Accusation: Creating Criminals (Law and Society)

Much critical scholarship has detailed the punitive effects of accusations that lead to criminalization. Less well documented is the founding role that accusation plays in creating potential criminals. In an attempt at redress, this collection foregrounds how ideas and rituals of accusation initiate criminalization processes. It offers various perspectives on the mechanisms by which legal persons come to be identified as suitable subjects for criminal justice arenas. By analyzing how criminal accusation operates in theoretical, historical, socio-legal, criminological, political, cultural, and procedural realms, this book launches an important new field of inquiry.