Peacemaking Criminology

Peacemaking criminology is a branch of critical criminology that became popular in the early 1990s, largely through the work of Harold Pepinsky and Richard Quinney in their seminal edited work, Criminology as Peacemaking (Pepinsky and Quinney 1991, cited under General Overviews). In a separate chapter, Quinney provides nine propositions for understanding the characteristics of criminology as peacemaking and gives directions for how individual transformations can characterize a justice system ruled by peace instead of war. Peacemaking criminology is grounded in the knowledge that what we know is always limited, that individually we are all on a spiritual journey, that human life is characterized by suffering, and that crime and criminal behavior is only one expression of this suffering. Quinney asserts that through love, compassion, and empathy, a nonviolent criminology has the power to end suffering, and thus end crime. Peacemaking criminology explains that personal transformation is the first step for each of us in developing and promoting peacemaking practices and policies. It is through this individual level of transformation that change will be possible on a broader scale. These ideas are revolutionary and evidence of their implementation can still be elusive. However, processes built on the tenets of restorative justice integrate some of the core principles of peacemaking criminology and do offer an opportunity to put this perspective into practice. This outline explores the philosophical perspective of peacemaking criminology and offers an examination of the ways that peacemaking criminology has been applied in real world settings. The process of teaching peacemaking through pedagogy in the criminal justice classroom is examined as well as ways that peacemaking criminology has been envisioned through various programs and policies, including those focused on restorative justice practices, both within the United States and internationally (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies in Criminology article “Restorative Justice”).