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Social Construction of Crime and Crime Control

NCJ Number
126909
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 27 Issue: 4 Dated: (November 1990) Pages: 376-389
Author(s)
N H Rafter
Date Published
1990
Length
14 pages
Annotation
A number of disciplines have been deeply affected in recent years by constructionism, an approach that analyzes the processes by which social information is produced, disseminated, "verified," and "disconfirmed." Criminal justice too has developed a constructionist tradition, albeit mainly through attracting scholars from other fields into its terrain.
Abstract
This article traces the accumulation of the constructionist tradition within criminal justice by examining work in four areas: social histories of criminal justice practice and theory; critical criminology; research on the victimization of females; and feminist theory about the contribution of criminal justice to understandings of gender. If the constructionist approach continues to develop within criminal justice, it may lay the basis for a sociology of knowledge in the field. 10 notes and 120 references (Author abstract)

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