Historical criminology and colonialism

Abstract

Historical criminology, developing over the last few decades as a defined field of inquiry, has had a recent renaissance, resulting in the publication of leading texts, edited collections and scholarship, setting agendas for its methodologies and impact. We discuss the epistemological and methodological focus of this body of literature, which has been primarily centred on class-based historical criminal justice studies of Britain and the United States. We show that there has long been a parallel development of historical criminology and criminal justice research on colonialism, racial justice and state harm. Drawing upon anti-colonial and anti-criminological research, we challenge current approaches to historical criminology’s epistemological orientations to widen its vision for research, method, ethics and impact, and we highlight the risks of not doing so. This article makes a case for why research and theories of colonialism must be analytical pillars of ‘historical criminology’ and sets out possibilities for future approaches that can push historical criminology in productive directions. Most importantly, we stress the problems for future researchers of analyses that reproduce the structural harms already rampant in criminology.