersectional identities in status and experience within the justice system.

• Inclusivity and Intersectionality: BFC must account for varied intersections of identity while rejecting traditional criminological narratives that have historically marginalized entire groups.

  • Expanding feminist criminology to genuinely integrate race and gender dynamics can lead to more equitable understanding and interpretation of criminality.

Challenges to Decolonization

• Academic Resistance: Critiques argue that decolonization efforts are often superficial, failing to critically engage with systemic disparities.

  • Genuine decolonization in criminology needs strong commitment to acknowledge and act upon the legacies of imperialism, integrating marginalized perspectives into foundational theories.

Conclusion

• Addressing Criminological Amnesia: The paper posits that closer examination of the historical context of crime, particularly in relation to slavery and colonialism, is crucial for dismantling existing assumptions.

• Importance of BPFC: Establishing a BPFC framework is essential for understanding the interlocking oppressions related to race, gender, and societal norms in the UK today.