Concepts for the Revitalisation of Critical Criminology

Abstract

What survives of the notions, principles and values of critical criminology? Faced with contexts that could not be more dramatically different from those fostering critical approaches to crime and its control, what is left of the radical theories and practical initiatives that characterised it in the 1970s? This article does not offer a history of critical criminology or a survey of contemporary debates in the area. Rather, it suggests a number of concepts in the form of variables (or thematic areas) through which novel critical views of crime and its control can be elaborated. Throughout, the article will refer to the contribution of early critical criminology only in relation to the concepts proposed.