The failure of postmodern criminology

Postmodernism has recently washed up on the shores of criminology, and is the subject of considerable theoretical debate. This essay critically assesses some of the most trenchant and relevant components of the theoretical bases for postmodernism, and sketches out their applicability to criminology. It argues that postmodernism can be of little assistance to intellectuals committed to critique and fundamental social change. While postmodernists look down so severely at ‘old-fashioned’ ‘meta-narratives’ like Marxism, it is now they who are falling off the contemporary agenda, because they are dated and theoretically flawed. My main argument is that the theoretical imporverishment of postmodernism creates an obstacle to the development of a truly critical criminology. One of the current challenges of critical criminology is to amplify the critique of postmodern criminology and to reorient the trajectory of critical criminology away from the postmodern detour. The essay explores the historical context of the emergence of postmodernism, the modernist/ postmodernist era, deconstructionism, ‘meta-narratives’, idealism, form and content, fragmentation/pluralism/relativism, absence of progressive praxis, conservatism and Marxism.     

Transcending the National / Asserting the National: How Stateless Nations like Scotland, Wales and Catalonia React to European Integration

How can minority nations, how can minority nationalists who assert their national identity not only accept, but in some cases even actively fight for a process of European integration which may have started to “transcend the national”? The article discusses what Europe has to offer them, and in what ways that offer may be “flawed”. It will compare nationalist strategies (Europe of the Regions, Independence in Europe), and establish relations between the choice of an European strategy and the consolidation of minority nationalism at home.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRIME AND INCARCERATION AMONG THE AMERICAN STATES1

Data from the 50 states for 1975 are analyzed to try to separate the presumed reciprocal effects on each other of crime rates and incarceration rates. Two-stage least-squares regression shows no significant effect of crime on incarceration nor of incarceration on crime. Incarceration rates are affected mainly by the percentage of blacks in the state population. Crime rates are significantly influenced by urbanization, region, mean income, and unemployment.     

Occupational licensing and minorities

The costs of occupational licensing fall disproportionately on minorities and the poor. Licensing seeks to eliminate the lower-quality, lower-price services that low-income consumers would be more likely to select. Perhaps more important, however, is the impact on workers who are denied entry into the occupation. Recent evidence confirms that licensing regulations esclude less-educated and minority workers more than proportionally. The consequences for these excluded workers include unemployment or lower earnings—either by moving to a less-favored occupation or practicing without a license. The outcomes ofnonprofessional trades regulated by licensing are similar to those predicted by segmented labor market theory. Those who fail to obtain the credential (license) are denied access to the trade even if they are no less productive.