Cultural Criminology Research Articles

“I don’t like guns but having one in Winnipeg right now would feel safer”: Crime, liquor theft, and online fantasies of punishment and control

In 2018–2019, there was a surge of local news media coverage in Winnipeg, Canada about what news media described as “brazen” liquor store theft. Online discussion and social media platforms provided segments of the public with opportunities to assert claims about the causes and consequences of this putative crime wave as well as potential solutions within and outside the penal system. These online fora allowed internet communities to imagine new methods of crime control and vocalize a range of emotions about crime and punishment. Employing a thematic analysis of reader comments across several online and social media platforms, we argue that these online discussions about liquor theft provide an empirical case study of the new digital media logic that facilitates highly volatile and short-lived moral panics or “firestorms.” We draw upon cultural criminology scholarship to highlight the centrality of emotion in online discussions on liquor theft. By making emotion central, online discussions provide a clearer glimpse into the displaced rage that is thought to set moral panics in motion. We argue that online platforms constitute an important medium to understand how people imagine and envision punishment and control, as well as how they construct/conceive of offenders and the purported problems underlying crime.

Cultural criminology, counter-extremism and the contemporary far right

This article draws together existing criminological work as well as developments from sociology, political science and media studies to argue that cultural criminology can offer a useful corrective to current ‘counter-extremist’ thinking about the contemporary far right. The first part of the article introduces the contemporary far right, describes how it differs from previous instances, and explains that this resurgent far-right movement has to date primarily been analysed through the lens of ‘counter-extremism’. The second part of the article problematises the concepts of ‘extremism’, ‘radicalisation’ and ‘terrorism’. The article argues that these concepts are ambiguous, imprecise and normative, and that they are freighted with ideological baggage and unsupported by empirical evidence. The third part of the article argues that cultural criminology can better inform our understanding of the contemporary far right owing to its focus on subculture and style, its attendance to networked digital media and its foregrounding of emotion and affect. The article concludes by outlining a tentative programme for cultural criminological research into the contemporary far right.

The Iconic Apache: Early 1900s Paris and the Making of a Criminal Bogeyman

Abstract This article describes the creation of a criminal icon, the Paris Apache, brandished as a threat by the press and conservative politicians alike at the turn of the twentieth century in France. Archival analysis points to the theory that this figure of street crime was turned into a criminal ‘bogeyman’. The iconic Apache bogeyman allowed those manipulating it to focus the general public’s fears and attention on factual violence (crimes, assaults and misdemeanours) of which the structural causes (political instability and socio-economic inequalities) were masked by framing the criminal icon as solely responsible. This bogeyman role, embodied by the Apache in the past, is also examined in the present and analysed critically from the perspective of cultural criminology.

Adolescents Kolberi in Iran’s Western Borderlands: a Case for Cultural Criminology of Border

Adolescents Kolberi in Iran’s Western Borderlands: a Case for Cultural Criminology of Border

Cultural Criminology: A Retrospective and Prospective Review

This review looks at the main ideas that have animated cultural criminology in the past while suggesting new directions the perspective might follow going forward. It discusses early definitions and subject matters; the historical contexts within which cultural criminology was initially welcomed; and cultural criminology's special emphasis on the importance of studying emotions as well as rationality to fully comprehend crime and criminality. Three older critiques of cultural criminology and one lesser known one are also outlined: theoretical vagueness; underemphases on class, structural factors, and conjunctural analyses; insufficient attention to gender and intersectionality; and, a relatively less discussed concern, prioritizing symbolic interactionism rather than sometimes tapping Freudian psychosocial concepts when investigating matters of individual agency. I argue that cultural criminology distinctively recommends multidimensional analyses as called for by the complex character of crime itself. Finally, drawing on and in agreement with Jonathan Ilin's work, I suggest that cultural criminology should routinely consider three levels both theoretically and methodologically: the macro (structural); the meso (cultural); and the micro (individual). The review concludes with examples that, if taken up in future research, would further widen cultural criminological interests, associations, and commitments to multidimensionality.

Restorative justice as customized creativity: Tinker Bell's magic.

While many scholars have noted a rise in boredom coinciding with the emergence of modern capitalism, philosophers have long maintained that boredom is part of the horizon of human experience. Although specific social conditions may exacerbate it, boredom will never be completely eradicated. Nevertheless, its presence indicates that something is not right. Recently, cultural criminology has highlighted that boredom and monotony can trigger criminal behavior. If boredom is a contributing factor to crime, then I propose that creative, restorative justice processes can serve as an effective antidote. These practices aim to make things right by establishing obligations that restore the dignity and meaning of a victim's life.

