Affective Architecture: Trends in the Study of Justice Buildings

• In Event: Affective Architecture: Public Perceptions, Institutional Legitimacy and Interpretations of Space

Abstract

Considering recent calls for further exploration of the influence of architecture on individual and collective affect (Nulman, 2010) and the increasing interest in enhancing the public’s positive affect towards legal institutions (Tyler, 2002), we sought to quantify the interest and amount work being done on the subject in the fields of criminal justice and criminology. We obtained ten years of presentations given at the annual meetings of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, along with published articles in Criminology and Justice Quarterly, the official journals of these organizations. We present the results of these findings, pointing out the limitations in the area at present and proposing potential areas of additional research.

Authors

• Victor J. St. John, The Graduate Center, John Jay College / CUNY

• Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, The Graduate Center, John Jay College / CUNY