Subject: Re: Peacemaking crim?
From: Stuart Henry (ah2195@wayne.edu)
Date: Mon Mar 20 2000 - 16:48:18 CST
Jim:
Well, although I am a supporter of PMC there are those who'd argue that
reforming subparts of the totality to make them more user friendly
(informal) is actually "another turn of the ideological scew" (Rick Abel)
whereby folks are coopted into believing that something important has
changed when it has not and that instead of dealing with the wider
structural issues, these are further masked; then if the outcomes are more
humane but problems persist, the mainstream can blame the alternatives for
failing, being too lenient etc., and thereby excuse themselves while
holding on to power. Others of course, even more mainstream folk like
Donald Black disagree arguing that structure can change incrementally by
chaning subsystems; that if we increase forms like peacemaking, restorative
justice, informal social control, we become less dependent on formal law
and the structure of society is transformed.
Also, check Don Gibbon's Thinking about Crime and Criminals (1994) and
Beirne and Messerschmidt's Criminology.
Cheers
Stuart
At 12:14 PM 3/20/00 -0600, you wrote:
>We're finishing a paper on peacemaking criminology and would like to
>include a few criticisms that have appeared in some mainstream journals
>or books in the last few years. But, other than Ron Akers' criticisms
>in his crim theory volume, we haven't seen much. Have we just missed
>them, or isn't there much published out there?
>
>For those critical of PMC, what are the most serious problems with it?
>
>jt
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Jim Thomas / Department of Sociology / Northern Illinois University
> http://www.soci.niu.edu/~jthomas
>
>
>
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Stuart Henry, Ph.D.
Director/Associate Dean
INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES PROGRAM
College of LifeLong Learning
Wayne State University
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