Sharenting and social media properties: Exploring vicarious data harms and sociotechnical mitigations

In this paper, we demonstrate how social media technologies can co-produce data-related harms unless preventative measures are instituted. To this end, we draw on a passive ethnography of a public Facebook group in the UK practicing sharenting which occurs when parents and guardians post sensitive and identifying information about children in their care on social media. Theoretically, we draw on the ‘harm translation’ concept from digital criminology and the ‘seductions of crime’ perspective from cultural criminology. Further we analyse documents on the operations of Facebook's content filtering algorithms published by Meta (Facebook's parent company). With insights from these sources, we demonstrate how platform technologies go beyond facilitation to the inadvertent co-production of harm via embedded mediative properties that shape user perception and action. We show that, in the specific context of sharenting, the properties invite rather than simply facilitate the practice and can also invite subsequent misuses of child-centric data. Through our analysis of these dynamics, we set out an empirical basis for challenging reductive depictions of social media technologies as solely facilitative of human action including harmful conduct. We also outline our vision to integrate insights from the analysis into a new sociotechnical harm prevention framework informed by Natural Language Processing approaches.

Controle racial militarizado: desvelando as dinâmicas subculturais de significado que facilitam a atuação policial propensa à violação de direitos humanos

Abstract This article discusses militarized racial control, focusing on the subcultural dynamics of meaning that facilitate police action prone to human rights violations. The text uses bibliographical research and employs the triadic methodology of Cultural Criminology and the critical literature of contemporary black intelligentsia to face racist military police action at three levels of analysis: micro, meso, and macro, contemplating the existential and phenomenological foreground of crime, the subcultural dynamics of status negotiation and structures of greater scope, such as the permanence of colonial power aimed at racial domination and control, ontological insecurity in late modernity and the Brazilian racist reality. At the end of the analysis, it was possible to conclude that, through performances staged for themselves and for third parties, military police officers engaged in racist practices of violation of human rights rebuild their image in terms of self-esteem and belonging to the group, so that a process of formation and identification, which in itself violates human rights, contributes decisively to members of the militarized police subculture becoming prone to staging racist practices that violate human rights, through which they acquire a series of subjective rewards that give purpose and meaning to their lives.

Criminal Consequences of Unsustainable Food Systems: Ethical Issues and Future Prospects

A major worldwide issue, criminal aspects of unsustainable agricultural systems pose serious concerns to environmental stability, biodiversity, and food security. The necessity to address environmental harm from a legal and regulatory perspective is highlighted in this survey of the literature from a variety of disciplines that looks at the connections between criminal activity and unsustainable practices in the food business. The analysis delves into foundational works that stress the need for more study on the criminal elements of unsustainable food production, distribution, and consumption. By highlighting the importance of ecological justice and sustainability in regulatory responses, green cultural criminology provides a framework for understanding how environmental harms are criminalized or disregarded within legal systems. According to the study, food fraud is a major problem in the food industry since it uses dangerous or low-quality substances to trick customers. The accidental encouragement of biodiversity loss and ecological disturbance is further highlighted by the connection of illegal wildlife trading with the food business. Age-related environmental crimes such as pesticide abuse, water pollution, and land degradation are major contributors to global environmental deterioration. Context-specific research is essential to address regional issues, but few studies have examined the criminal consequences of unsustainable agriculture systems in Jordan. Increase food supply chain transparency, promote multidisciplinary collaboration, and strengthen regulatory frameworks and enforcement. Ecologically conscientious and secure food systems include fighting food sector corruption, promoting sustainable farming, and raising awareness. To promote environmental stewardship and resilience, it is crucial to identify and address the criminal components of unsustainable food systems. Promoting sustainability, protecting the environment, and guaranteeing global food security all need cooperation between academics, politicians, and stakeholders. Collective action is needed to pave the road toward greener and more secure communities, and establishing sustainable food systems is a crucial first step.

Ecocide and Khattam-Shud

Abstract In the spirit of green cultural criminology, which considers the way(s) in which environmental crime, harm, and disaster are constructed, represented, and envisioned by the news media and in popular cultural forms, and narrative criminology, which explores how stories can influence (promote, curb, prevent, or resist) action, including harmful action, this provisional article seeks to intercede (although, perhaps, “intervene,” in the McGregorian sense, is more accurate) in the debate, of sorts, between the Indian writer Amitav Ghosh and the British critic, editor, and theorist Mark Bould. Whereas Ghosh, in The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016), laments the failure of contemporary literature to engage with climate change, Bould, in The Anthropocene Unconscious: Climate Catastrophe Culture (2021), considers whether all stories might be stories about climate change. Taking Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990) as an example, this article argues that this phantasmagorical tale about the problems of censorship could be applied to and analyzed in the context of climate change. The article considers how we might tell (more, better) stories of climate change and concludes by calling for a marshalling of diverse stories to reflect the most pressing issue of our time.

