Convict Criminology for the Future

Jeffrey Ian Ross, Francesca Vianello, Jeffrey Ian Ross, Francesca Vianello

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000223927
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Bringing together a variety of diverse international contributors from the Convict Criminology community, Convict Criminology for the Future surveys the historical roots of Convict Criminology, the current challenges experienced by formerly incarcerated people, and future directions for the field.

Over the past two decades research has been conducted in the field of Convict Criminology, recognizing that the convict voice has long been ignored or marginalized in academia, criminal justice practice, and public policy debates. This edited volume provides a much-needed update on the state of the field and how it has evolved. Seven primary themes are examined.

• Historical underpinnings of Convict Criminology
• Adaptations to prison life
• Longstanding challenges for prisoners and formerly incarcerated people
• Post-secondary education behind bars
• The expansion of Convict Criminology beyond North America
• Conducting scholarly research in carceral settings
• Future directions in Convict Criminology

A global line up of contributors, from the fields of Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law, Political Science, and Sociology, comprehensively tackle each topic, reviewing causes, reactions, and solutions to challenges. The volume also includes a chronology of significant events in the history of Convict Criminology.

Integrating current events with research using a variety of methods in scholarly analysis, Convict Criminology for the Future is invaluable reading for students and scholars of corrections, criminology, criminal justice, law, and sociology.

1 Introduction

Convict Criminology for the future¹

Jeffrey Ian Ross and Francesca Vianello

Introduction

Over the past two and a half decades, a small but growing group of individuals and supporters has identified and conducted research in the field of Convict Criminology (CC). Since the mid-1990s, this approach, group, organization, and/or network has generally recognized that the convict voice has been ignored in the fields of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Corrections scholarly research, policy, and practices (Ross & Richards, 2003; Jones, Ross, Richards, & Murphy, 2009). Convict Criminology includes people who are currently incarcerated (interchangeably referred to as convicts, inmates, and prisoners), formerly incarcerated people, and justice-impacted individuals (i.e., ranging from individuals who have been charged with, but not convicted of a criminal offense, to the loved ones of those who are charged, convicted, and/or sentenced to correctional facilities).² It also includes non-con academics who support the general mission of the network.³ Another distinguishing characteristic of CC members is the fact that these individuals are either in possession of a doctorate in Criminology/Criminal Justice or an allied field, or they are on their way to earning one.⁴ Although the contours of CC have been discussed elsewhere, this chapter outlines the rationale for a new edited book, its contents, and more subtle features of the project.

Dissemination of Convict Criminology ideas

Although Convict Criminology (CC) panels have been held at learned conferences, such as those organized by the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and the British Society of Criminology (BSC), workshops have also been held at different venues like prisons and universities, including the ones in Brazil and Argentina that Sacha Darke and Andy Aresti participated in over the past decade. In addition, the Global Perspectives on Re-Entry Conference held at the University of Tampere, Finland, in June 2010, organized by Ikponwosa O. (Silver) Ekunwe and Rick Jones, involved several people affiliated with the CC perspective, who gave papers either focusing on or related to CC. Most recently, a larger scale international conference held at the University of Padua (May 31–June 1, 2019) was solely dedicated to CC, the first of its kind.

It has been over 25 years since the very first panels on CC at the ASC meetings, and close to two decades since the publication of Ross and Richards’ book Convict Criminology (2003). Although the origins of CC predated the publication of this book, since then the number of individuals who identify with the goals and mission of the network has expanded. It has moved beyond a small nucleus of scholars who started meeting and discussing relevant ideas at the ASC meetings during the 1990s, to the loose collection of individuals we have today. We have entered a natural and logical phase that some of us are now calling Convict Criminology 2.0 (Richards, 2013). This involves the older leadership reducing their level of participation and, in many cases, turning over the reins of the organization to a younger generation of junior professors.

