René Girard and Criminal Justice Demythologizing the Victim

This book highlights the significance of René Girard's work for key criminological debates to provide new perspectives. Girard explores the causes of violence in humans and his work is used to interpret cultural phenomena related to criminology and victimology. The book focuses in particular on Girard’s cultural anthropology of the victim as being foundational to social order. The scapegoat mechanism, as developed by Girard, is an anthropological reading of myth which provides a site of rich dialogue with criminology, victimology, theology and philosophy. The book explores how this provides readers with ontological, epistemological and methodological tools for both explaining and changing the practices of justice.

1. Just Another Dead French Theorist?.- 2. Two Cultures in Criminology?.- 3. Learning to See.- 4. The relationship between myth, reason and mimetic theory.- 5. Deconstructing the Scapegoat: Sources of Non-Violence Between Athens and Jerusalem.- 6. De-mythologization: An anthropology of forgiveness.- 7. Inter-individuality and Collective Consciousness: A quantum holographic systems perspective.- 8. Conclusion.

Aaron Pycroft is Associate Professor in Criminal Justice and Social Complexity at the University of Portsmouth, UK.