Eating E.T.: Carnism and Speciesism

This article takes as its point of departure an event in which a plant-based version of the space alien, the Extra-Terrestrial (‘E.T.’), from the science fiction film bearing its name, was barbecued and served as a meal to participants at a conference. The soy dish produced different reactions: some laughed, while others seemed appalled. These different sentiments provide the basis for a broad green cultural criminology analysis of the traditions of meat-eating, tracing its role in human history and in the barbecue. The purpose of this is to explore why humans treat different categories of animals so differently. To understand the reactions the meal produced, the article addresses two contrasting aspects of the human–non-human animal relationship—‘carnism’ and ‘pet-keeping’—and contemplates these in relation to the reactions to eating E.T. The goal is to expand on the study of the human–animal relationship, particularly speciesism—understood as ideology and practice that legitimise and produce animal abuse through the analytical concept categorical discriminatory speciesism.

Tony Jefferson (2021) Stuart Hall, Conjunctural Analysis and Cultural Criminology – A Missed Moment. Palgrave Macmillan

Russell Hogg reviews Stuart Hall, Conjunctural Analysis and Cultural Criminology – A Missed Moment by Tony Jefferson

Dynamics of the Deviant Subculture Klitih Gang and Al-Fatah Transgender Boarding School in Yogyakarta

Klitih gangs in Yogyakarta, as a tangible form of juvenile delinquency, cannot be separated from the construction of the failure of environmental socialization and socialization of adolescent life in modern times. This study used interpretive approach (qualitative). Researcher digs deeper into how cultural criminology views the deviant subculture of youth members of the Klitih Gang and the dynamics of the Al-Fatah Transgender Islamic Boarding School as accurate facts. This article focuses on discussing several aspects that are interconnected with the school of cultural criminology, including (1) cases of youth violence and street crime by gangs of Klitih as a form of crime as culture; (2) community construction related to culture as crime against transgender groups, especially in the Al-Fatah transgender Islamic boarding school, Yogyakarta; (3) discussion on the realm of existentialist criminology in its allusion to ways of life, style, and semiotics. This phenomenon creates anomie in the dynamics of social life and requires efforts to harmonize both from a juridical and sociological perspective.

Internalisasi nilai pelestarian alam dan pendidikan karakter melalui representasi kejahatan lingkungan dalam sastra anak karya Okky Madasari

The subject of this research is Mata dan Rahasia Pulau Gapi by Okky Madasari. I adopt green cultural criminology and narrative criminology to analyze how the writer describes environmental crime phenomena in her work as a medium for internalizing the value of conservation and character education for children’s readers. This study was designed using the children's literature research method and note-taking technique. The results of this study found that the novel contains two forms of environmental crimes, namely crimes against historical sites and crimes against wildlife. I also found that the author makes the representation of the character's resistance to environmental crimes as a strong message to readers that children have a role as agents to encourage public awareness of environmental issues. In addition, moral licensing by the perpetrators of environmental crimes in this novel is the author's effort to cultivate a critical attitude in child readers.

‘Fillin The Fridge’: The Transition from Individualistic to Caring Values in Imprisoned Chilean Men

Chile is often considered an exceptional country regarding neoliberalism. Since its installation, neoliberalism has found roots in different dimensions of Chilean social reality, not only in the politico-economic sphere but, more importantly for the present work, in the cultural realm. Several Chilean sociologists theorize about cultural values and practices, suggesting consumerism as a by-product of neoliberal reforms and pointing to individualistic derivatives such as narcissism and hedonism. Which, in turn, are often associated with offending by critical criminologies. Drawing on the classical Mertonian standpoint and its revision through cultural criminology, this article explores individualistic values in marginalized Chileans, presenting accounts of imprisoned young men collected through semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that new gender roles support the transition from individualistic values to caring purposes, and in describing the latter, this article also highlights the interplay of material and ontological deprivation as subject of exploration for current critical criminology.

