‘Criminalization of Activism: Historical, Present and Future Perspectives’ edited by Valeria Vegh Weis, forthcoming December 2021, includes contributions from activists and scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds. A range of case studies and perspectives from the Global South and the Global North are drawn on to evidence how protest is impacted by the development of its criminalisation historically and presently. 

The book begins with a preface by Dario Melossi and then explores the Criminalization of Activism in five parts. Part one includes contributions which explore ‘Theoretical Approaches on the Over-Criminalisation of Dissent’. The second part considers the ‘Historical Experience of Over-Criminalisation of Dissent’. Parts three and four examine ‘Current Cases of Over-Criminalization of Dissent in the Global North’ and ‘Current Cases of Over-Criminalization of Dissent in the Global South’ respectively. Finally, the book turns to consider ‘Challenges for a Critical Agenda on the Over-Criminalisation of Dissent’. The contributors within each section, many of whom are European Group members, are balanced between authors from the Global North and the Global South. 

Review from Victoria Canning (Senior Lecturer in Criminology at University of Bristol, Co-coordinator of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control, Associate Director of Oxford Border Criminologies): 

‘It would be impossible to over-emphasize the temporal significance of this book. As we enter an era of intensified criminalization of activism and dissent, bolstered by the impacts of the globalized policing of the Covid pandemic and further enabled by a proliferation of Artificial Intelligence, there could not be a better time to reflect on histories of criminalization and the importance of sustained activism in the face of violence and repression. In this edited volume, Valeria Vegh Weis has drawn together an exemplary collection of interdisciplinary scholar-activists focusing on such issues. Concept, theory and action are combined with issues of historic and contemporary significance – from environmental harm to the Nuremberg Trials to Black Lives Matter; India to Catalonia and Latin America, the breadth and depth of this book is astounding. It is essential reading for anyone interested in social control and the criminalization of activism and dissent.’

Further information regarding the content and contributors to the book, other reviews, as well as how to pre-order the edited collection can be found here.