CALL FOR PAPERS: Special Issue of Journal of Criminology, Submission Deadline- 28 April 2026
Criminologies of Genocide: Past and Present
Guest Editors: Leighann Spencer, Rhiannon Bandiera, Maria Giannacopoulos, Chris Cunneen
The point of departure for this special issue is the continuing genocidal brutality of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people and their lands. This brutality, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian writes, reveals a “convergence of violence and pleasure” exposing “with its monstrosity, the local and global ontological politics and dilemmas facing Genocide Studies today”.1 This dilemma extends beyond Genocide Studies and impacts a range of disciplines, including criminology. Notwithstanding its emphasis on causes and patterns of crime, criminology has, with some exceptions,2 left the crime of genocide largely unexamined. This is despite the fact that the crime of genocide in Gaza, ongoing apartheid, land dispossession and other abuses against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and within Israel cut across many matters of widespread importance to criminology.
We encourage critical, interdisciplinary, and intersectional approaches across related areas relevant to understanding colonialism and genocide. For instance, social work, international relations, law, geography, cultural and archival studies, health, and so forth. We also welcome analyses that relate to genocide from any part of the world and from the perspectives of Indigenous and/or First Nations scholars, as well as from scholars from the Global South(s).
Length:
Between 6,000 and 8,000 words in length, including all elements (title page, abstract, notes, references, tables, biographical statement). Longer manuscripts (up to 10,000 words all- inclusive) may be allowed at the discretion of the Editors, subject to a clearly articulated justification for the word length.
Timeline:
Full Article- 28 April 2026
Peer Review- 4 – 25 May 2026
Revisions-15 July 2026
Publication -December 2026
Due to the significance and urgency of criminological responses to genocide in the current political climate, the publication of this special issue is being fast-tracked. In order to ensure the publication process is completed on time, these deadlines cannot be altered.
For more details, refer here
