ABSTRACT
Thepostmodernperspectivegainedprominenceinlawand criminologyduringthelate1980s.Someobserverssuggestthat thisperspectivebelongsatthemoreradicalfringeofcriticalcriminology(SchwartzandFriedrichs1994:221-22).Othersquestion whethercriticalcriminologyitselfisnotanexpressionoranextensionofthepostmoderncondition(Cohen1990:22).Asanideological framework,postmodernismsignalsanepistemologicalbreakfrom themoretraditionalunderstandingsofscientificknowledge,reason andrationality,andsocialphenomena.Accordinglythisalternativeperspectiverejectsallconventionalcause-effectrelationships,
Efforts to define the appropriate role of the postmodern critique as linked to contemporary issues in law and criminology continue to receive growing academic attention. Selected works have addressed relevant themes such as mental illness and punishment (Arrigo 1993a), feminism and law (Cornell1991, 1993; Smart 1989), psychoanalysis and legal semiotics (Milovanovic 1992), rape and social violence (Arrigo 1993b), critical criminology and social justice (MacLean and Milovanovic 1991), policing and organizational behavior (Manning 1992), psychology and criminal justice (Arrigo forthcoming a), and legal discourse and legal reasoning (Goodrich 1987, 1990). This critical analysis continues to flourish, despite significant challenges to some of the ideological underpinnings of this "sense of theory" or school of thought (Hunt 1990:539).
