ABSTRACT
This chapter considers constitutive criminology which is a significant attempt to consider the central principles of criminology in the context of postmodernism. The two core theoretical foundations are (1) an interpretation of the post-Freudian Jacques Lacan and (2) chaos theory. The ideas of Lacan centre on key Freudian concepts such as the unconscious, the castration complex and the ego, with the focus being on the importance of language to subjectivity, and it is argued that people repressed by the criminal justice system are very likely to be suffering oppression in other forms and would benefit from assistance in articulating their needs. Three main concepts are adopted from chaos theory: (1) the notion of undecidability or uncertainty, (2) the idea that one individual can make a significant difference and (3) the analysis of conditions being far from equilibrium. Shamila Ahmed adopts such a strategy to comprehend how the harm created by terrorist actions can appeal to its perpetrators in the context of ‘war on terror’ discourse. Constitutive penology examines how discursive distinctions are constructed and continuously reinterpreted through penal policy pronouncements, practical actions, discussions in popular culture and the proclamations, rules and practices of institutional structures.
