From Radzinowicz to Foucault: The Historical Turn in Criminology

Catello, Roberto (2024) From Radzinowicz to Foucault: The Historical Turn in Criminology. Law, Crime & History. ISSN 2045-9238 (Accepted for Publication)

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Abstract

While it is widely recognised that Foucault’s Discipline and Punish had a significant impact on critical criminology, the fact that Foucault’s popularisation of the history of the present helped instigate a historical turn in criminology by adding a new vitality to historical criminology has received little attention by critical criminologists. This article argues that such a turn is best understood as a turn from Whig history to critical history, or a turn from Radzinowicz to Foucault. Though the influence exerted by Radzinowicz and Foucault on the historiography of crime and criminal justice has been extensively discussed and acknowledged by crime historians, this article deals with their respective approaches to the historical study of crime from the perspective of a critical and historical criminologist. Using insights from the philosophy of history and relevant debates in historiography, the article challenges the view that Foucault’s history of the present shares with Whig histories of penal progress an unwarranted bias toward the present. Foucault’s major contribution to the historical study of crime and punishment, it will be argued, lies in the fact that he facilitated a shift away from presentism and toward present-centredness. Understanding the nature of such a shift is key to the development of a critical historical criminology today.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Foucault; historical criminology; history of the present; presentism; Radzinowicz; Whig historiography
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Business, Law and Criminology > School of Law and Criminology
Depositing User:	Roberto Catello
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2024 08:47
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2024 08:47
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4317

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