Explores the role of stories in criminal culture and justice systems
around the world
Stories are much more than a means of communication--stories help us
shape our identities, make sense of the world, and mobilize others to
action. In Narrative Criminology, prominent scholars from across the
academy and around the world examine stories that animate offending.
From an examination of how criminals understand certain types of crime
to be less moral than others, to how violent offenders and drug users
each come to understand or resist their identity as 'criminals', to how
cultural narratives motivate genocidal action, the case studies in this
book cover a wide array of crimes and justice systems throughout the
world.
The contributors uncover the narratives at the center of their essays
through qualitative interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and written
archives, and they scrutinize narrative structure and meaning by
analyzing genres, plots, metaphors, and other components of
storytelling. In doing so, they reveal the cognitive, ideological, and
institutional mechanisms by which narratives promote harmful action.
Finally, they consider how offenders' narratives are linked to and
emerge from those of conventional society or specific subcultures. Each
chapter reveals important insights and elements for the development of a
framework of narrative criminology as an important approach for
understanding crime and criminal justice. An unprecedented and landmark
collection, Narrative Criminology opens the door for an exciting new
field of study on the role of stories in motivating and legitimizing
harm.