Theoretical Criminology

The article addresses the prevailing assumptions about geo-political context in criminological theory. It draws on a well-developed and prolonged critique within sociology, gender and postcolonial studies, of the seemingly context-free nature of western social theory and its assumptions about the universality of its knowledge production. The article’s particular concern is criminology’s engagement with the global. By examining the ‘situated identity’ of criminological theory, and its claims to universality, the article raises questions about who produces theory, who has access to the universal, and what are the potential consequences for our understanding of the global.

After providing an overview of climate change and its effects, this article draws on the leading crime theories to discuss the potential impact of climate change on crime. It is argued that climate change will increase strain, reduce social control, weaken social support, foster beliefs favorable to crime, contribute to traits conducive to crime, increase certain opportunities for crime, and create social conflict. An overall model of climate change and crime is then presented, along with suggestions for research. Even though neglected by criminologists, there is good reason to believe that climate change will become one of the major forces driving crime as the century progresses.

This article begins by arguing against the claim of some scholars that the opinions and attitudes of ordinary citizens about criminal justice policy are bounded either by feelings of hostility toward criminal offenders or by indifference toward their rights as human beings. The purpose of this discussion will be to demonstrate that there is sufficient cause to think that meaningful democratic engagement on criminal justice issues is possible, such that an inquiry into the democratic legitimacy of criminal justice policy is worth taking up. This discussion sets the stage for an inquiry into the conditions of democratic legitimacy. The article critiques the view that institutionalized deliberation is a sufficient condition for regarding criminal justice policies as legitimate and argues instead for a radical-democratic approach to evaluating the democratic legitimacy of criminal justice policies.

Though much has been written about the ‘broken windows’ theory, very little effort has been made to locate and contextualize it within an historical perspective. This article serves as a corrective to this void. I explore the way the concerns about public disorder, which (re)emerged in the US academic literature beginning in the 1960s, were important forerunners for the concerns that would be raised in ‘broken windows’. Specifically, I locate the significance of Jane Jacobs’ seminal The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and explore its relation to the ‘broken windows’ theory, explicating the (dis)connections and (dis)similarities between the way these two texts frame the problem of public disorder and the normative agendas that are espoused.

This article maps out a new research agenda for interpreting the trajectory and dynamics of domestic private security provision in advanced democratic countries: the ‘new political economy of private security’. It proceeds on the basis that the key challenge in this field is to construct an agenda which takes account of how both the economic context (shifts in supply and demand) and the political context (state-centric conceptions of legitimacy) of domestic security simultaneously serve to shape the conduct of contemporary private security providers. In attempting to meet this challenge, the article not only builds upon the important theoretical research already undertaken in the form of the nodal governance and anchored pluralism models, but also sheds new light on the nature of domestic private security today.