Welcome to the new issue of Critical Criminology: An International Journal. It appears in a global context of deepening socio-economic inequalities, heightened political anxiety and staggering ecological crises. As we clock up another year of record heat waves and floods while the fossil fuel and car industries rack up historically high profits, we see national governments around the world balefully looking on either complicit in the rush towards extinction or standing paralyzed, lacking the will to resist the usual cast of corporate extractivists and their political proxies. Into this asymmetrical conflict between private profit and public good, however, came the masses of Ecuador to remind us of our responsibilities to the earth and not to capitalism. Led by social movements from indigenous communities and during an election held amid a veritable vortex of violence, brought on by neo-liberal inspired structural policies and cartel terror, voters registered an historic referendum victory to defend the Amazon. Eschewing any reverence for the power of the almighty petrodollar and rejecting that “developmental” mantra of GDP growth at all costs, they passed laws to keep their natural resources in the ground.

Meanwhile, here in the United States the culture wars go on apace with ultra-right politicians launching incessant moral panics against an assortment of others. In bids to reach the White House and/or to hijack Congress and therefore the purse strings of the nation, these performances and spectacles function as distractions from the serious work of governance on behalf of the many not the few. They also occur just as a motley crew of wannabe insurgents get their reward for post-truth populism as they look forward to years in prison, ironically alongside incarcerated members of the surplus classes they so disdain. For many it would seem a painful lesson in the perils of swallowing the Big Lie while falling prey to a false race and class consciousness and the white supremacist male ego that often goes with it.

As we write these words, we also remember the two 9/11s that have so influenced our work as criminologists, both intrinsically attached to the policies and practices of imperialism in its various guises, essentially state crimes on behalf of Empire. It is perhaps expected that the tragic events that happened here in New York City and Washington, D.C. on that fateful day will always overshadow those equally horrific events that occurred in the Southern Cone of Latin America in 1973. But the lessons of both will always impact our work in one way or another. From the former came a further expansion of the surveillance state and its closely linked mass deportation regime, from the latter emerged the early praxes of neo-liberal political economy and statecraft complemented by mass arrests, torture, banishment, executions and disappearances over a period of 17 years. Let us also not forget that the doctrines of the Chicago boys never stayed down south for long but soon made their way to the Big Apple and to the rest of the globe.

Thus, it is timely to remember, that as Allende faced death, the Chilean president demonstrated that rare brand of political courage before his U.S.-sponsored assailants with a spirit of hope and resistance rarely seen in so many bourgeois debating chambers supposedly safeguarding our democratic traditions. Today his words speak volumes as we again face similar neo-fascist impulses that show no sign of ebbing:

“They have the power, they can smash us, but the social processes are not detained, neither with crimes, nor with power. History is ours, and the People will make it.

Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty which you always have shown, the trust which you placed in a man who was only the interpreter of the great desires of justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law, and that I did.

In this definitive moment, the last thing which I can say to you is that I hope you will learn this lesson: foreign capital, imperialism united with reaction, created the climate for the armed forces to break with their tradition, that of General Schneider, and which Commander Araya reaffirmed, a victim of the same social sector which today finds them in their houses, waiting to retake power, by strange hands, to continue defending their huge estates and privileges.”

And so, to the current issue. The authors, as always, cover a lot of critical criminological ground, shedding empirical and theoretical light on a wide range of social issues and themes. Illustrating the dynamic and interconnected webs of power that shape our daily lives they also point the enduring impact of agency. What follows are articles within the thematic contours of gender, race and the environment along with submissions on diverse subjects from covid, gangs and drugs to the police, mental health and immigration. In addition, we include an appreciation of the life of Hal Pepinsky, a former editor of this journal, and our usual sampling of insightful book reviews to help you decide on reading lists and teaching materials. Coming up in future journal issues are two special editions focused on the LGBTQ + community and global crimmigration. Please note if you are attending the Annual Society of Criminology Conference this coming November, we will have a journal meeting so look out for announcements. We thank you as always for your support, inquiries, and suggestions and for your continuing consideration of this outlet for your research endeavors.

In solidarity,

Dave and Jayne.