Decolonization of Criminology and Justice (E-Journal)
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Statement on the war in Gaza and genocide of the Palestinian people: drafted by Chris Cunneen and signed by over 100 Australian and New Zealand scholars
No full textWe made our Statement on the War in Gaza and Genocide of Palestinian People to break the unconscionable silence among the criminological community within Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia on the genocide, and the ongoing apartheid, land dispossession and other human rights abuses of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and within Israel
The War in Gaza and Genocide of Palestinian People: Why Should Criminologists Be Engaged?
No full textThe silence within the criminological community on the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza, and the ongoing apartheid, land dispossession and other human rights abuses of Palestinians in the Occupied Territory of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and in Israel, is pronounced. This article sets out to unpack why these events should be seen as core to the work we undertake within the discipline. The article argues that the events in Palestine (including Gaza and the Occupied Territory) cut across many matters of widespread importance to criminology including, child protection, corporate crime, disability justice, discrimination and violence against women; ecocide and environmental criminology; global criminology; human rights; Indigenous knowledges and justice; green criminology; media; policing; settler colonialism and coloniality; state crime; teaching and research in criminology; war crimes and youth justice. It is also argued that there are strong ethical values underpinning the urgency of taking a committed position, including a responsibility to oppose genocide and apartheid, to uphold the values of preserving human life in various cultural forms and the non-human environment that sustains life, and opposition to racism, discrimination and oppression in all its manifestations. 
The Smiling Assassin: Family Group Conferencing as Cultural Genocide in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textThis article critically examines the Family Group Conferencing (FGC) forum in Aotearoa New Zealand from 2005-2025, drawing on my unique positioning as a state care survivor, FGC practitioner, and researcher on the forum and the wider context of Child Care and Protection policy and practice. Through Kaupapa Māori longitudinal analysis of Māori experiences with FGC, my research reveals a profound disconnect between institutional rhetoric presenting FGC as culturally responsive, and the lived experiences of whānau Māori (Māori families) who frequently encounter the forum as disempowering and culturally tokenistic. The research demonstrates how, despite superficial adaptations over two decades, the FGC forum continues to function primarily as a mechanism of state control that facilitates rather than prevents the removal of tamariki Māori (Māori children) from their cultural contexts. Through longitudinal interviews with Māori practitioners and whānau participants, the article examines the mystification process whereby Indigenous cultural elements are selectively incorporated into state processes without meaningful power-sharing or attention to Māori aims for self-determination. The findings contribute to decolonising critiques of restorative justice and call for fundamental transformation rather than incremental reform of family decision-making processes affecting Māori communities
Vergès, F. (2024). Making the World Clean: Wasted Lives, Wasted Environment, and Racial Capitalism.
No full textUnderstanding Domestic Violence in the Caribbean through Decolonial Lens: Decolonizing Domestic Violence
No full textCurrent scholarship on domestic violence in the Caribbean is authored through colonial lens. This approach is facilitated and continued through a paucity of research examining the historical antecedents of domestic violence in the region. This dearth of scholarly literature on the antecedents of domestic violence in the region enables the narrative that Caribbean residents are naturally violent in intimate relationships. However, this viewpoint fails to grasp the history of violence perpetrated upon Caribbean peoples by their former colonial masters and which is argued to be the precursor to domestic violence in the Caribbean today. The author of this article argues that violence in intimate settings in the Caribbean has it genesis in colonialism and should be critically analyzed using decolonial lens, however, this is a sensitive and difficult intellectual task. This paper presents a decolonial perspective on domestic violence in the Caribbean by deviating from previous ahistoricism and colonial representations of domestic violence. Challenging current accounts, the ownership thesis of violence is used to explain domestic violence in the Caribbean as a vestige of colonialism where violence was used to enforce ownership and control indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans who they treated as property in the colonial era. The intergenerational transmission hypothesis is also used to explain how domestic violence was transmitted from the colonial period to modern-day Caribbean peoples
Criminal Code Reform During the AI Revolution to Counter the New Form of Colonialism of Indigenous Peoples
No full textThe rapid and dramatic transformation in society, economy, and media that has been observed during the initial stage of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution has already begun. The rise in misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies has affected many nations. This is evident in English-speaking countries with histories of colonialism. The increase in denial of the flourishing culture of Indigenous Nations before immigrant contact, the denial of the history of colonialism (e.g., residential schools), and the increase in misrepresenting Indigenous peoples to get jobs, school admissions, funding, business contracts, and epistemic violence are also very alarming. By providing the background, history, and comparing the plight of Indigenous people with Jewish people during the Nazi era, and the current age misinformation and disinformation, this policy analysis argues for criminal code reform in the form of harsher penalties and specific crime categories for colonialism denial to deter and counter the growing threat to Indigenous culture, identity, art, economy, and sovereignty. It is ultimately argued that Indigenous misrepresentation and denialism are a new form of colonialism and genocide during the age of the AI revolution. Governments with a previous history of colonialism have moral, legal, and treaty obligations to protect Indigenous peoples’ identity, culture, sovereignty, history, and economy from revictimization during the age of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories
Higgins, M. & Lenette, C. (2024). Disrupting The Academy With Lived Experience-Led Knowledge.
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The Whakapapa of the ‘Patch’: He Korowai Tēnei
Full text linkThis commentary explores the significance of the gang ‘patch’, particularly within the context of the Mongrel Mob Kingdom in Aotearoa New Zealand, amidst contemporary legislative debates aimed at prohibiting the display of gang insignia. The proposed law has sparked widespread discussion, with critics highlighting potential violations of fundamental rights and unintended consequences. This commentary offers insights into the historical and social underpinnings of the gang patch, tracing its roots back to the systemic marginalisation of Māori and the socio-economic disenfranchisement resulting from urbanisation and colonisation. The article articulates how gangs – offering a sense of belonging, identity, and kinship – emerged as a response to these adversities