ABSTRACT
The premise of this book is that there is something amiss in the way criminology has developed as a discipline. This chapter addresses the particular problem of the failure to integrate psychological theorisation within criminological thinking. Despite the fact that attention has been drawn to this gap for some time (Gelsthorpe 2009), it is still highly evident even amongst strains of criminological thought that are avowedly cross-disciplinary. For example, Ferrell et al. (2008: 5) in outlining their case for a revitalised ‘cultural criminology’ suggest that it is necessary to go well beyond ‘orientations in sociology and criminology’, in order to ‘incorporate[s] perspectives from urban studies, media studies, existential philosophy, cultural and human geography, postmodern critical theory, anthropology, social movements theory – even from the historical praxis of earlier political agitators like the Wobblies and the Situationists’. The absence of any notion of psychological theorisation from this, otherwise inclusive, list is suggestive of the deep antipathy between the disciplines of criminology and psychology. And yet there is recognition within this strain of contemporary criminology that we need to understand the complex motivations that underpin criminality. It is not possible to engage with the full range of ideas of cultural criminology here but there are a couple of important issues that emerge. It is acknowledged that crime now has to be understood as ‘expressive’ phenomena rather than as ones that emerge from apparently rational processes concerned with material acquisition. What is being expressed is connected to some complex dynamics of exclusion and inclusion (Young 2007). One of the most arresting advocates of a stronger emphasis on the expressive and sensual aspects of criminality has been Jack Katz (1988: 3), who called for a revitalisation of criminology through greater attention being paid to what it ‘feels, sounds, tastes, or looks like to commit a particular crime’. His focus on the expressivity of crime is notable, in particular the link between violence and humiliation which has been picked up by a number of theorists since (Fonagy et al. 2003; Gilligan 2003). These issues will be returned to through a psychosocial exploration of what might appear to be a very particular examination of the issue of ‘personality disorder’ and its relation to crime and the criminal justice system.
