Book review: Macrocriminology and Freedom, by John Braithwaite
| Author | Sandra Walklate |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/17488958221102999 |
| Published date | 01 April 2023 |
| Date | 01 April 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Book review |
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2023, Vol. 23(2) 309 –310
© The Author(s) 2022
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Book review
John Braithwaite, Macrocriminology and Freedom, ANU Press: Canberra, ACT, Australia, 2021;
791 pp.: 9781760464806 (print), 9781760464813 (online). Open access.
Reviewed by: Sandra Walklate, University of Liverpool, UK; Monash University, Australia
DOI: 10.1177/17488958221102999
Once heralded by Thomas Scheff as the new Durkheim (Scheff, 1990), the presence of
John Braithwaite on the global stage of criminology has been profound. A presence made
increasingly influential because of the open access publishing project embraced by ANU
Publishing in which this book is John’s most recent contribution. At nearly 800 pages
(100 of which are the bibliography), this book not only offers an insight into John’s wide-
ranging contribution and his current thinking in relation to the state of criminology, but
more pragmatically it is an important resource for any student coming to criminological
theorizing for the first time. In addition, the appendix summarizes the 150 propositions
emanating from these papers, which provides a very useful cross-referencing resource.
Importantly in these pages, John is truly appreciative of the history of the discipline and
the context in which its shape and contours have evolved over time. In a short review of
this kind, there are dangers in doing disservice to the content and coverage afforded here.
However, getting my defense in first, and after having taken a long hard look at this book
and its contents, I am taking the book as a provocation. Moreover, if taken as a provoca-
tion, I am sure this book will generate much debate and so I hope this review will con-
tribute to such a debate going forward.
The book adopts the view that “the concept of crime does useful work in all societies.
Crime marks off certain wrongdoing as particularly harmful compared with other harms
because they are acts of domination” (p. 55). Recognizing crime as an act of domination
(and thus intimately connected with freedom), the criminal law and its implementation is
also invoked as an arena in which the harm done by such wrongdoing is exacerbated
through respective criminal justice modes of domination (as is the case for many
Indigenous communities, for example). Indeed, Braithwaite goes on to make the case that
a key objective of justice is domination reduction. In drawing both implicitly and explic-
itly on methodological pluralism, structuration theory, and the need to integrate the micro-,
meso-, and macro levels of analysis, the case is made to move beyond the criminalization
of individuals toward the criminalization of organizations, the state, markets, and space–
time contexts. Thus, in a far-reaching analysis rooted in a historical appreciation of the
1102999CRJ0010.1177/17488958221102999Criminology & Criminal JusticeBook review
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