Exhausting Whiteness: The 1996-98 Belgian Parliamentary Inquiry Into the Handling of a Paedophilia Affair (From Crime, Truth and Justice: Official Inquiry, Discourse, Knowledge, P 204-221, 2004, George Gilligan and John Pratt, eds., -- See NCJ-204857)

• NCJ Number: 204867
• Author(s): Ronnie Lippens
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Case Study
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter examines the Parliamentary Inquiry Report regarding how the police and the judiciary mishandled a pedophilia case that broke out in the summer of 1996 in Belgium.

Abstract

The Parliamentary Inquiry, also referred to as the Dutroux inquiry, was installed in October 1996 to investigate possible police and judiciary incompetence and corruption. By 1996 there had already been numerous inquiries and reports on the deficiencies of the Belgium criminal justice system. The Dutroux case involved a pedophilia ring, allegedly involving high ranking politicians and criminal justice officials, that had kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered several young girls. Allegations of police and judiciary corruption emerged as the scope of the crimes were revealed and as it became evident that they had been protected from police scrutiny by corrupt officials. The author examines the official discourse that emerged surrounding these events and the massive White March that followed. Taking his cue from Marcel Mauss’s anthropological writings on the gift, the author examines this official discourse from the perspective of the Dutroux inquiry and report as a gift. The Dutroux inquiry is placed within the framework of the crucial developments that have occurred in Belgium’s social and political life since the 1980’s. According to the author, the Dutroux report can be seen as a countergift following the original gift of “whiteness” during the White March. The White March was explained by its observers as a march for innocence, a march for truth, or a march for political neutrality. Its participants wore white and did not speak or hold banners with slogans. The first volume of the Dutroux report was published in April 1997 and listed in detail all the flaws of the police investigation of the case and the flaws in the judicial handling of the case. The report incorporates a focus on victim subjectivity and active victim consumption and victim citizenship is reinforced by offering a victim-oriented criminal justice system. Thus the gift of the Dutroux inquiry was the promise of a reformed criminal justice system that included the dimensions of the consumption of victim democracy, the production of victim citizenship, and the devolved management of emotions. References