An Interview with Arno Pilgram and Christa Pelikan: On a Criminology that Sought to Change the World

Abstract

Critical criminology seeks not only to examine the world, but also to change it for the better. Such a goal inevitably raises the strategic question of the relationship with state authorities. Is it more effective to pursue the desired change under the auspices of the state or in close cooperation with it, or, on the contrary, from a safe distance? To a certain extent, the interview presented here can be read as an anticipated admission that there is no definitive answer to this question. It deals with the history of critical criminology in Austria from the perspective of two of its key figures, Arno Pilgram and Christa Pelikan, who have firmly tied their professional lives to the Institute for Sociology of Law and Criminology. It was at this Vienna-based institute that a critical approach to the study of crime as a construct of the criminal justice system developed and became an important actor in the field of European critical criminology.