Whose Side is Criminology on? : First Steps into the Critical Dimension of Criminology

This short book introduces students of criminology to the `critical dimension' of that subject. The focus of this volume is on how the critique proffered in and by `critical criminologies' is itself not above criticism. Indeed, `critical criminologies' would do well to acquire a self-reflective and self-critical attitude towards their own pre-conceptions and the desires that underpin them.�This argument is explored and developed across a number of themes and topics, including: an overview of the basic trends in critical criminology between WW2 and the turn of the century; the most recent splintering within the `critical dimension' of criminology; the problem of criminalization; how power and discourse not only shape and reshape life conditions but also mystify the latter; the structural origins and forms of harm and violence; the continuing search for `alternatives'; and finally, the crimes of the powerful. Ultimately, the book debates the multiformity, inescapability and ineradicability of critique in the `critical dimension' of criminology.