Description

Constitutive Criminology: Origins, Core Concepts, and Evaluation

This article reviews the origins and concepts of “constitutive criminology,” meets its critics, and assesses the success they believe it has had in helping to liberate thinking and in combating structures and mentalities of domination. Henry and Milovanovic have pioneered efforts to create a postmodern theory of criminology and criminal justice policy. Mainstream criminology had been exhausted for decades, and critical criminology was at an impasse theoretically. In confronting complacency and “things just seem to happen” passivity and resignation typical of college students, Henry and Milovanovic offer a perspective that stresses individual responsibility and moral action.

critical criminology; criminology; social theory — postmodernism; social theory — agency; crime and criminals; criminal justice; social theory — discourse theory

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 27, No. 2 (2000): 268-290