Welcome back to CSS Breakdown: Book by Book — Season 2, where we continue our journey through ‘An Introduction to Criminological Theory’ by Roger Hopkins Burke. In this episode, we explore the critical criminology perspective and its focus on power, oppression, and harm."

In Episode 12, we delve into Chapter 12 of An Introduction to Criminological Theory by Roger Hopkins Burke — a chapter that introduces the transformative lens of critical criminology.

This episode unpacks:

📌 How critical criminology redefines crime as a form of oppression, often rooted in the structures of the political economy.

💼 The distinction between crimes of the powerful — like corporate and white-collar crime — and crimes of the marginalized, often criminalized through social exclusion and systemic inequality.

🧠 The evolution of thought from the late 1960s to today, especially how this school of criminology challenges earlier models like biological or psychological positivism.

🔍 The rise of zemiology, or the study of social harm, which argues that we should look beyond what’s legally defined as crime to include structural violence, exploitation, and widespread social injuries.

If you’re preparing for CSS and want to understand how power and justice interact in the real world, this episode offers essential insights.