NCJ Number
184499
Journal
Theoretical Criminology Volume: 4 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2000 Pages: 359-376
Date Published
August 2000
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article theorizes victimization as mere punishment by looking at institutional practices that are deliberately designed to exclude, marginalize, control, alienate, or even victimize the imprisoned.
Abstract
The notion of “black drug couriers” in prison suggests that theories of penology, criminology and victimology should move beyond their preoccupation with the individual offender. This is because, at least in part, some of what is conceptualized as punishment goes beyond individual offenders to affect whole groups and categories who could be innocent. The crime-centeredness of criminology is almost unavoidable with reference to illicit drugs and black immigrants because spatial mobility is expected to imply anomie, social disorganization or, at least, culture shock with all the predictable incidence of deviance that could be associated with exposure to a different culture. The article critically reviews this apparent truism with a view to highlighting possible “drugs war crimes” of unjustifiable stereotypes and victimization as mere punishment mainly against innocent people in prison. Tables, references