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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 investigates the law’s judgment of illicit art and writing. Based upon research done as part of a three-year study of street art and graffiti in a range of jurisdictions, the article draws upon theories of affect to think through the ways in which the illicit writer or artist is constructed.

Keywords

criminalisation criminal law graffiti public space street art

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