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Criminology for Queers? Charting a Space for Queer Communities in Criminology

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Criminology and Queer Theory

Part of the book series: Critical Criminological Perspectives ((CCRP))

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Abstract

This chapter considers the ways in which queer criminological scholarship can learn from and contribute to feminist and counter-colonial criminologies. These existing critical criminologies have pushed against criminology in the interests of a group of people who have experienced injustice, and their experiences can be instructive in the development of queer criminology. The chapter explores key debates and commonalities across these criminologies, and concludes by pointing to some of the intersections that are possible between them, particularly the ways that queer criminology can help feminist criminologies avoid being framed by cisgender assumptions, and the ways that queer criminology can be decolonised. Doing so will help make queer criminology more reflexive and intersectional.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is important to note that the use of the term ‘transgender woman’, instead of the term ‘woman’ in this instance, can be problematic, and, in fact, an example of these very dynamics. The use of the term ‘transgender’ in front of ‘woman’ can be understood as somewhat of a qualifier, reinforcing the exclusion of transgender people from the category of ‘woman’ and reserving that term solely for non-transgender people. In using the term here, I do not want to reinforce the notion that transgender women are not women, but rather to reinforce the greater complexity of who is considered a ‘woman’, and because language currently fails us in many respects in this context.

  2. 2.

    While this discussion is focused on feminist criminology, similar assumptions and critiques also apply to criminological research on masculinities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Matthew Ball

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Ball, M. (2016). Criminology for Queers? Charting a Space for Queer Communities in Criminology. In: Criminology and Queer Theory. Critical Criminological Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45328-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45328-0_5

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-45327-3

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