From Peacemaking to Peacebuilding Criminology

Abstract

When thinking about crime, notions of deviance, delinquency, violence and moral turpitude most often come to mind. In somewhat more open-minded conceptions, crime may evoke critical questions of class and race, among other variables. In still more expansive spaces, crime may be evaluated through the lenses of exploitation of labor, maintenance of political power, and social control. From sociology to cinema studies, crime sometimes can be viewed in unvarnished dystopian terms—as the modality through which a society expresses the limits of its conscience and consciousness alike. Yet, in all of these critical interrogations, crime is rarely considered as a correlate of peace or an expression of justice. This article builds upon traditions in criminology that highlight the restorative, transformative, and peacemaking potentials inherent in constructions of crime and the processes used to address it, arguing for a proactive and constructive vision of peacebuilding that encompasses mechanisms for urgent implementation.