A ‘Mirror’ or a ‘Motor’? What is Criminology for?

Criminology as an academic discipline has undergone significant and rapid development in recent years. There has been a major expansion in the number of institutions offering courses in the field, accompanied by large increases in the numbers of undergraduate and graduate students engaged in studying core criminological topics and subjects allied to them. Alongside this growth, the presence and reputation of Criminology both within the academy and outside of it has been significantly enhanced. Criminological research is increasingly located at the forefront of advances in social theory and methodology, and criminologists are engaged in advising and researching a wide variety of social problems that confront practitioners and policy-makers in the Criminal Justice System and beyond. The current state of Criminology is thus, in many ways, a success story. But as is well known, success brings its own problems. Given the increasing significance and reputation that it has built, it seems appropriate to ask what is the public role envisaged for Criminology now and in the future?

The title of the conference has been chosen to address the question outlined above, challenging participants to think about their criminological practice and the intentions that underpin the knowledge that they produce through their work. Do they conceive of their role as providing a ‘mirror’ to social reality that seeks to reflect as accurately as possible the conditions that are encountered in the contemporary social order? Alternatively, can and should criminologists adopt a more applied stance, wherein the knowledge generated through criminological research is conceived as a ‘motor’ of social change to advance key values of justice and security?

Location is Cardiff City Hall. Website www.cardiffcityhall.com

Conference Website www.bscconference2009.glam.ac.uk

Plenary Speakers

Professor Gary Marx, MIT (USA)

Professor Marx received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966. He spent eight years at Harvard, 20 at MIT, and seven at the University of Colorado. Marx was visiting Distinguished Chair in Social Sciences at West Virginia University in 2003 and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois Law School in 2005. The author of 18 books and monographs as well as more than 100 articles, Marx researches the social, cultural, ethical and policy considerations associated with various surveillance technologies.

Professor Lawrence Sherman, Cambridge University (UK)

Professor Sherman was elected Wolfson Professor of Criminology in 2006 with effect from spring 2007 previous positions held include being Greenfield Professor of Human Relations at the University of Pennsylvania (USA), the President of the International Society of Criminology and past President of the American Society of Criminology. The author of numerous controlled field experiments testing major theories of crime prevention and criminal sanctions, he has served on panels of the National Academy of Science (US) and received awards for distinguished scholarship from the American Sociological Association, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the Academy of Experimental Criminology, American Society of Criminology, and other learned societies.