Call for Papers: 11th Criminology And Criminal Justice Conference, 2026, 30-31 July 2026

bout the Conference
The Criminology and Criminal Justice Conference (CCJC) is a creation of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the United States International University-Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. The CCJC’s mission is to provide a forum for academics, practitioners, and students a platform to share research relating to crime prevention, good practice, and strategies for policy and prevention of crime. The CCJC is the only conference in the East African region that is held annually and brings together academics, practitioners, and students across the East African region, Africa, and the World.

To this effect, the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice under the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at USIU-Africa is organizing for the 11th Criminology and Criminal Justice Conference 2026 which will be held at the serene and beautiful campus of the United States International University-Africa on July 30 to 31, 2026, and is therefore inviting submission of papers for the conference.

Call For Papers

Theme: Law as a Tool of Power: Decolonizing the Criminal Justice System

The criminal justice system has long been shaped by colonial histories, racial hierarchies, and structures of domination. Paradoxically however, the field has adopted a rather orthodox focus, maintaining relative silence on issues surrounding the colonial question and failures to engage consistently with race, racialization, and racism. Additionally, rather than functioning as a neutral arbiter of justice, law has often operated as a tool of power, criminalizing indigenous practices, enforcing moral and social control and legitimizing state violence. This colonial matrix continues to inform contemporary policing, punishment, incarceration, and surveillance across Global South contexts.

This conference invites critical engagement with the ways the discourses of criminal justice continue to reproduce colonial power relations and explores pathways towards decolonizing justice to fit the contexts and realities of the Global South. The conference therefore welcomes interdisciplinary contributions that challenge mainstream justice frameworks, centre marginalized voices and imagine alternative models of justice rooted in community and restoration.

Submissions are encouraged from scholars, practitioners, activists, policymakers, students and individuals with lived experience across various geographical contexts

Sub-Themes:

Knowledge Production in Criminal Justice: Whose knowledge counts? Power, authority, and exclusion in criminal justice scholarship and the colonial origins of criminal justice knowledge.
Indigenous and Customary Justice Systems as Alternatives to Mainstream Justice: Investigating how Indigenous governance structures such as councils of elders and kin-based decision-making, provide alternative models of justice.
Technology, Surveillance, and New Forms of Colonial Governance in Criminal Justice: Examining how emerging technologies, including AI and data analytics, are deployed to reinforce neocolonial structures of governance, further entrenching inequalities in criminal justice systems.
Policing, Prisons and Punishment: Examining prisons as colonial institutions and how colonial narratives shape contemporary border policing and immigration.
Gender, Sexuality, and Grassroots Justice Movements: Interrogating punitive justice approaches through feminist and abolitionist lenses, with attention to gendered violence.
Race, Indigeneity, and Criminalization: Investigating the over-policing, mass incarceration, racial profiling and systemic bias in policing and sentencing of racialized and Indigenous communities.
Global Perspectives and Comparative Approaches: Comparative studies of postcolonial criminal justice systems, transnational policing, International law, human rights, and neo-colonial power dynamics.
State Violence in Criminal Justice: Examining colonial and postcolonial legacies of police use of force, human rights violations, and state terrorism.
Digital Transformation and Crime: The role of technology in crime prevention, digital forensics, cybercrime, and AI in law enforcement.
Restorative and Alternative Justice Approaches: Examining community-centered justice, Indigenous practices, and non-carceral responses to crime.
Transnational and Organized Crime: Human trafficking, terrorism, drug trafficking, and international cooperation in criminal justice.
Criminal Justice and Human Rights: Addressing police brutality, wrongful convictions, prison reforms, and access to justice for marginalized groups.
Environmental and Economic Crimes: Legal responses to environmental degradation, corruption, financial crimes, and corporate accountability.

Submission Guidelines & Timelines:

March 15, 2026: Proposal Submission Deadline (Title & Abstract – 300 words)
April 5, 2026: Notification of Abstract Acceptance
June 15, 2026: Full Paper Submissions (6,000–8,000 words)
July 30-31, 2026: Conference Dates

Methodology:

This conference theme aims to move beyond the critique of existing justice systems and engage with restorative, transformative and abolitionist approaches to justice, with particular emphasis on decolonial, feminist and indigenous frameworks. These approaches centre healing, accountability collective responsibility and the redress of structural and historical harms rather than punitive measures. Submissions are therefore expected to engage with critical and normative theories of justice, articulating the ethical, political and epistemic commitments that inform proposed pathways for justice.

All submissions should be sent to ccjc@usiu.ac.ke with the subject line “Criminology & Criminal Justice Conference 2026 Submission.” Papers will be peer-reviewed, and selected works may be published in an edited volume or journal special issue in the Africa Journal of Crime and Justice.