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Theoretical Criminology is a major interdisciplinary, international, peer reviewed journal for the advancement of the theoretical aspects of criminological knowledge. Theoretical Criminology is concerned with theories, concepts, narratives and myths of crime, criminal behaviour, social deviance, criminal law, morality, justice, social regulation and governance. View full journal description

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

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Navigating emotions behind bars: Emotional governance and the social construction of charisma in Chinese women's prisons

  • Mengyi Wang
  • Peng Wang
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Savage natures: Police and the wolf

  • Bill McClanahan
  • Tyler Wall
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Editorial

  • Ana Aliverti
  • Leslie Paik
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Bourdieusian criminology ‘from off the map’: Violence and symbolic capital in the streets of Naples

  • Mario Trifuoggi
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Most read articles in this journal in the last 6 months.
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Foucault, prison, and human rights: A dialectic of theory and criminal justice reform

  • Mugambi Jouet
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Rethinking police procedural justice

  • Dorian Schaap
  • Elsa Saarikkomäki
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Exploring the impact of algorithmic policing on social justice: Developing a framework for rhizomatic harm in the pre-crime society

  • Rosamunde Van Brakel
  • Lander Govaerts
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Dead or alive? Reassessing the health of the death penalty and the prospects of global abolition

  • Ron Dudai
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Most cited articles published in this journal in the last 3 years. These statistics are updated weekly using data sourced exclusively from CrossRef.
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Reading penalty from the periphery

  • Máximo Sozzo
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Rental housing and the continuum of carcerality

  • Anna Reosti
  • Rahim Kurwa
  • Robin Bartram
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Unlikely downsizers: The prison service's role in reversing mass incarceration in Kazakhstan

  • Gavin Slade
  • Alexei Trochev
  • Laura Piacentini
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Carceral racialization, prison segregation, and the Integrated Housing Program in Arizona

  • Stefano Bloch
  • Enrique Alan Olivares-Pelayo
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Articles with the highest Altmetric score from the last 3 months, indicating influence and impact.
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Best Article Prize Winner

We are pleased to announce the 2025 Best Article Prize has been awarded to Samuel Singler for his article ''Surveillance evangelism: Private technology companies and the digital futures of crimmigration control.''
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Theoretical Criminology welcomes new proposals for its special issue, published annually. Please find the guidelines for special issue proposals below.
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