Decolonization of Criminology and Justice

Editorial 6(2)

2024-10-25T10:49:48+13:00

The Garrison and the Jamaican State: A Model for Co-optation

2024-11-01T09:14:02+13:00

The informal system that is present in communities called garrisons in Jamaica often operate outside of the law. Under the leadership of dons, who were initially appointed to carry out the dictates of politicians, the operations of the garrison accounts for approximately 40% of Jamaica’s homicide and is perceived as a socially disorganized space. Research done on these communities suggests that dismantling these communities will ameliorate the high incidence of crime. The main question of this study is, are these communities socially disorganized spaces? The major argument is, the ineptitude of the Jamaican state has resulted in the institution of various mechanisms by non-state actors within these communities to address their justice concerns, and there is an implicit reliance on their services by the Jamaican state. The problem of crime in Jamaica is complex and requires a multi-dimensional approach to addressing the issue. In this paper, I use a Foucauldian lens to highlight the utility of this instituted informal system and suggest that any strategies geared towards addressing crime and violence that occur in these communities should explore coalescing these informal structures into Jamaica’s formal framework.

A Method for Evaluating the Adequacy of Police and Coroner Investigations into Suspicious Unnatural Deaths

2024-11-01T09:15:37+13:00

Canada has witnessed thousands of Indigenous testimonies about the suspicious deaths and disappearances of their loved ones and the deficient or non-existent investigations thereafter. Despite growing attention to Indigenous deaths in inquiries and government apologies, there remains little information at ground level for families on how to challenge investigative practices and few cases that have done so successfully. Our research began when we were invited to evaluate the investigations into the suspicious deaths of three Indigenous youth in Canada. We did so by comparing police and coroner behaviour in those cases to standard practices required by provincial, federal, and international guidelines for police and coroners. Results revealed numerous instances of inadequacy where investigators either did not perform required procedure(s) or did not complete tasks to internationally recognized standards; police and the coroner performed half or fewer of “required” procedures in each of the three cases. An important product of our evaluation is a checklist of standard investigative procedures that other families and communities can use to assess other investigations into questionable deaths that occur in their communities and press for accountability.

Searching for Justice: Indigenous Self-Determination over the Landfill Search as a Matter of Justice for MMIWG2S

2024-10-25T09:33:01+13:00

“Search the Landfill” is an Indigenous-led movement for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S) which originated through Indigenous resistance to police racism in Winnipeg, Canada. The movement calls upon all levels of government to support and execute the search of the Prairie Green Landfill, just north of the City of Winnipeg, to recover the bodies of at least two of four First Nations women who were murdered in early 2022 at the hands of a white male serial killer. Through an analysis of the news articles, press releases, and reports, this paper explores the way in which Indigenous leaders resisted and rewrote the discourses that surrounded the search. By at once condemning the Winnipeg Police Service’s refusal to search the landfill and rejecting police authority and control over the decision-making process, Indigenous women who became the leaders of this movement crafted the space to articulate for themselves how and why the search must be done as a matter of Indigenous rights. This paper explores how Indigenous leadership offers glimpses of what a decolonizing approach to justice may look like in cases of MMIWG2S and which, in turn, invites further opportunities to problematize, subvert, and move beyond the Western legal norms and traditions.

Cunneen, C. (2023). Defund the Police: An International Insurrection. Bristol University Press.

2024-10-25T09:32:58+13:00

Page, C. & Woodland, E. (2023). Healing Justice Lineages: Dreaming at the Crossroads of Liberation, Collective Care, and Safety. North Atlantic Books.

2024-10-25T09:32:56+13:00