Review of Counter-Colonial Criminology: A Critique of Imperialist Reason by Biko Agozino. London: Pluto Press, 2003

Abstract

The development and maintenance of criminologyexpressed as a repressive technology, and along with other constraining and dominant technologies, such as militaries, law enforcement institutions, and penal systemshas been the primary strategy of neo-colonial powers in their quest for control in underdeveloped nations and elsewhere. Biko Agozino extends this compelling argument in his laudable depiction of western imperialism and criminological thought. A primary question posed by Agozino concerns the unparalleled escalation of criminological-based technology in the West that is juxtaposed to its relative absence in impoverished Third World nations.