Convict Criminology Research Articles

Criminal justice, representation and the lived experience scholar

This article examines the integration of lived experience narratives into criminal justice, highlighting a significant shift towards a more inclusive and experiential approach within the field. We explore the contributions of scholars with lived experiences of the criminal legal system (CLS) to the academic and advocacy landscape, emphasising the emergence of convict criminology and lived experience criminology. These subdisciplines centre on the insights of those directly impacted by the CLS, offering a critical view from within and a broader perspective on personal interactions with the system. We argue that incorporating lived experiences can enrich criminal justice research and practice, leading to more effective, empathetic policies and interventions. However, we also identify a gap in the literature concerning the representational dynamics within this emergent paradigm, specifically the sociodemographic constitution of lived experience contributors. Utilising Hanna Pitkin's seminal theories on political representation, we critically evaluate the extent to which lived experience narratives embody both symbolic and substantive representation. We suggest that while individuals with lived experiences may not fully encapsulate the demographic diversity of those impacted by the CLS, their narratives provide crucial insights that transcend mere demographic congruence. We conclude that more needs to be done to encourage and value diverse voices within this space, highlighting the need for criminal justice to address power dynamics, bridge the gap between academic and experiential knowledge, and promote public engagement and discourse. This engagement with lived experiences is posited as essential for driving meaningful policy and systemic reform, ultimately contributing to a more equitable and just CLS.

Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Need for Collective Activism in Convict Criminology

In this essay, I argue that the Division of Convict Criminology must reject the academic status quo by engaging in collective activism. Academia convinces scholars that the primary goal of their work is individual accolades with little regard for creating substantive change in the world. In doing so, academia exploits marginalized populations, like convicts, by pillaging data while off ering little meaningful assistance to marginalized groups. As Convict Criminology continues to expand its reach within academia, we have a duty to reject the academic status quo by adopting the scholarvist model that advocates for scholarship coupled with activism. It is our responsibility to combat the structural violence inherent in both academia and the criminal injustice system. This essay is a call for collective activism that targets the foundations of oppressive social institutions. The time has come for us to move beyond public statements and towards policy change that creates a more equitable society for current and future convicts.

Standing at the Intersection of Identity and Convict Criminology: A Brief Exercise in Reflexivity

Standing at the Intersection of Identity and Convict Criminology: A Brief Exercise in Reflexivity

Convict Criminology for the Future edited by Jeffrey Ian Ross and Francesca Vianello. New York: Routledge (2021) 248 pp.

Convict Criminology for the Future edited by Jeffrey Ian Ross and Francesca Vianello. New York: Routledge (2021) 248 pp.

Thinking Critically About the Next Decade of Convict Criminology

Thinking Critically About the Next Decade of Convict Criminology

Every Picture Tells a Story: Framing and Understanding the Activism of Convict Criminology

Every Picture Tells a Story: Framing and Understanding the Activism of Convict Criminology

Marking 25 Years of Convict Criminology by Building a New Table: Transformative Social Justice, Inclusion and Activism as Part of a Larger Social Movement

Marking 25 Years of Convict Criminology by Building a New Table: Transformative Social Justice, Inclusion and Activism as Part of a Larger Social Movement

Here She Comes: Women of Convict Criminology

In response to Joanne Belknap’s 2014 presidential address in which she critiqued the white male dominance of Convict Criminology, formerly incarcerated women formed the group’s first thematic panel on “Women of Convict Criminology” at the American Society of Criminology annual conference in 2016. This article reports the results of an analysis presented in the first session that illustrates the invisibility of directly impacted women contributors to our knowledgebase and recaps the inspiration, courage, and empiricism that sparked the presence of a new, more diverse group of directly impacted people fighting for recognition and inclusion in knowledge construction within ‘malestream’ criminology. Ways of conceptualizing carceral status as one axis of oppressions and directions for the future of Convict Criminology are discussed.

The Future of Convict Criminology

The Future of Convict Criminology

Creating convict criminology in the UK: a response to Aresti, Darke and Ross from members of the British Convict Criminology group

Responding to an earlier article (Aresti et al, 2023) by two scholars involved in convict criminology at Westminster University and a third from the US, this article mounts a defence of the British Convict Criminology group against the analysis and conclusions of the first article. We argue that convict criminology is diverse and needs to embrace different approaches that correspond to national circumstances, both in prisons and universities. We suggest that far from stagnating, convict criminology in the UK is beginning to thrive and has much to offer critical criminology. This offer is strengthened by adopting critical and convivial academic practice supportive of people’s various efforts and experiences in British prisons and British universities. Our article offers a critical engagement with issues of nomenclature, convictism and coloniality which we believe will be important for an inclusive convict criminology for the future.

