Criminals

Abstract

This chapter explores how the persecuted are associated with criminality. Indeed, the idea of inherent criminality is at the core of the so-called “superpredator” myth. In the present-day United States, Black and Latino males are most often tarred with this brush. However, the idea of the racialized criminal is quite widespread—both historically and culturally. Today, the figure of the racialized criminal is the embodiment of monstrousness in developed nations. To resist dehumanization, the chapter stresses that it is vital to resist the idea that any group of people are inherently, irredeemably criminal. This kind of rhetoric is a danger signal that the members of this group are, or will soon be, considered as less than human.