The History of Criminal Justice as the Academic Arm of State Violence

• In Event: Abolish Criminology: Book Panel and Discussion

Abstract

Since its early days as an offshoot of positivism and scientific racism, criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) has been an international tool of white supremacy. In the US, Spanish-American war veteran August Vollmer founded CCJ as an academic discipline to provide and retain legitimacy for the nascent criminal legal system. The federal government broadly expanded on Vollmer’s vision with the George-Deen Act of 1936 that increased funding for CCJ. Funding continued to increase during the 1960s in response to the Civil Rights Movement, increasing the number of academic programs from 204 in 1963 to 1027 in 1977. With this the federal government solidified its role in expanding CCJ programs and research. The consequences were a more professionalized and centralized criminal legal system rooted in US legacies of white supremacy.

Authors

• Brian Pitman, Lander University

• Stephen T. Young, Marshall University

• Ryan Phillips, Marshall University