'Preventive Turn' and Collaboration in Governance of Crime

Abstract

All disciplines have competing theoretical perspectives and paradigms that are aligned with individuals' broader ideological convictions. To some extent these convictions are shaped by training and socialization that occurs in specific professional fields. Criminology as a field and criminologists as professionals are no exception. In this exploratory research, we examine criminology academics and scholars' perceptions on causes of crime and crime prevention strategies, as well as their views on multilateralization of actors (state and non-state) who participate in governance of crime and security. We asses the degree to which their views are consistent along ideological grounds. More specifically, we examine these two issues in the context of a relatively new, yet, a prominent perspective on governance of crime, referred to as 'preventive turn' along a spectrum of liberal, conservative, and neoliberal frameworks. Survey data was gathered from criminology academics who attended a national conference in Moscow, 2016 on various attributes of 'preventive turn' including multilateral, collaborative mode of governance of crime. Findings suggest that academics' attitudes on crime and crime prevention are inconsistent among different questions that are part of a single conceptual framework. That is, academics convictions are not consistent along the ideological frames of reference. Policy implications and future directions are recommended.