1,721,083 research outputs found
Punishment and democratic theory:Resources for a better penal politics
Get PDFThis chapter introduces the central theme that animates the chapters in this volume: that one underexploited resource for a better penal politics lies in investigating the ideals and institutions of democracy, and thinking about how these ideals can be theorized and given practical effect in reshaping the criminal justice and penal arrangements of advanced capitalist democracies today. Penal scholarship has seen the emergence of a defensive, nostalgic orthodoxy, one that sees technocratic governance as the most plausible route out of penal excess. In contrast, this chapter makes the case for enriching the exchange between punishment and democratic theory. By paying closer attention to the unrealized promise of democratic values and commitments, we can sharpen the critique of mass incarceration, restrain the power and reach of the penal state, and focus greater attention on the question of how to reconstruct criminal justice institutions to make them agents of a deeper democracy
Policing and sense of place: ‘shallow’ and ‘deep’ security in an English town
Get PDFMuch policy discourse concentrates on the contribution police make to keeping people safe. Often, this means minimizing fear of crime. Yet, more expansive accounts stress the extent to which deeper-rooted forms of security and belonging might also be important ‘outcomes’ of police activity. Using data collected from a survey of residents of a mid-sized English town, Macclesfield in Cheshire, we consider the extent to which evaluations of policing are associated with (1) a ‘shallow’ sense of security—roughly speaking, feeling safe—and (2) a ‘deeper’ sense of security—being comfortable in, and with, one’s environment. Focussing more accurately on the forms of safety and security police can hope to ‘produce’ opens up space for consideration of the ends they seek as well as the means they use
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Thinking normatively about democratic policing: The case of Carabineros de Chile
Get PDFThis thesis advances the concept of democratic policing through an empirically grounded theoretical approach based on a case study of Carabineros de Chile. It addresses a significant gap in policing scholarship by developing a non-ideal theory of democratic policing informed by both institutional analysis and lived experiences in marginalised communities. The research employs a multi-method approach combining historical analysis, regulatory framework assessment, institutional discourse examination, and ethnographic fieldwork in two marginalised urban neighbourhoods.
The historical analysis reveals how Carabineros' institutional development, especially during the civic-military dictatorship (1973-1990), has shaped its contemporary democratic deficits. The regulatory framework assessment identifies structural constraints that inhibit democratic accountability. Analysis of the institution's magazine illuminates how Carabineros conceptualise its roles, highlighting tensions between institutional selfperception and democratic principles. The interviews demonstrate how residents' experiences with police influence their sense of democratic belonging, revealing a disconnect between institutional practices and community needs, particularly in marginalised areas where residents experience disproportionate policing without corresponding security benefits.
Building on these findings, the thesis explicitly challenges expansionist approaches to policing by proposing a refined theory that advocates for deliberately restricting and specialising the police role. This theoretical contribution argues against the intensification of policing and instead suggests police forces should be limited to addressing only forms of private violence that communities cannot manage independently. The theory reconceptualises democratic policing as concerned with securing conditions for democratic belonging through institutional restraint rather than expansion. This thesis contends that strengthening democratic foundations requires less police presence in national life, greater community capacity, expanded deliberative spaces, and police forces strictly confined to countering forms of private violence that subjugate marginalised communities
Policing integration: the inter- and intra-organizational coordination of police work
Get PDFThe thesis examines the coordination of public police organizations in an intra-national setting through interviews and observations with police officers and managers in multiple organizations in the Lower Mainland, BC, Canada, alongside documentary analysis of local, national and provincial law, policy and protocols relating to coordination. It produces a qualitative and inductive analysis of how police coordinate both within and between agencies, examining ‘interstices’ between police units and using recent ‘integration’ initiatives between public police organizations in the Lower Mainland as a focal point. It develops a recent local history of police activity and organizational change in the region; a novel typology of police organizational boundaries grounded in open-systems organizational theory; and an account of the dynamics of inter-unit coordination based on empirical findings. The thesis then sets out a governance problem for police coordination, developing the argument that coordination work is unique work and needs to be treated as such for purposes of accountability, transparency and equity of police practice in a democratic society. This governance problem is applied to broader developments in police work in Anglo-American societies, and an intellectual framework for assessing police governance under coordination is advanced
The communicative architecture of policing
Get PDFInspired in part by the findings of, and fallout from, the Leveson Inquiry, and the recommendations in the subsequent Filkin Report on the relationship between the Metropolitan Police and the media, my DPhil explores police-media relations and police communications in the local (extra-London) and contemporary context. It also assesses the impact of social media technologies on both journalists and police, and on their social and informational relationships. The project involved an in-depth ethnography of newsrooms in local print and broadcast media in England, and police communications departments. The principal methodological approach is observation. Fieldwork lasted over two years, with more than seven months each of continuous observation with both local journalists and police communication professionals.
