"New" Radical Criminology: An Outline of Postmodernist and Post-structuralist Criminological Theories

Abstract

The aim and goal of this paper is to outline postmodernist and post-structuralist criminological theories and to contribute to their recognition in Slovenia. Postmodernist and post-structuralist criminological reflections are critical of some universally accepted 'truths' of mainstream criminological thought, as well as of the common assumptions of traditional critical criminological theory. Focusing on wider social and legal contexts of crime and criminal policy, and on the philosophical problems of criminology as a social science discipline on the one hand, the epistemological problems of criminology on the other, postmodernist and post-structuralist criminologists consider that alternative and experimental scientific methods of and approaches to examining crime are needed in contemporary postmodern society. In spite of numerous criticisms from all parts of the ideological spectrum, postmodernist criminology is approached in this paper in a mostly positive way, as a 'new' current of radical criminological thought, which demonstrates the potential of progressive thinking about crime and crime-related issues.