Trapped in dichotomies and individualism: The Western criminal legal system's failure to capture complexity
Abstract
This article critiques the Western criminal legal systems’ individualism and reliance on dichotomies. Grounding our analysis in micro-level findings based on interviews from two studies on the experiences of repeatedly criminalised people in the UK, we aim to show how these dichotomies – criminal/non-criminal behaviour; guilt/innocence at event level; victim/offender flatten reality beyond recognition and allow individual(s) to be blamed and punished. In doing so, this paper seeks to create space beyond the societal ‘captive mind’, which uncritically accepts this version of criminal ‘justice’ as the right way to respond to ‘offending’. Drawing on decolonization thought and non-state justice mechanisms, it joins calls for different ways of seeing.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
Law in Society and Culture
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Punishment & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 648–666
- Publication date
- 14 January 2026
- Language
- EN