NCJ Number
182061
Editor(s)
Marilyn Corsianos,
Kelly Amanda Train
Date Published
1999
Length
284 pages
Annotation
These 11 essays examine issues related to criminality, social justice, and power, with emphasis on unique approaches to concepts of freedom and equality, notions of deviance, government regulation of social order, and various aspects of feminist criminology.
Abstract
The essays focus on general issues and specific issues in Canada, the United States, and Israel. The preface notes that the presentation and orientation of the chapters expose the power dynamics that ultimately construct and define the social order. They interpret social justice in varied ways, from notions of freedom and democracy to issues of economic, social, gender, and racial equality. Individual essays examine the concept of justice in relation to freedom and equality, with emphasis on how the discourse on freedom limits the possibilities for equality and the extent to which the discourse on equality reduces the attainment of freedom to a minimum. Additional essays suggest that social justice can be achieved through various forms of anarchist resistance and examine the relationship between the contract research that academics undertake and the range of regulations placed on the research findings. Further essays discuss the theoretical possibility of a feminist criminology, propose that constructs of femininity have direct implications for the ways in which the criminal justice system regards and handles women, and consider how the image of criminality is used to regulate the boundaries around Jewish community membership. Other papers examine how funding decisions define certain artwork as deviant or criminal, argue that a concept of social justice implies easy access to marijuana for people with cancer to counteract the side effects of chemotherapy, and examine the reasons people use illicit drugs. The final two papers consider the consequences of incarceration of male and female drug offenders on their families and analyze the differential handling of Native American Indians by police. Tables and reference lists