Dis/ableist criminology: comprehending the intersections in criminology and disability theory

This paper is a call for the discipline of criminology to begin to re-engage with the marginalised voices of disabled people who have been excluded, pathologised and silenced within this field of study. Until recently the concept of disability has been absent from within the studies of criminology and victimology. This is because disability is typically (mis)understood as a health issue that impacts offenders’ or victims' experiences within the criminal justice system. Yet, within Disability Studies, disabled people are conceptualised as an oppressed minority population, that is structurally vulnerable to criminality and victimisation. This paper will trace the parallel developments of criminological and disability theory, as it becomes clear that there were several historical and contemporary points at which the disciplines could and should have intersected. Yet they failed to do so, neglecting to comprehensively understand the lives and perspectives of disabled people who are victims, perpetrators, or who otherwise encounter criminal justice organisations. This theoretical paper argues that to fully understand the nexus of crime/victimisation and disability, the discipline of criminology must develop and incorporate dis/ableist spaces and approaches whereby individual, cultural, and structural ableism and disablism can be examined, challenged, and critiqued.