International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory (IJCST - York University)
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Tasers, Accountability, and Less Lethal Force: Keying in on the Contentious Construction of Police Electroshock Weapons
Full text linkOver the last decade, Tasers and other electroshock devices have become a nearly standard, though highly controversial, piece of police equipment for law enforcement. While a great deal of research focuses on the technical merits and health effects of this type of device, we adopt a constructionist framework and explore the manner in which different sets of actors compete to construct the “reality” of this type of technology within public media. By focusing on this issue, we seek to use the debate over Tasers to explore an underdeveloped area of social problems theory, i.e., how public problems are constructed publicly through the dynamic interaction of different sets of contentious claims-making actors. More specifically, we adopt Goffman’s concept of “keying” to examine how the opponents of the technology sought to appropriate and then re-deploy the claims made by proponents of the technology. By exploring the “keying” process, this paper will allow us to better understand the dynamic and iterative way in which the public claims offered by dominant and powerful groups are contested, appropriated and sometimes subverted, by less powerful groups
Understanding the Comparisons of Routine Activities and Contagious Distributions of Victimization: Forming a Mixed Model of Confluence and Transmission
Full text linkRecently the borders between two theoretical traditions have become blurred. While “Routine Activities Theories” have come to dominate the theoretical landscape of criminology, “Contagion Theories” have either been subsumed under the former or entirely forgotten. In the following, the theoretical lines of Routine Activities and Contagion are reviewed and evaluated. Discovered is the issue that both theories are very similar yet also very different; essentially distinguished from one another by what each omits from the other. It is henceforth argued that the two disparate traditions might benefit from coalescence, whereby they are combined into a single theoretical construct and, further, explicate causal model. A new typology of contagion is provided, allowing for a larger model that incorporates both Routine Activities and Contagion while illustrating the coming-to-gather of individuals [confluence] and the spread of behavior beyond an original point of contact between actors [transmission]
Exploring the criminal lifestyle: a grounded theory study of Maltese male habitual offenders
Full text linkExploring the lifestyles of habitual criminals throws light on the processes of becoming and remaining a criminal, the development of criminal careers and on possible interventions geared towards reversing those careers. This paper draws on narratives of habitual criminals discussing their life stories and shows how the criminal lifestyle is characterised by distinctive behavioural patterns and sustained by a particular ‘habitus’. The lifestyle offers advantages to those who choose to pursue it. The development of commitment to the criminal lifestyle is put forward as an important defining factor of whether young men stop offending as they approach adulthood and the assumption of adult roles, or whether they continue to offend, often with increasing severity, well into their adult years. As a result of commitment, the actor comes to reject alternatives and defines himself according to the behaviour he is consistently engaging in. Once a social identity has been established, rejection of that identity becomes even more difficult. The criminal lifestyle is not only maintained by penalties when the offender attempts to return to conventional living but is also supported by rewards associated with the criminal lifestyle and supported by role identification, specific attitudes, cognitions
Symbolic Violence and the Violation of Human Rights: Continuing the Sociological Critique of Domination
Full text linkThis paper examines the conceptual underpinnings of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of “symbolic violence” as a recent entry in the sociological tradition that is concerned with the critique of domination. The concept is a source of some debate and confusion and there is an attempt to clarify its meaning and usage through analysis and examples. The paper also considers the usefulness of the concept in examining forms of domination emerging in the present crisis phase of post 9/11 neo-liberalism, and calls for the application of the concept in analyses of human rights violations. It is also proposed that there is a dialectical relationship between symbolic violence and the perpetration of repressive physical violence. Both symbolic violence (soft) and concrete (hard) violence are understood sociologically as forms of social control, and not as biological or psychological expressions of human aggression. The paper reminds the reader of the various challenges in defining violence more generally and also that the way we understand violence has implications for its amelioration
Representing War as Punishment in the War on Terror
