Critical Criminology and Race: Re‐examining the Whiteness of US Criminological Thought

Abstract

AbstractRace and racism are defining features of criminal justice systems in the United States. Race is also a defining feature of criminological theory. There have been robust efforts to address racism within theories and institutional practices pertaining to crime, law, and institutions of formal social control, but whiteness remains at the core of criminological knowledge production. The current article provides empirical support for showing how whiteness conditions the academic discourses of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) in the United States. CCJ research plays an important role in discussions of racial justice and public policy. By studying the racialised (that is, white) nature of the CCJ research industry, we can better understand where critical criminology ‘fits’ in the broader struggle for social, racial and epistemological justice.