Conflict, Crime and Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Where there is conflict, there is power; where there is power, control; and where there is control, criminality. This talk introduces Conflict, Crime and Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Approach (forthcoming 2026), which uses conflict as a lens to explore crime, its definition, and control. Combining insights from criminology, psychology, sociology, politics, and philosophy, it links the psycho-social, cultural, and economic dimensions of conflict to crime.

Structured as a quasi-bildungsroman, the book follows a criminologist’s 30-year journey through topics such as drugs, domestic violence, organized crime, technopolicing, dissent, and ecocide, tracing criminology’s evolution up to the post–Covid-19 era.

The seminar will explore how legal instruments function as tools of power and control through the concept of “Rule with Law.

James Sheptycki is Professor Emeritus of Criminology at York University, Toronto. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, he grew up across western Canada and abroad, attending international schools in Iran and Indonesia before earning a BA in International Studies from the University of Saskatchewan (1983) and an MA in the History and Philosophy of Social and Political Science from the University of Essex (1985). He completed his PhD in Sociology at the London School of Economics in 1991, researching the policing of domestic violence in London.

After holding academic posts at Portsmouth, Edinburgh, and Durham universities, he joined York University in 2003, becoming Professor in 2007. His research has spanned transnational policing, organized crime, gun violence, intelligence-led policing, and crimes against humanity and the environment.

Now retired and based on Vancouver Island, he continues to write and reflect on criminology and policing. He blogs as The Reluctant Criminologist (thereluctantcriminologist.wordpress.com)

Further information about the book can be here