Feminist Convict Criminology for the Future

Feminist Convict Criminology for the Future

Book review: Convict Criminology for the Future

Book review: Convict Criminology for the Future

Against bifurcation: why it’s in the best interests of convict criminology to be international in scope and not a collection of individual country level organisations

Since its founding, Convict Criminology (CC) has evolved into an international approach, group, organisation, and network with a relatively coherent set of objectives. Although little thought was put into CC’s development beyond the US, the original intent of CC was primarily to develop a network of individuals who were united around its core ideas. Due to both the constraints of international travel for ex-convicts and the financial burden for people to travel, originally it made best sense for people interested in the CC perspective to meet at the local level. Over time, because of advances in telecommunication platforms like Facetime, Skype, and Zoom, members of the CC network realised that meeting face-to-face on a regular basis was not necessary. Thus, the importance of local or even national approaches to CC were not necessary. This paper briefly examines the international components of CC and the authors’ views that, while individual country groups of CC members may have been advantageous in the early stages of CC, it is no longer necessary, if not counterproductive.

Convict Criminology

Im Gespräch: Convict Criminology

Book Review: Convict criminology for the future by Ross, Jeffrey Ian & Vianello, Francesca (Eds.)Young men’s experiences of long-term imprisonment: Living life by Tynan, Rachel Rose

Book Review: <i>Convict criminology for the future</i> by Ross, Jeffrey Ian &amp; Vianello, Francesca (Eds.)<i>Young men’s experiences of long-term imprisonment: Living life</i> by Tynan, Rachel Rose

Convict criminology from here to there: a content analysis of scholarship in a growing subfield

ABSTRACT The academic field of Convict Criminology (CC) started in the mid-1990s. In general, CC argues that the insights and experiences of currently and formerly incarcerated men and women are typically ignored in scholarly research and policy making circles. Since its founding a considerable amount of scholarly activity connected to this school, movement, and network occurred. Although CC scholars have reviewed the CC literature and activities, none have performed a rigorous content analysis of the scholarship in this field. This approach is important to understand who has written this work, their background, the venues where this academic writing has been published, the content of this work, and the impact of this literature. More importantly this type of analysis may provide a better sense of what kinds of future research on CC, or using the CC approach, should be conducted. Specifically, this study presents the results of a content analysis of 79 pieces of scholarship on CC published between 2001 and August 2022. The conclusion points out areas where continued scholarship using the Convict Criminology framework may be conducted.

Let the convicts speak: a critical conversation of the ongoing language debate in convict criminology

ABSTRACT In 2020, some scholars publicly demanded that the newly established Division of Convict Criminology (DCC) of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) change its name. Critics asserted that the use of ‘convict’ caused further stigmatization of those of us with direct criminal justice experience. Unbeknownst to those critics, prior to the official formation of the DCC, the informal group known as Convict Criminology engaged in a decades long conversation about language and appropriate terminology. This paper responds to the critiques by exploring the power of language, summarizing various sides of the ongoing language debate, reviewing existing convict criminology research, and addressing structural violence within the academy. We conclude with a call to action that asks scholars to address the endemic structural violence in academia that perpetuates our oppression before attempting to police our language.

Convict criminology in Russian discourse

The article problematizes the status of domestic criminology of convicts in research and practical contexts, reflects the peculiarities of development of this discipline in its founding countries. It is said that Russia has a diverse experience of participation of former convicts in the study and reform of the institution of prison. It is suggested that the generalization of the practices of participation of convicts and former convicts in the study and reform of correctional institutions in Russia will contribute to the institutionalization of criminology of convicts in the Russian discourse. When determining research methods for the purposes of criminology of convicts, emphasis is placed on qualitative research. The possibilities of an autoethnographic approach in the study of correctional institutions are considered, with the inclusion of convicts and former convicts themselves as actors in this process. The possibility and necessity of discussing the regulatory grounds for the participation of convicts and former convicts in educational and research activities is problematized.

What Are the Barriers to the Development of Convict Criminology in Australia?

What Are the Barriers to the Development of Convict Criminology in Australia?

Jeffrey Ian Ross and Francesca Vianello (eds): Convict Criminology for the Future

Jeffrey Ian Ross and Francesca Vianello (eds): Convict Criminology for the Future