The Advancement of Thug Criminology: Towards the Decolonization of ‘Street/Gang’ Research and Pedagogy

This paper presents a dialectical conversation between an insider/outsider vs insider/insider gang researcher, wherein a new criminology is advanced - Thug Criminology. In challenging current disciplinary accounts, we argue that: a) gang research has largely reinforced, maintained, and reified stereotypical views of ‘gangs’ and their behaviour; b) insider/insider gang researcher voices have not been privileged within academia; and c) those posited as ‘expert’ gang scholars, and whose knowledges have been accorded authority, are outsiders. As such, laws and practices, which negatively affect gang-involved populations, have been largely informed by an uncritical and unchallenged position of privilege. Thug Criminology seeks to create an academic space for insider ‘gang’ or street scholars to contribute to knowledge, policies, and practices that are less harmful to those who are targeted and deemed a threat.