Alternative Perspectives in Criminology

A pioneering book on prisons in West Africa, Colonial Systems of Control: Criminal Justice in Nigeria is the first comprehensive presentation of life inside a West African prison. Chapters by prisoners inside Kirikiri maximum security prison in Lagos, Nigeria are published alongside chapters by scholars and activists. While prisoners document the daily realities and struggles of life inside a Nigerian prison, scholar and human rights activist Viviane Saleh-Hanna provides historical, political, and academic contexts and analyses of the penal system in Nigeria. The European penal models and institutions imported to Nigeria during colonialism are exposed as intrinsically incoherent with the community-based conflict-resolution principles of most African social structures and justice models. This book presents the realities of imprisonment in Nigeria while contextualizing the colonial legacies that have resulted in the inhumane brutalities that are endured on a daily basis. Keywords: Nigeria, West Africa, penal system, maximum-security prison

Cet ouvrage souligne le 40e anniversaire du Département de criminologie de l'Université d'Ottawa, fondé en 1968. On y relate l'histoire du département de ses origines à nos jours en mettant l'accent sur les débats théoriques qui ont influencé son approche critique et autoréflexive de la criminologie. Les articles qui le composent s'inscrivent dans cet ordre d'idée en mettant en question la perspective traditionnelle de la criminologie sur divers sujets, notamment les études policières, la santé mentale, la violence politique, le suicide et la prévention du crime. Droits et voix souligne le rle primordial que joue l'Université d'Ottawa dans la redéfinition de la criminologie et la promotion du militantisme, de la justice sociale et de la compassion. - This volume commemorates the 40th anniversary of the University of Ottawa's Department of Criminology, founded in 1968. It relates the history of the department from its origins to today, focusing on the theoretical debates that have influenced its critical and self-reflexive approach to criminology. The contributions to this volume continue in that vein by questioning the traditional perspective of criminology on a variety of topics including police studies, mental health, political violence, suicide, and crime prevention. Rights and Voices reveals the significant role that the University of Ottawa has played in redefining criminology to advocate activism, social justice, and compassion.

Stigma Revisited: Implications of the Mark is a collection of qualitative, empirical studies of populations who experience stigma. Discrimination, marginality and social injustice are recognized as indelibly tied to the phenomena of stigma. This volume builds on the work of Erving Goffman and integrates a larger, structural understanding of stigma based in Michel Foucault's governmentality writings. Contemporary notions of risk, riskiness and danger are linked to the labelling of "deviant" populations in the name of social control and risk management; these labels result in the institutional and systemic perpetuation of stereotypes and stigmatic attitudes. The research presented in this book addresses the individual experience of symbolic stigma as well as the collective impact of structural stigma. With unique, personal vignettes that position each of the academic contributors in relation to their subjects, this collection of essays challenges social science researchers to understand their own role in reproducing and contesting hegemonic discourses that stigmatize and marginalize.