| This paper developes from the idea that criminology could usefully refocus its attention on lost images of crime; namely, as connoting practices of accusation and judgment. It will explore specific accusatory practices that ascribe identities of 'criminal' to particular subjects in various cultural settings (e.g. courthouses, the media, etc.), and indicate the changing contexts for such accusations. In so doing, I shall argue that criminology could usefully turn away from disciplinary judgements about the purported realities of 'crime', and focus instead on exposing the practices by which such 'truths' are established. This endeavor offers a way of critically challenging the current cultural obsession with using multiple techniques of accusation to entrench dominant identities. |
Updated 05/20/2006