Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
Thomas Mathiesen (1933–2021) was a Norwegian sociologist and one of the most influential figures in the field of critical criminology and penal abolitionism. Deeply engaged in the critique of modern penal systems, Mathiesen developed a unique theoretical framework that questioned the legitimacy and function of prisons in democratic societies. His seminal work The Politics of
Richard Quinney (b. 1934) is an American criminologist, sociologist, and philosopher whose work has profoundly shaped the development of critical criminology. He became widely known through his thesis of the social reality of crime (1970), in which he argued that crime is not an objective phenomenon but socially constructed through processes of labeling, political interests, and