Constitutive Criminology: Beyond Postmodernism

Innovative and timely, Constitutive Criminology offers an affirmative, holistic approach to the study of crime. Taking as its starting point that humans not only shape the world but are shaped by it, this volume asserts that the behaviors of individuals who break laws and victimize others cannot be understood in isolation from the society of which they are a part. Instead of setting out to identify factors that cause offending, authors Stuart Henry and Dragan Milovanovic examine the coproduction of crime by human subjects and by the social and organizational structures that humans develop. Using a context of prevailing modernist and postmodernist analysis, the authors first deconstruct crime as a recursive process and then attempt reconstruction with the goal of preventing recurrence of crime. This volume challenges readers to compare affirmative postmodernist assumptions to the assumptions of existing modernist theories--and thus build a new criminological theory--through the exploration of familiar themes, including human nature, society and social order, the role of the law, definitions of crime, crime causation, and justice policy and practices. An original and interdisciplinary study for those seeking a new approach to understanding and explaining crime, Constitutive Criminology is essential reading for students and academics in criminology, criminal justice, the sociology of law and sociology, as well as for professionals in criminal justice fields.