It is also understood that CC has expanded beyond its North American (and New Zealand) roots to include scholars from Great Britain and Europe (Ross, Darke, Aresti, Newbold, & Earle, 2014). In addition to efforts by Andy Aresti, Sacha Darke, Rod Earle, David Honeywell, and others in the United Kingdom (Earle, 2018), and Ikponwosa O. (Silver) Ekunwe in Finland, Francesca Vianello and Elton Kalica have been doing a considerable amount of work in Italy that falls under the CC rubric.

Convict Criminology has always been an informal organization. This model has its advantages, but this approach also comes with some hefty disadvantages. Although many individuals who write on CC themes are neither members of ASC nor do they come to the meetings, they have been connected to the network through social media (e.g., the – now dormant – CC listserv, the CC Twitter, and Facebook page or the British Convict Criminology Twitter page), and/or correspond with different members. That is why in the last few years, those most closely affiliated with CC in the United States developed a constitution, and are now holding regular business meetings at the ASC conferences. More recently, in April 2020, the Executive Board of the ASC approved the creation of a Division of Convict Criminology. This behind-the-scenes work was carried out by Grant Tietjen, Daniel Kavish, and Denise Woodall, with Jeffrey Ian Ross operating in a consulting role.

Part of CC’s academic work so far has been the publication of seminal pieces of scholarship appearing as scholarly articles, chapters in peer-reviewed books, and books. The scholarly output of individuals associated with CC has also included two special issues of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (2012, 2018). Other work has included papers presented at conferences and the introduction of this body of thought in university and prison classrooms (Rose, Reed, & Richards, 2005). These efforts have been buttressed by the activities of scholars and others who are mentoring convicts behind bars, those who are about to be released, and those who are back in our communities (Ross, 2019; Tewksbury & Ross, 2019).

In short, much has been accomplished. In order to do a stock-keeping and to consider how to best focus our efforts in the future, it is appropriate to periodically ask where CC has been and where are we going. To further this task, we held an international conference (May 31–June 1, 2019 at the University of Padua), not so much to present a collection of papers from individuals doing academic, scholarly, policy, and pedagogical work in our communities, but to chart a course for the future. Our intention was also not to review everything we have accomplished, but to lay down a foundation for what the future might hold.

The following is an overview of the book. It outlines the rationale for both the conference that occurred and the edited book, the topics covered, and the scholars who presented the papers. It then tries to synthesize what is to come in terms of the topics, the methodology, and the particular theoretical perspectives connected to the field of Convict Criminology.

Necessity for an up-to-date edited book on Convict Criminology

There are six principle reasons why there is a need for a new edited book on Convict Criminology.

First, although numerous papers on the subject of CC have been presented at academic conferences, some of which have been published in different venues, the conference provided an alternative opportunity for CC scholars to present their work to a large international audience, and to receive input from the attendees.

Second, even though a sole or co-authored book may have some advantages (e.g., Earle, 2016), no one in the CC network is currently proposing this kind of approach. Thus, in many respects, an edited collection of papers is the next best thing.

Third, given that only a small proportion of CC members and scholars could attend the conference, it is important to preserve what we have done so others can benefit from the work that was presented and the discussion that ensued.

Fourth, the original seminal book that Jeffrey Ian Ross and Stephen C. Richards edited, Convict Criminology (2003), is important and has served its purpose, but it is increasingly out of date.

Fifth, the original book has always been priced at a higher-than-average cost compared to most scholarly textbooks, and thus, it has always been our desire to find a publisher that will publish the new book at a more accessible price.

Sixth, and most importantly, unlike the previously edited CC book, this one is highly international in its approach. It brings together, for the first time, CC scholars from a number of countries and their unique views.

Subjects covered in this book

Seven primary and cross cutting themes are examined by the contributors to this book. At a bare minimum, the chapters cover many longstanding, current, and emerging issues and debates in the field of Convict Criminology. These items are not merely semantic or disciplinary bound, but are embedded in broader political and power dynamics and relationships. The following is a summary of those areas.