Role of Social Media on Deviance and Crime: A Study on Content Creators of Tiktok

During this time of globalization, the mode of recreation and communication has dramatically changed and is oriented around social media. People are finding themselves glued to the screen both for work and entertainment. Like every coin has two sides, these virtual deviances and crime in a society. TikTok is such social media platform that enables us to produce and share short videos and explore ourselves in front of global and local audiences. Recent crime news related to TikTok and the new popular culture of such micro-entertainment prompted this study to add to the literature of cultural criminology. The study aims to scrutinize the uses, features, and contents of the TikTok app to understand its role in crime and deviance in society. It also sheds light on characteristics of crimes and deviances that emanate from TikTok in Bangladesh. The study’s methodology is Case Studies of fifteen crime cases related to TikTok, and Qualitative Content Analysis of ten top profiles of TikTok in Bangladesh, and the ‘For you’ page of TikTok with specific hashtags following convenience sampling. The study found distinct characteristics of crime and deviance related to TikTok, such as performance crime, copycat crime, and fame-driven crime. The study attempted to identify specific crimes such as rape, murder, sexual assault, fraudulence, etc., that have already been committed using this app.

Cultural spotlight to the stage of criminology: a bibliometric brief on cultural criminology

In the last two decades, cultural criminology has developed a unique viewpoint on criminal behaviour and law. Cultural criminology is a subfield of criminology that focuses on how dynamics of meaning underpin every process in criminal justice, including the very definition of crime. In other words, the goal of cultural criminology is to comprehend crime within the context of culture and cultural processes. This particular form of criminological analysis evaluates the convergence of cultural and criminal processes by interweaving a diverse array of perspectives that share a sensitivity to image, meaning, and representation. In addition, the discipline of cultural criminology is developing new methods that represent particular theoretical perspectives and connect with the distinctive elements of contemporary social and cultural life. The lightning-fast pace of contemporary crime and culture has opened up new ethnographic research opportunities for cultural criminologists. Bibliometric analysis is a common and rigorous technique for examining and analyzing vast scientific data, which enables the dissection of the evolutionary nuances of a specific field and the illumination of its emerging areas. In order to identify the nature and the distribution of the literature on cultural criminology, the paper aims to determine the number of publications, the intellectual structure, and the key concepts of cultural criminology via a bibliometric analysis, using VOSviewer software.

The Symbolic Boundary Work of Incels: Subcultural Negotiation of Meaning and Identity Online

ABSTRACT This article explores the boundary work of incels (involuntary celibates), to counter negative media coverage and online ridicule. Attempting to claim rational status, incels have created alternative information channels that reframe their situation of involuntary celibacy as a legitimate life circumstance. I examine the symbolic boundaries within the incel subculture, using the Incel Wikipedia page as a specialized encyclopedia for their online milieu. After describing the incel worldview and subcultural identity, I analyze how incels engage in boundary work to differentiate and solidify their status – categorizing themselves and other people. The article draws on theories of narrative and cultural criminology to present how incels negotiate their identity by establishing symbolic boundaries that exclude out-groups such as women, sexually successful men, and mainstream society. It concludes by considering how boundaries within the in-group are based on degrees of inceldom, gender, and violent actors. As a site of resistance, the boundary work of the incel wiki reveals how the social incel identity is formed and given meaning by contrast to symbolic others. I argue that narrative and cultural criminology can help us unravel the online ecosystem by analyzing the negotiation of external and internal subcultural boundaries.

Violence, Pregnant with Peace: Criminological Reading of Lars von Trier

In this article, the works of cinema director Lars von Trier are invoked as an instrument to explain various criminological theories. Mostly, the approach of cultural criminology is applied as well as other perspectives: dramaturgical-existential approach, peacemaking, and (anti)positivism. Both because of the topics presented (such as transgressing and questioning the socially acceptable norms, violence, fear, humiliation, deviant sexuality, despair, etc.) and the methodology of the filmmaking process, the self-labelled ‘best director in the world’ can be quite rightly described as one of the most thought-provoking criminologists in Europe. Paradoxically, ideas presented in his films, though seemingly violent and destructive, might be inspirational for those who seek peace and enlightenment.

“But, I Mean, the Thing Has Become a Myth that Nobody Can Live up To.” Lou Reed’s Narrative of Transgression, Stigma, Self and Resistance

ABSTRACT This study contributes to the criminological transgression literature with an in-depth ethnographic analysis of Reed’s narrative of transgression, stigma, self and resistance. This analysis includes two intertwined perspectives on rule breaking, 1) the transgression concept within cultural criminology and 2) deviance studies with its focus on labeling and stigma. This combination creates an academic focus that includes the empowering and disempowering qualities of rule breaking. Lou Reed’s rich narrative extending over a period of six decades shows that the meaning making process of his transgressions was shaped by Reed’s interactions within several transgressive social worlds, the commodified mediatized representations of his work, and societal transformations changing the meaning of drugs and sexualities. In addition, this article shows that Reed’s transgressions were intimately related to stigma and shame, an angle which is hardly explored within cultural criminology and deserves more attention in order to further our understanding of the social meanings of transgression.