Dis/ableist Criminology: Beyond Ableism Through a Zemiological Framework

Criminology has largely neglected the social harms experienced by disabled people, both
within and beyond the criminal justice system. The discipline frequently pathologises disability, framing disabled people as either victims or offenders while failing to engage with
broader structural inequalities. Zemiology, the study of harm beyond legal definitions of
crime, offers a valuable framework for examining systemic harms affecting marginalised
groups, however, this has yet to be fully applied to disability. To address this gap, we apply a zemiological framework to the harms experienced by disabled people. We introduce
dis/ableist criminology, a framework that integrates zemiology with disability studies to
highlight disablist practices, ableist cultures, and the embodied experiences of alienation
and marginalisation, offering a more comprehensive understanding of disability, crime,
and victimisation.