Thug Criminology

Adam Ellis is an assistant professor of criminology at the University of Waterloo and the founder of The Street Institute. Olga Marques is an associate professor of criminology and justice at Ontario Tech University. Anthony Gunter is a senior lecturer and programme lead for childhood and youth studies at The Open University.

Introduction
Adam Ellis, Olga Marques, and Anthony Gunter

Part I: They Don’t Give a F**k about Us! Defanging and Decolonizing the Criminological Enterprise

1. Problematizing Traditional Criminological Perspectives on Thugs and Gangs
Olga Marques

2. The White Male Criminological Gaze as Pornography: The Quasi-Sexual Academic Obsession with Black “Gang Bangers”
Anthony Gunter

3. Writing Themselves Out of Research: “Whitemaleness” and the Study of “Gang” Active Young Women
Clare Choak
4. Somethin’ Doesn’t Seem Right: A Commentary on the “Scientific Method” and “Gang”Research
Adam Ellis and Anthony Gunter

Part II: “Getting Over” and Inside the Ivory Tower

5. I Am (Not) What You Say I Am: The Colonizers’ “Gang”
Gregory (Chris) Brown

6. A Black Scholar’s Intellectual Journey and Subsequent Perspective on the White Colonial “Gang” Project
Ian Joseph

7. Good Trouble: Creating Spaces for Criminalized Populations in the Ivory Tower
Lily Gonzalez, Javier Rodriguez, and Robert Weide

Part III: Word on the Street

8. Shook Ones: An Insider’s Perspective on Trauma, PTSD, and the Reenactment of Street-Related Violence
Adam Elis, Stephanie Belanger, and Luca Berardi

9. (De)Criminalizing the “Code of Silence" – Reflections of a Former “Gangbanger” Turned Academic
Anthony Hutchinson and Jared Millican

10. The Raid: State Violence and Traumatic Responses in the Lives of Black Women
Melissa McLetchie

11a. Letter from the Streetz: Growing Up in the Gutter
Chad Briand aka Turk

11b. Letter from the Streetz: Don’t Interrupt Me
TG

11c. Letter from the Penetentiary: The Change in Me
Alejandro Vivar

11d. Letter from the Streetz: Dear Hip Hop
Marcus Singleton aka Iomos Marad

Part IV: Decolonizing the Gang Industry

12. Crime as Disease Contagion and Control: The Public Health Perspective and Implications for Black and Other Ethnic Minority Communities
Anthony Gunter

13. A Violent Cure? Problematizing the “Cure Violence” Initiative
Malte Riemann

14. When the System Harms: An Insider’s Perspective on the Negative Socio-psychological Impact of So-Called “Gang Intervention”
Tammy Tinney

15. Fight Poverty, Fight Crime: A Justice Focused Approach for Toronto/Canada
Yafet Tewelde and Julet Allen

16. We Make the Path by Walking It: Repairing, Restoring, and Constructing Pathways
Rick Kelly

Epilogue
Adam Ellis

Contributor Biographies