Crime as Relational Concept in Political Geography

ABSTRACT I call on geographers and other social scientists, including critical criminologists, to continue theorizing crime as a relational concept shaped by political narratives and politicized perceptions of place. Building on the literature in geography, I propose a relational ontology of crime—viewing it not as a fixed set of illicit acts, incidents of victimization, or violations of legal code, but as a political concept that influences how people and places are imagined. By shifting focus from crime as events to crime as an ontological category, scholars can better understand its role in advancing ideological perceptions of place, the incitement of fear, and uninformed calls for social control and increased criminalization.