JUST IMAGES Aesthetics, Ethics and Visual Criminology

The last few years have seen a remarkable visual turn in criminology and this article explores some of the implications of this renewed interest in the power of images. It begins by setting out influential sociological understandings of aesthetics, before turning to the distinctive ethical questions posed by visual representations of harm, suffering and violence that feature so prominently in these multi-mediated times. These arguments are then developed in relation to the documentary photography tradition, as it explicitly confronts the relationships between aesthetics, ethics and justice, in ways that a visually attuned criminology has much to learn from, not least since contemporary practitioners have become increasingly aware that they have certain social responsibilities towards the subjects they photograph, while remaining committed to anthropological exploration, moral commitment and political reform.