NCJ Number
206718
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: 2004 Pages: 4-26
Date Published
2004
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article demonstrates three ways in which Europe is moving to a state of sanctioned force.
Abstract
This article argues that there are three ways in which Europe is moving from one system to another in terms of state sanctioned force. The first way that the system is changing is through an extension of the field of interventions. There are an increasing number of phenomena that may be dealt with by the use of force. The fundamental mechanism has involved the law being stretched in two directions at once: the line between crime and acts of war has been erased, as has that between criminal offenses and minor and public order disturbances. This has led to the establishment of a broad field in which governmental and private institutions can collaborate and use force according to new principles. The second section provides an account of the institutions that have expanded within this field: the prison system, border controls, local crime prevention work and the private security industry. All these industries have expanded over the past 20 years and they function increasingly in accordance with the logic of security that determines this field at the general level. The third way the system is changing is through the creation of a new field of policy. The system is either working improperly or it is functioning differently than it did before. The law has been ruptured in two directions simultaneously: upward, through the erasure of the line between crimes and acts of war and downward through the line between criminal offenses and minor public disturbances. The insight that the security mentality is counterproductive, that the measures employed with the promise of creating security in fact serve to exacerbate the conditions that constitute a threat to security, may well constitute a step in the proper direction. References