Originally published in 1997. The use of postmodern criminology's conceptual tools offers the potential for the development of a better understanding of the various configurations of repressive forces and directions for social change. This excellent text introduces the reader to the core ideas concerning subjectivity as it is related to discourses and how the discursive construction of social reality takes place. It discusses some of the key themes, dealing with both theoretical integrative work, applications, and recent developments in studying postmodern criminology. It is intended for students as well as those who are more familiar with the subject.

Series Editor's Foreword. Preface. Introduction Part 1: Theoretical Integration 1. Dueling Paradigms: Modernist v. Postmodernist Thought 2. The Decentered Subject in Law: Contributions of Topology, Psychoanalytic Semiotics, and Chaos Theory 3. Borromean Knots and the Constitution of Sense in Juridico-Discursive Production 4. Constitutive Criminology: The Maturation of Critical Theory Stuart Henry and Dragan Milovanovic Part 2: Application: Doing Affirmative Postmodern Analysis in Law, Crime, and Penology 5. Jailhouse Lawyers and Jailhouse Lawyering 6. Overcoming the Absurd: Prisoner Litigation as Primitive Rebellion Dragan Milovanovic and Jim Thomas 7. The Necessity Defense, Substantive Justice, and Oppositional Linguistic Practice Shelley Bannister and Dragan Milovanovic 8. Constitutive Penology Dragan Milovanovic and Stuart Henry 9. Topology, Chaos, and Psychoanalytic Semiotics Part 3: Emerging Postmodern Methodologies: Integration and Application 10. Chaos and Criminology: Phase Maps and Bifurcation Diagrams 11. Chaos, Meta-Modeling, and Criminology: Iterative Loops, COREL and Mandelbrot Sets 12. Catastrophe Theory, Crime, and Peacemaking. Conclusion: Toward the New Orderly (Dis)Order. References. Cases Cited