This research is unique in the limited scholarship on police-media relations, combining observational data from both newsrooms and police communications departments. It provides insights on the revenue crisis and decline in local journalism, and how this has impacted reporting on crime and policing. It details the emergence of a professional police communicator identity in British policing: tasked with managing public/media trust and confidence in policing. Perhaps most importantly, the thesis offers an account of how strategies by journalists and police to enhance their communication power, structures their relationship with one another, and the production of crime and policing knowledge. Finally, the thesis explores the deeper mechanics of power relations between policing and media, by theoretically situating them within the context of their broader fields of power
Dangerous Politics: An interpretive political analysis of the imprisonment for public protection sentence, 2003-2008
Get PDFThe thesis constitutes a detailed historical reconstruction of the creation, contestation and subsequent amendment of the Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence, the principal ‘dangerous offender’ measure of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Underpinned by an interpretive political analysis of penal politics, the thesis draws on a detailed analysis of relevant documents and 53 interviews with national level, policy-oriented actors. The thesis explores how actors’ conceptions of ‘risk’ and ‘the public’ interwove with the political beliefs and political traditions relied upon by the relevant actors. It is argued that while there was general recognition of a ‘real problem’ existing in relation to dangerous offenders, the central actors in the creation of the IPP sentence crucially lacked a detailed understanding of the state of the art of risk assessment and management (Kemshall, 2003) and failed to appreciate the systemic risks posed by the IPP sentence. The creation of the IPP sentence, as with its subsequent amendment, is argued to highlight the extreme vulnerability felt by many government actors. The efforts of interest groups and other pressure participants to have their concerns addressed regarding the systemic and human damage subsequently caused by the under-resourcing of the IPP sentence is explored, and the challenge of stridently arguing for substantial change while maintaining ‘insider’ status is discussed. As regards senior courts’ efforts to rein in the IPP sentence, it is argued that the increasingly conservative nature of the judgments demonstrate that the judiciary are not immune from the creep of a ‘precautionary logic’ into British penal politics. Regarding the amendment of the IPP sentence, the Ministry of Justice’s navigation between the twin dangers of a systemic crisis and a political crisis are explored. In conclusion, the IPP story is argued to demonstrate a troubling ‘thoughtlessness’ by many of the key policymakers, revealing what is termed the ‘banality of punitiveness.’ The potential for a reliance on political beliefs and traditions to slip into this thoughtless state, and possible ways of ensuring that such policy issues are engaged with in a more inclusive and expansive manner, are discussed
Police culture in a diverse society: provincial police force in transition?
Get PDFThis thesis is an ethnographic investigation into the occupational value systems and practices of contemporary police officers in a provincial English police force. Situated in the local context of Staffordshire Police, the thesis revisits the notion of ‘police culture’ in the light of recent changes to the social, economic, political and organisational context of policing in Britain. Drawing on direct observation of operational police work across two contrasting policing areas, the thesis tracks the narrative of Staffordshire Police as it has attempted to effect cultural change, in respect to improving both the working conditions of personnel inside the organisation and the delivery of an effective and equitable service to the various ‘publics’ outside the organisation. The thesis identifies a number of new features of police culture which have, hitherto, gone unnoticed. In particular, the thesis provides a principal insight into how contemporary police officers have responded to a new policing environment in which respect for diversity and recognition of cultural and gendered identities has become salient. It is demonstrated that the altered policing realities have transformed police culture in some important ways. However, the way in which officers have responded to the new policing landscape is neither universal nor uniform. While aspects of police culture are sensitive to the reorganisations which have taken place in the national and local context of British policing, it is illustrated that the persistence of entrenched ways of thinking and behaving serve to challenge efforts to reform the police. With these contrasting responses in mind, the thesis concludes that the story of contemporary police culture is one of both change and continuity
The price of mobility: a criminological exploration of minibus taxis, violence and urban space in South Africa
Get PDFIn this paper I explore the complex relationship between the minibus taxi industry and violence in post-apartheid South Africa. I argue that the industry, shaped by historical legacies and path dependence, has evolved into a sector where violence is not merely a consequence but an embedded operational tool used by various actors to navigate the intricate spatial, political and economic landscape.
By tracing the industry's development from its roots in the apartheid era to the critical juncture of deregulation in 1987, this study reveals how the seeds of instability and conflict were sown. The examination of key actors - associations, mother bodies, owners and drivers - and their use of violence through an infrastructural lens underscores how the struggle for power and control over lucrative routes and ranks perpetuates a cycle of harm. Infrastructural violence, where urban space becomes a contested territory, is central to understanding the industry's dynamics. The analysis of the industry's political economy exposes the failures of regulation, the pervasiveness of corruption and the entrenched resistance to change that fuels violence. Ultimately, it is the commuters who bear the brunt of this dysfunctional system, facing daily risks ranging from unroadworthy vehicles and reckless driving to the ever-present threat of physical violence, particularly against women.
The dissertation contends that the violence plaguing the minibus taxi industry is not an anomaly but a fundamental feature, deeply embedded in its historical trajectory, institutional arrangements and everyday practices. By centering the minibus taxi as the focal point, I hope to bring often-overlooked harms to the forefront, opening up new avenues for criminological inquiry into the role of automobility in shaping patterns of violence, vulnerability and mobility in the Global South
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