ABSTRACT
The idea of a public criminology emerged as a powerful yet contested rallying call in the 2000s, expressing widespread concerns regarding criminology's decline in both political influence and wider public engagement, and deliberations seeking to reverse this decline. Although criminology has always had a very strong applied tradition, geared to an intensive research relationship with government, any 'public criminology' is confronted with exceptional problems, given both party-political and mass-media interest in issues of crime control and, relatedly, 'security'. The concept of public criminology is not without its detractors and dissidents. Whilst there is a broad consensus among criminologists that they have a professional and public duty to engage in the interconnected spheres of politics and policymaking, the exact ways in which this should happen is open to deep contestation, and many may doubt whether we need a new term to describe this very old dilemma.
