Racialized Correctional Governance: The Mutual Constructions of Race and Criminal Justice(Advances in Criminology)

Racialized Correctional Governance examines problems in the relationship between criminology and racialized issues. It questions current models for discussing issues of race in criminal justice systems and asks why a comprehensive theory of race and criminal justice has yet to develop in the discipline. It takes into account the full nature of problems facing racialized peoples in criminal justice systems, the developments and tensions in criminological theory and practice, as well as the scope of racialized criminal justice issues and where they occur. Suggesting that current explanations for the over-representation of racialized peoples in the criminal justice system are inadequate, the book explores the mutual constructions of race and criminal justice. It examines the shortcomings of current discourse, giving an account of how race, criminal justice and criminology are interrelated. Aiming to provide criminology with tools to engage with issues of race and criminal justice, the book develops and applies a set of rules to a series of case studies and proposes ideas for transforming institutional practice.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface; Introduction; The `infallible science’ of offending behaviour; The rules of engagement; Unavoidable and undeniable history; Biculturalism: struggling to maintain dual histories; Diverse history, common practice; Conclusion; References; Index.

About the Author :
Claire Spivakovsky has worked in the academic, community and government sectors developing a range of social justice projects. She currently works at Monash University, Australia as a Lecturer in Criminology.

Review :
'Drawing on interviews with correctional staff in Australia and New Zealand, this study provides welcome critical assessment of contemporary questions about race and correctional governance in these two countries. By placing the empirical material in dialogue with theoretical debates about race, identity and penality, it moves ahead criminological understandings of all three issues.' Mary Bosworth, University of Oxford, UK and Monash University, Australia 'Claire Spivakovsky's cutting edge study cleverly shows how dialogues about race, punishment and rehabilitation intersect in the absence of an understanding of the complexities of race. The book ought to be read by practitioners and those with a conceptual interest in the fluid qualities of penal boundaries.' Kelly Hannah-Moffat, University of Toronto, Canada 'Racialized Correctional Governance provides a thought-provoking analysis of the way correctional policies and practices construct racialized identities. The book traces how older notions of racial inferiority are combined with new technologies of risk and anti-social behaviour to produce a discourse of racialized peoples as criminal populations. The author challenges criminologists to engage in a new way of thinking about race and criminal justice.' Chris Cunneen, James Cook University, Australia