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Review of ‘Black Men, Invisibility and Crime’ by Dr Martin Glynn

Dr Glynn suggests the experience black men go through when entering the criminal justice system is one of discrimination based on the official invisibility of racial factors within the trial process and subsequently within the prison system and probation service. This, he argues, unfairly slants the justice system against them. Upon leaving prison, black men’s chances of not returning to crime are affected by two factors: agency and structure. Agency here describes those things black men can control themselves; structure describes those circumstances that are beyond their control as individuals. While criminology in general does not factor in issues of race in its analysis – race is invisible in most studies – Glynn’s ‘Towards a Critical Race Theory of Desistance’ asserts that it is essential to study what effect race has on the chances of any prison leaver taking a successful trajectory of desistance and conformity and to listen to subordinate voices that are rarely heard to gain a true understanding of the difficulties black men face in this area.

Glynn explores how, for some black men, crime is their way of resisting the racism of society; for others structural racism (jobs, housing, youth provision etc) sees them slide back into ‘on road’ life; the absence of fathers can be another significant factor according to Glynn: the surrogate family system that the ‘on road’ community offers succour (as well as a path to recidivism) to black men and youth.

Black masculinity is also investigated. Reasons are suggested for the hyper-masculinity adopted by many black men. Among possible reasons advanced are: (a) the benefits in status for such masculinity ‘on road’ (b) racist society’s stereotyping of black men as a threat and the conscious or unconscious adoption of this stereotype; (c) the absence of alternative models of masculinity especially those grounded in a knowledge and appreciation of black culture and history (d) absence of fathers for these men.

More widely, Glynn’s Towards A Critical Race Theory of Desistance brings to the fore the structural causes of black criminality. It offers a  deeply meditated reflection on the lives and dilemmas of black men entangled in the criminal justice system.

PS. Before Dr Martin Glynn became a criminologist he was one of Britain’s leading black poets.