Indigenous Criminology

Indigenous Criminology is the first book to comprehensively explore Indigenous people’s contact with criminal justice systems in a contemporary and historical context. Drawing on comparative Indigenous material from North America, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, it addresses both the theoretical underpinnings to the development of a specific Indigenous criminology, and canvasses the broader policy and practice implications for criminal justice. Written by leading criminologists specialising in Indigenous justice issues, the book argues for the importance of Indigenous knowledges and methodologies to criminology, and suggests that colonialism needs to be a fundamental concept to criminology in order to understand contemporary problems such as deaths in custody, high imprisonment rates, police brutality and the high levels of violence in some Indigenous communities. Prioritising the voices of Indigenous peoples, the work will make a significant contribution to the development of a decolonising criminology and will be of wide interest.

Indigenous peoples are vastly overrepresented in the Canadian criminal justice system. The Canadian government has framed this disproportionate victimization and criminalization as being an "Indian problem." In The Colonial Problem, Lisa Monchalin challenges the myth of the "Indian problem" and encourages readers to view the crimes and injustices affecting Indigenous peoples from a more culturally aware position. She analyzes the consequences of assimilation policies, dishonoured treaty agreements, manipulative legislation, and systematic racism, arguing that the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the Canadian criminal justice system is not an Indian problem but a colonial one.

Indigenous Criminology is the first book to explore indigenous peoples' contact with criminal justice systems comprehensively in a contemporary and historical context. Drawing on comparative indigenous material from North America, Australia, and New Zealand, it both addresses the theoretical underpinnings of a specific indigenous criminology and explores this concept's broader policy and practice implications for criminal justice at large. Written by leading criminologists specializing in indigenous peoples, Indigenous Criminology argues for the importance of indigenous knowledge and methodologies in shaping this field and suggests that the concept of colonialism is fundamental to understanding contemporary problems of criminology, such as deaths in custody, high imprisonment rates, police brutality, and the high levels of violence in some indigenous communities. Prioritizing the voices of indigenous peoples, this book will make a significant and lasting contribution to the decolonizing of criminology.

This book undertakes an exploratory exercise in decolonizing criminology through engaging postcolonial and postdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies. Through its historical and political analysis and place-based case studies, it challenges criminological inquiry by installing colonial structures of power at the centre of the contemporary criminological debate. This work unseats the Western nation-state as the singular point of departure for comparative criminological and socio-legal research. Decolonising Criminology argues that postcolonial and postdisciplinary critique can open up new pathways for criminological investigation. It builds on recent debates in criminology from outside of the Anglosphere. The authors deploy a number of heuristic devices, perspectives and theories generally ignored by criminologists of the Global North and engage perspectives concerned with articulating new decolonised epistemologies of the Global South. This book disputes the view that colonisation is a thing of the past and provides lessons for the Global North.

Justice, Indigenous Peoples, and Canada: A History of Courage and Resilience brings together the work of a number of leading researchers to provide a broad overview of criminal justice issues that Indigenous people in Canada have faced historically and continue to face today. Both Indigenous and Canadian scholars situate current issues of justice for Indigenous peoples, broadly defined, within the context of historical realities and ongoing developments. By examining how justice is defined, both from within Indigenous communities and outside of them, this volume examines the force of Constitutional reform and subsequent case law on Indigenous rights historically and in contemporary contexts. It then expands the discussion to include theoretical considerations, particularly settler colonialism, that help explain how ongoing oppressive and assimilationist agendas continue to affect how so-called "justice" is administered. From a critical perspective, the book examines the operation of the criminal justice system, through bail, specialized courts, policing, sentencing, incarceration and release. It explores legal frameworks as well as current issues that have significantly affected Indigenous peoples, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, human rights, resurgence and identity. This unique collection of perspectives exposes the disconcerting agenda of historical and modern-day Canadian federal government policy and the continued denial of Indigenous rights to self-determination. It is essential reading for those interested in the struggles of the Indigenous peoples in Canada as well as anyone studying race, crime and justice.

This book closes a gap in decolonizing intersectional and comparative research by addressing issues around the mass incarceration of Indigenous women in the US, Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand. This edited collection seeks to add to the criminological discourse by increasing public awareness of the social problem of disproportionate incarceration rates. It illuminates how settler-colonial societies continue to deny many Indigenous peoples the life relatively free from state interference which most citizens enjoy. The authors explore how White-settler supremacy is exercised and preserved through neo-colonial institutions, policies and laws leading to failures in social and criminal justice reform and the impact of women’s incarceration on their children, partners, families, and communities. It also explores the tools of activism and resistance that Indigenous peoples use to resist neo-colonial marginalisation tactics to decolonise their lives and communities. With most contributors embedded in their indigenous communities, this collection is written from academic as well as community and experiential perspectives. It will be a comprehensive resource for academics and students of criminology, sociology, Indigenous studies, women and gender studies and related academic disciplines, as well as non-academic audiences: offering new knowledge and insider insights both nationally and internationally.

This book is about people who are marginalised in criminology; it is an attempt to make space and amplify voices that are too often overlooked, spoken about, or for. In recognising the deep-seated structural inequalities that exist within criminal justice, higher education, and the field of criminology, we offer this text as a critical pause to the reader and invite you to reflect and consider within your studies and learning experience, your teaching, and your research: whose voices dominate, and whose are marginalised or excluded within criminology and why? This edited collection offers chapters from international criminology scholars, activists, and practitioners to bring together a range of perspectives that have been marginalised or excluded from criminological discourse. It considers both obscured and marginalised criminological theorists and schools of thought, presents alternative viewpoints on ‘traditional’ criminal justice themes, and considers how marginalisation is perpetuated through criminological research and criminological teaching. Engaging with debates on power, colonialism, identity, hegemony and privilege, and bringing together perspectives on gender, race and ethnicity, indigenous knowledge (s), queer and LGBTQ+ issues, disabilities, and class, this concise collection brings together key thinkers and ideas around concerns about epistemological supremacy. Marginalised Voices in Criminology is crucial reading for courses on criminological theory and concerns, diversity, gender, race, and identity.