NCJ Number
118608
Date Published
1989
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This paper describes trends in British behavioral regulation, examines policing under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984 (PACE) against the background of those events, considers the role of law and rules in such a system of control, and addresses the implications of current developments for sociolegal research.
Abstract
Great Britain has experienced significant developments in administrative law that have aimed at deregulating services, freeing them from legal and administrative control of various kinds, and encouraging self-regulation. The same trend is reflected in police regulation under PACE and its associated codes of practice. The act and codes shift policing away from an activity regulated by legal powers and duties under the law toward a largely self-regulated activity. Although this development has some dangers, it also holds new opportunities. New mechanisms of self-regulation have the potential for more effective supervision. There can be practical gains from viewing policing as a self-regulatory system having characteristics in common with other such systems. Comparative study of the ways in which self-regulation is applied to and in other institutions can suggest new and possibly radical ways for regulating the police. 24 references.