Full text linkThis paper shows how the notion of punishment has been invoked by former US President George W. Bush, and ex UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to represent war. It is suggested that in this context, the notion of punishment serves different objectives: legitimizing violence, suggesting the sovereign role taken by the US and highlighting the emergence of new sensibilities. Building on previous literature in criminology and international relations it examines points of contact between two previously distinct security mechanisms - war and punishment- and suggests possible effects of this discursive blurring. It highlights not only the need for criminologists to engage with international relations literature but also the need to evaluate closely the different nature of the international context
Counter-Terrorism Post 9/11: The Hidden Agenda of Exclusion
Full text linkSince September 11, 2001 the way that government goes about dealing with regulating security has changed drastically to meet the demands of the fearful citizens in society, who think another event could possibly happen again. The focus of this paper is to provide a different view of the mechanisms of security Post 9/11, and questions the validity of the supposed counter-terrorist tactics as they relate to the securing of personal safety. Highlighted throughout the paper are many of the various techniques employed by the State in their quest against terrorism. But a further examination of the methods they use raises many questions as to whether combating terrorism is the real goal of the government
Demographic trends, young people’s attitudes towards marriage and socio-economic changes related to family formation in Greece and in Selected European Countries: A comparative analysis based on official and survey research data
Full text linkThe study is dealing with the evolution and the current patterns on marriage and family formation in Greece, as well as the related young population matters, by analyzing the demographic trends during the Post World War II, the temporary attitudes and behavior, especially of young people and the socio-economic factors associated with these trends. To meet these tasks, secondary and survey data are employed, demographic indicators are constructed and descriptive plus non parametric statistics are used. The similarities and differences across Europe are identified as Greece is partly following the southeastern demographic pattern and attitudes towards marriage and family formation, but also the particularities even from the other Mediterranean-Southern countries. The demographic and attitudinal differences among societies are due to the different time period that each of these passed through the certain phases of social and economic transformation
Book Review
Full text linkYouth Gangs and Community Intervention: Research, Practice and Evidence
Edited by: Robert J. Chaskin
New York: University of Columbia Press, 2010, Pp. 296, $40 paperback
Reviewed by: Claudio Colaguor
Improved methods for surveying and monitoring crimes through likelihood based cluster analysis
Full text linkThis paper focuses on a development of a classification model that gives an accurate placement of regions into classes of the relative risk of crimes over time. The analysis was based on statistics on the cases of burglary and murder from 13 regions of Namibia for the period 2002 - 2006. Since crime statistics are counts, they are often contaminated by heterogeneity. The effect of population heterogeneity in the crime counts in particular makes comparison of crime risk across regions using traditional methods of classification impossible. As such a method for standardizing crime counts was introduced and models for modeling population heterogeneity proposed. In particular a mixture likelihood approach to clustering by McLachlan and Basford (1988) which was further extended for covariate effects was used. This is due to its ability in identifying important clusters and in mapping the relative risk of crime onto the study regions via the maximum a posteriori (MAP) method while inference was done via the EM algorithm of Dempster et al (1997). The result shows that the space - time mixture model conducted under non - parametric form gives a good account of the relative risk of the two crimes over time, while both space - time mixture and covariate adjusted space - time mixture models points to a 3 risk classification of the regional relative risk of the two crimes namely high, medium and low risk class respectively
Penitentiary System: Criticism of Legislative Drafting Technique at Three Levels
Full text linkBoth the organization of the penitentiary system -as structured within the legislative framework- and its practical implementation reflect society's representations of crime as well as perceptions of its prevention and combat. This work study will focus upon the Greek penitentiary system based on the prison officers’ views and perceptions. The sample of the present research consists of 37 guards serving in Greek penitentiary institutions. The findings of the research indicate the managerial quality of the reforms attempted in the country during the last two decades. The major problems of the penitentiary system are the following: insufficient organizational infrastructure, overcrowding of prisons, weaknesses in administrative organization and inefficient care system. Additionally, the education and training of prison officers is insufficient. State policies should aim at developing actions which will take into account both empirical data and scientific findings