In this chapter, criminology is interpreted broadly to include such areas as law and social control, criminal justice practice, the sociology of deviance and mental illness, penology, and social problems. The postmodern critique endeavors to show how dominant discourses or language systems (e.g., law) and the coordinates used to define them (i.e., legalese) exclude and silence the voice of those who do not convey meaning from within the privileged (juridical) code in use. This discussion explores three themes germane to any postmodern analysis. First, it considers the role language has in structuring criminological thought; second, it addresses how such thought values only certain expressions of subjectivity or desire in criminological discourse; third, it discusses how these dominantly codified meanings subsequently produce a circumscribed knowledge that invalidates alternative conceptualization. Underlying the discussion is a single issue: namely, the form that discourse, subjectivity, and knowledge assume in the constitution of criminological theory. In the course of this discussion, speculative reference to race, class, and gender concerns in criminal justice are incorporated into the analysis. 63 references