Conclusion

By thinking more carefully about the importance of power, the way it operates, and the considerable resources that the powerful have at their disposal, the imbalance of criminal justice and problems of ‘crime’ and social harm become more clearly observable.

Review Questions

• What are the difficulties of conducting critical criminological research?
• How does researching the powerful reshape the boundaries and goals of the field of criminology?
• What are some of the current dominant discourses in criminology, criminal justice, and society more generally, and how might they be challenged?