Peacemaking Criminology: Introduction and Implications for the Intersection of Race, Class, and Gender

Abstract

This chapter provides a basic overview of peacemaking criminology, and demonstrates ways in which peacemaking criminology can contribute to a study of the intersection of race, class, and gender. Peacemaking criminology is an attempt to better understand the human condition and create practices with the goals of peace and social justice. Peacemaking criminology often focuses on the social and structural arrangements of society, particularly US society, and the implications of such arrangements for harmful behavior. Peacemaking can also strive for change at the institutional level, through the development of alternative methods of conflict resolution, such as mediation and reconciliation. Peacemaking has clear implications for studying the intersection of race, class, and gender. A key tenet of peacemaking is that the suffering of all has a very basic and common root, it is a part of the human condition, and it is exacerbated by current structural and discipline-oriented conditions.