Historical underpinnings of Convict Criminology

The origins and history of Convict Criminology – in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and elsewhere – is of interest to numerous constituencies. That is why some of these chapters (e.g., Ross, Chapter 2 of this volume; Earle, Chapter 4 of this volume) involve retracing CC’s founding philosophy and intentions. Some contributions analyze the debt the discipline owes to the field of Critical Criminology, to the method of auto-ethnography, and identify its originality as the result of the field’s critique of its challenge to the hierarchy of credibility and authenticity in the fields of corrections and penology.

Adaptations to prison life

Gresham Sykes (1958) noted that prisoners make all sorts of adaptions to life behind bars. Some inmates choose to learn a marketable skill and get vocational training, while others pursue higher education. One strategy is to use the knowledge derived from the carceral experience to influence how the news media writes about prisons, prisoners, and the prison regime (e.g., Kalica, Chapter 5 of this volume). In this manner, convicts can assert their authority and expertise in understanding the prison experience and beyond. They can use the news media to disseminate information to the general public about prison conditions and to press their demands. Some of this discussion deals with the importance of higher education, and trying to educate the general public and journalists about prisons, prisoners, and sentencing. Others (i.e., prisoners and those who are released) use the education that they achieved during incarceration to both improve themselves and to advocate for those whom they do time with (Torrente, Chapter 14 of this volume).

Longstanding challenges for prisoners and formerly incarcerated people

Selected chapters in this book also examine how mothers (e.g., Bozkurt, Merico, Aresti, and Darke, Chapter 3 of this volume), those with psychiatric challenges (e.g., Sterchele, Chapter 12 of this volume), and prisoners who are political radicals (e.g., Sbraccia, Chapter 13 of this volume) experience incarceration, including the emotional turmoil they endure and subject their loved ones to. Not only is the carceral experience limited to those who are detained, but the families of the incarcerated are often greatly affected by this experience (e.g., Cox, Chapter 7 of this volume).

Individuals who are released from correctional facilities also deal with the challenges of re-entry. This process has been the subject of considerable research over the past two decades, and it is an area where CC has also contributed. For most convicts, re-entry is plagued with several well-known challenges. Not only must ex-cons find suitable places to live and work that pays the bills, but they are often faced with the need to negotiate family relationships and navigate the vagaries of parole. This includes a whole set of rules, many of which do not make sense and seem like the state is overreaching in its power. Ex-convicts may also encounter a succession of parole officers and a period of transcarceration whereby they cycle back and forth from the community to the prison. This creates numerous additional subtle challenges that they must negotiate. One of the challenges that Convict Criminology has explored includes transitioning from prison to the university setting (e.g. Ross, 2019; Tewksbury & Ross, 2019), and how the formerly incarcerated, who often have alcohol and drug addiction problems, can use mutual self-help mechanisms to preve...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: Convict Criminology for the future
• 2 Context is everything: understanding the scholarly, social, and pedagogical origins of Convict Criminology
• 3 Crossing borders, pushing boundaries and privileging ‘marginalised’ voices: surviving motherhood and prison
• 4 Doing time for Convict Criminology
• 5 Convict counter-information to contest crime-press disinformation
• 6 In the pool without a life jacket: status fragility and Convict Criminology in the current criminological era
• 7 A Convict Criminology approach to prisoner families
• 8 Developing Convict Criminology: notes from Italy
• 9 It’s time!: towards a Southern Convict Criminology
• 10 University education in prison and Convict Criminology: reflections from a field research study
• 11 The Convict University project and the autoethnography of the biographical changeover: a case study based on mutual narratives between external and convict students
• 12 Can the “psychiatric prisoner” speak?: notes from Convict Criminology and Disability Studies
• 13 Radicalization and experiences of detention
• 14 The reaction of the Italian prison administration: in the face of a convict criminologist
• 15 Rethinking punishment: prison research and the (un)intended challenges of institutional research ethics review
• 16 Conclusion: what have we learned, and what does the future hold for Convict Criminology?
• Appendix A: chronology of the history of Convict Criminology
• Index