Let the Convicts Speak: A Critical Conversation of the Ongoing Language Debate in Convict Criminology

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Date

2022-04-18

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Taylor & Francis

Abstract

In 2020, some scholars publicly demanded that the newly established Division of Convict Criminology (DCC) of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) change its name. Critics asserted that the use of ‘convict’ caused further stigmatization of those of us with direct criminal justice experience. Unbeknownst to those critics, prior to the official formation of the DCC, the informal group known as Convict Criminology engaged in a decades long conversation about language and appropriate terminology. This paper responds to the critiques by exploring the power of language, summarizing various sides of the ongoing language debate, reviewing existing convict criminology research, and addressing structural violence within the academy. We conclude with a call to action that asks scholars to address the endemic structural violence in academia that perpetuates our oppression before attempting to police our language.

Description

This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Criminal Justice Studies. Ortiz, J. M., Cox, A., Kavish, D. R., & Tietjen, G. (2022). Let the convicts speak: a critical conversation of the ongoing language debate in convict criminology. Criminal Justice Studies, 35(3), 255-273. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords

Convict criminology, language, convict, structural violence

Citation

Ortiz, Jennifer M., Alison Cox, Daniel Ryan Kavish, and Grant Tietjen. "Let the convicts speak: a critical conversation of the ongoing language debate in convict criminology." Criminal Justice Studies 35, no. 3 (2022): 255-273.

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Article