Sociology 2266A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Critical Criminology, English Canada, Risk Society
Document Summary
The poor, and people of lower socio-economic status make up the majority of individuals arrested and incarcerated. The fat between the rich and the poor continues to increase. Critical criminology attends to the processes through which the social world restricts human freedom and choice, and attempts to create a more just world. The products of mainstream criminology appeal to politicians. Challenges existing justice practices and suggests that we focus on minimizing criminal opportunities, instead of explaining criminal motives. Focuses on transformation through promises of justice. Scholars critique to try to destabilize relations in an efforts to form new, better patterns. Critical criminological critique tends to move beyond complicity in government. Critique in a constructive manner that forces theorists and individuals to new ways of thinking. New criminology criticized conventional criminology for supporting political and economic status quo, ignoring the structural causes of crime and focusing too much on biological and psychological factors.