Race is the elephant in the room in all of criminology, and few of us are brave enough to acknowledge it. Martin Glynns remarkable new book isnt just brave, it is fearless. The elephant is finally within our grasp.
Shadd Maruna, Director of Institute of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
Martin Glynns challenging new book is an important and novel contribution to debates about desistance but it is also more than that. Rather than focusing on how ethnicity affects desistance, he draws on Critical Race Theory and on the accounts of Black British and African American men he interviewed to examine how racism and racialisation influenced the mens life chances and pathways through crime and justice. In seeking to develop a black criminology of desistance, Martin Glynns analysis enjoins and compels us also to engage with the racialised politics of crime and justice and of criminology itself.
Fergus McNeill, Professor of Criminology & Social Work, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
In the book Black Men, Invisibility and Crime, Martin Glynn has produced an innovative and crucially important monograph that provides keen insights into desistance among Black men.
Drawing on Critical Race Theory, Martin skilfully explores the contours of desistance specific to the condition and experience of Black men. His fresh comparative perspective provides readers with an examination of the analogous and divergent desistance concerns among Black men in Britain and America. Martin is clearly an important scholar on the rise whose thoughts on re-entry and desistance in the Black community need to be heard by the discipline and the larger criminal justice community in the UK and the USA.
Shaun Gabbidon, Professor of Criminal Justice, Penn State Harrisburg, USA.
Black men, invisibility and desistance from crime
Past studies have suggested that offenders desist from crime due to a range of factors, such as familial pressures, faith-based interventions or financial incentives. To date, little has been written about the relationship between desistance and racialisation. This book seeks to bring much needed attention to this under-researched area of criminological inquiry.
Martin Glynn builds on recent empirical research in the UK and the USA and uses Critical Race Theory as a framework for developing a fresh perspective about black mens desistance. This book posits that the voices and collective narrative of black men offers a unique opportunity to refine current understandings of desistance. It also demonstrates how new insights can be gained by studying the ways in which elements of the desistance trajectory are racialised.
This book will be of interest both to criminologists and sociologists engaged with race, racialisation, ethnicity, and criminal justice.
Martin Glynn is Research Assistant at the University of Wolverhampton and completed his PhD at Birmingham City University, where he is also a visiting lecturer. His research interests include desistance, race/racialisation and crime, critical race theory, ethnodrama, masculinities and crime, and crime and social determinants of health.
International Series on Desistance and Rehabilitation
The International Series on Desistance and Rehabilitation aims to provide a forum for critical debate and discussion surrounding the topics of why people stop offending and how they can be more effectively reintegrated into the communities and societies from which they came. The books published in the series will be international in outlook, but tightly focused on the unique, specific contexts and processes associated with desistance, rehabilitation and reform. Each book in the series will stand as an attempt to advance knowledge or theorising about the topics at hand, rather than being merely an extended report of specific a research project. As such, it is anticipated that some of the books included in the series will be primarily theoretical, whilst others will be more tightly focused on the sorts of initiatives which could be employed to encourage desistance. It is not our intention that books published in the series be limited to the contemporary period, as good studies of desistance, rehabilitation and reform undertaken by historians of crime are also welcome. In terms of authorship, we would welcome excellent PhD work, as well as contributions from more established academics and research teams. Most books are expected to be monographs, but edited collections are also encouraged.
General Editor
Stephen Farrall, University of Sheffield
Editorial Board
Ros Burnett, University of Oxford
Thomas LeBel, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
Mark Halsey, Flinders University, Australia
Fergus McNeill, Glasgow University
Shadd Maruna, Queens University Belfast
Gwen Robinson, Sheffield University
Barry Godfrey, University of Liverpool
1. The Dynamics of Desistance
Charting pathways through change
Deidre Healy
2. Criminal Behaviour in Context
Space, place and desistance from crime
Nick Flynn
3. Cultures of Desistance
Rehabilitation, reintegration and ethnic minorities
Adam Calverley
4. Offender rehabilitation and therapeutic communities
Enabling change the TC way
Alisa Stevens
5. Desistance transitions and the impact of probation
Sam King
6. Black men, invisibility and desistance from crime
Towards a critical race theory of desistance
Martin Glynn
Black men, invisibility and desistance from crime
Towards a critical race theory of desistance
Martin Glynn
First published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2014 Martin Glynn
The right of Martin Glynn to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Glynn, Martin.
Black men, invisibility and crime : towards a critical race theory of desistance / Martin Glynn.
p. cm. (International series on desistance and rehabilitation)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. RecidivismPreventionGreat Britain. 2. BlacksRace identityGreat Britain. 3. Race discriminationGreat Britain. 4. RecidivismPreventionUnited States. 5. African AmericansRace identityUnited States. 6. Race discriminationUnited States. I. Title.
HV6049.G59 2013
364.3dc23
2013023822
ISBN: 978-0-415-71535-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-3-1588187-4 (ebk)
