Critical Criminology and Race: Re‐examining the Whiteness of US Criminological Thought
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Author | KENNETH SEBASTIÁN LEÓN |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12441 |
The Howard Journal Vol60 No 3. September 2021 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12441
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 388–408
Critical Criminology and Race:
Re-examining the Whiteness of US
Criminological Thought
KENNETH SEBASTIÁN LEÓN
Assistant Professor of Latino and Caribbean Studies, Faculty Affiliate,
Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, USA
Abstract: Race and racism are defining features of criminal justice systems in the United
States. Race is also a defining feature of criminological theory. Therehave been robust ef-
forts to address racism within theories and institutional practices pertaining to crime, law,
and institutions of formal social control, but whiteness remains at the core of criminologi-
cal knowledge production. The current article providesempirical support for showing how
whiteness conditions the academic discourses of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ)
in the United States. CCJ research plays an important role in discussions of racial justice
and public policy. By studying the racialised (that is, white) nature of the CCJ research
industry, we can better understand where critical criminology ‘fits’ in the broaderstruggle
for social, racial and epistemological justice.
Keywords: critical criminology; observer identification; race; whiteness
Race and racism are defining features of criminal justice systems in the
United States. Race is also a defining feature of criminological theory.
There have been robust efforts to address racism within theories and insti-
tutional practices pertaining to crime, law and institutions of formal social
control, but whiteness remains at the core of criminological knowledge pro-
duction. This article provides empirical support for showing how whiteness
conditions academic discourses in criminology and criminal justice (CCJ)
within the United States. By studying the racialised (that is, white) nature
of the CCJ research industry,we can better understand where critical crim-
inology ‘fits’ in the broader struggle for social, racial and epistemological
justice.
Racism, capital and patriarchy are central to understanding the his-
tory and evolution of modern criminal justice systems (for example, po-
lice, courts, corrections). In the United States context, racial disparities
can be seen at virtually every stage (Fernandes and Crutchfield 2018; Pe-
terson 2012; Peterson, Krivo and Russell-Brown2018; Sawyer 2020). Such
systems, however, exist independently from academics and their research
388
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2021 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
The Howard Journal Vol60 No 3. September 2021
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 388–408
output. As a labour force, the CCJ research profession (critical criminol-
ogy included) is also raced, and characterised by its whiteness (see Greene
2000; Greene, Gabbidon and Wilson 2018; Smith 2014). Insofar as the race
of the researcher influences the epistemological standpoint of the research,
criminological theories and paradigms reflect the application of white log-
ics (Henne and Shah 2015; Phillips et al. 2020) to the disproportionate
surveillance and control of racialised subjects. Though some readers might
interpret these claims as polemic or inflammatory,whiteness in CCJ can be
empirically measured, and this article offers a concise way of doing so.
Though the present article focuses on US phenomena, there is a wealth
of critical European scholarship on race within policing (Parmar 2019;
Sharp and Atherton 2007), courts (Davis and Vennard 2006), and correc-
tional systems (Cheliotis and Liebling 2006). Global North and Southern
criminologies have also engaged in increased dialogue to improve CCJ in-
quiry and address both colonial and nationalistic biases (see Carrington,
Hogg and Sozzo 2016; Fitzpatrick 1989; King 2017; León 2021). Taken
together, these works collectively speak to the relationship between power,
epistemology, human geography, and the ‘racial politics of criminologi-
cal knowledge’ (Brunsma and Padilla Wyse 2019; Henne and Shah 2015,
p.106; Zevallos 2019). In a contemporary climate where race informs both
progressive and repressive social movements, the current article offers a
cross-sectional snapshot of how whiteness conditions both the depth and
breadth of knowledge claims about crime, criminality and criminalisation
(León 2021; Smith 2014).
I begin with a brief primer on critical criminology in the United States.
The subsequent section examines whiteness and the black/white binary
within and beyond the academy. I then describe the data and reflectively
describe observer identification, making clear how this method of ostensi-
bly ‘seeing’ race is fundamentally contrived, and yet systematically preva-
lent across public administrative systems. I then present demographic find-
ings about the sampled CCJ labour force, followed by the analysis and
discussion. Caveats, limitations, and the broader significance of the article
precede the conclusion. The aim of this article is to provide evidence and
pedagogical value for understanding how whiteness – both as a socially-
constructed indicator and a hegemonic feature of criminological theory –
continues to shape CCJ discourses.
Critical Criminology and Race
This article is part of a special issue on critical criminology. Critical crim-
inology – broadly defined – reflects a commitment to punching upward
at hegemonic forms of power that shape criminological and criminal jus-
tice phenomena. The meaning of critical is contingent, and largely defined
in direct – and often antagonistic – relation to the orthodoxy of a given
time.1The historical evolution and contemporary advancements in critical
criminology are beyond the purview of the current article, but its history
in formal academic spaces is connected to social movements and politi-
cal conflicts over knowledge production. Though science is never immune
389
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2021 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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