Criminal images: The affective judgment of graffiti and street art

Abstract

This article draws together two distinct strands within contemporary criminological scholarship by focusing on the encounter between the criminal law and the uncommissioned word or image in public space. The first strand of criminological research involves the study of the processes through which aspects of everyday life have become criminalised; the second is that which has investigated the cultural practices known as graffiti and street art, often approached as manifestations of subcultures, as the products of new social movements, and as ambiguous images straddling the art/crime dichotomy. The article examines the response of law to uncommissioned images and words in public space, and inv..