Charting a place for islands in criminology

• In Event: Theoretical Advances in Critical Criminology

Abstract

Too often, criminological theories are developed through testing in one environment, typically urban. Drawing on our recent book Island Criminology (2023, BUP) in this paper, we seek to chart the place of islands in criminology with respect to both their place- and space-based attributes. Drawing on insights into criminological practices in rural places, we explore the possibilities of island criminology through a small but growing body of work that has emerged in Europe, especially the Scandinavian countries. The distinct attributes of islands give presence to what has been termed ‘islandness’. We argue that islandness can be associated with characteristics that are associated with ideal gemeinschaft settings and as such can be crime preventative. Indeed, these may be considered as mostly positive attributes and present islands as places of social capital, but there is potentially also a criminogenic side to island experience informed by the politics of place and belonging. As such, there is a need for criminology to consider islands as places of production (agriculture, industry), consumption (tourism, retirement sites) and exclusion (detention centres, prisons).

Author

• John Geoffrey Scott, Queensland University if technology