Contemporary Anarchist Criminology

Contemporary Anarchist
Criminology

Against Authoritarianism
and Punishment

Anthony J. Nocella II,
Mark Seis,
Jeff Shantz,

EDITORS

PETER LANG

New York • Bern • Berlin •
Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nocella, Anthony J., editor. | Seis, Mark C., editor.

Shantz, Jeff, editor.

Title: Contemporary anarchist criminology: against authoritarianism and punishment / Anthony J. Nocella II, Mark Seis, and Jeff Shantz, editors.

Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2018.

Series: Radical animal studies and total liberation; vol. 6

ISSN 2469-3065 (print) | ISSN 2469-3081 (online)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018021042 | ISBN 978-1-4331-5800-1 (hardback: alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4331-5804-9 (paperback: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-5801-8 (ebook pdf) ISBN 978-1-4331-5802-5 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-5803-2 (mobi)

Subjects: LCSH: Criminology. | Anarchism. | Criminal justice, Administration of.

Classification: LCC HV6030 .C675 | DDC 364—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018021042

DOI 10.3726/b14254

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

© 2018 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York

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www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

About the editors

Anthony J. Nocella II, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology in the Institute for Public Safety at Salt Lake Community College. He has published over fifty peer-reviewed book chapters or articles and over forty books.

Mark Seis, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Sociology at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. He has published on a variety of topics ranging from the juvenile death penalty to environmental policy.

Jeff Shantz, Ph.D., currently teaches critical theory, elite deviance, and community organizing in the Department of Criminology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Metro Vancouver, Canada.

About the book

Contemporary Anarchist Criminology: Against Authoritarianism and Punishment offers a cuttingedge critical assessment of criminology by creating provocative discussions regarding business as usual in the criminal justice system. This exciting interdisciplinary book explores a diversity of topics that range from the construction of criminal law, to Lombroso, to deviant behavior, to prison abolition, to transformative justice, to restorative justice, to environmental justice, and to the prison industrial complex. Contemporary Anarchist Criminology is a must-read book for anyone looking for a serious critique of the criminal justice system, specifically for those in sociology, political science, criminology, peace and conflict studies, and criminal justice. Contemporary Anarchist Criminology is not for the timid, but for those wanting to challenge and dismantle the current forms of domination, oppression, and injustice that frame and define the current system of justice.

Advance Praise for

Contemporary Anarchist Criminology

“This book is a much-needed defense of the work we do nationally in ending the incarceration of all youth and promoting transformative justice.”

—Madelynne Kinoshita, Save the Kids “

The editors and authors in Contemporary Anarchist Criminology are unwavering in their fearlessness to throw bold punches at authority and convention. Where many may not understand, their approaches and position deserve careful consideration in these most uncertain times.”

—David Stovall, Professor of African-American Studies and Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

“A must-read book for those who know the criminal justice system is broken, and want a solution. The editors and contributors present an anarchist theory of criminology, sure to challenge the failings of the criminal justice system for decades to come.”

—Amber E. George, Editor, Journal for Critical Animal Studies

“Contemporary Anarchist Criminology is a brilliant, insightful, and uncom-promising collection, which both empowers and inspires the reader in equal measure. First, by provoking an urgently needed critical reading of the deep and inherent failings of orthodox judicial systems to come to the fore. Second, through advancing a range of persuasive arguments for anarchist criminologies to underpin new visions, and animate new ways-of-beings, in order to usher in new forms of social justice into the world. Crucially, these radical expressions of social justice, rooted as many are in intersectional resistance movements, and steeped in a politics of total liberation, are always in existence far removed from the twin tyrannies of capital and state. In short, this book makes a powerful and timely intervention into the existing literature, and deserves to be read widely.”

—Richard J. White, Reader in Human Geography, Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom

“We live in increasingly illiberal times. According to the CIVICUS ‘State of Civil Society Report’ for 2017, only 3% of the world’s people live in nation-states where civic space is fully open. There is a need to look for alternative intellectual and institutional models that will increase the space for broader public engagement, allowing for the attainment of greater social justice. Contemporary Anarchist Criminology contributes significantly to this search, introducing readers to a range of voices, ideas, and arguments, many of them with a long lineage, and yet seldom heard within the mainstream of conventional wisdom regarding our criminal justice system. The introductory chapter by the editors, plus the nine chapters by various contributors, including present-day prisoners, offer a compelling critique of current ideologies, policies, and practices, while furnishing humane and doable paths for action.”