Crime Prevention as Totalitarian Biopolitics

The article examines a number of prescriptions from The Danish Crime Prevention Council and argues that in the name of prevention, ever-new social and materiel technologies are invented to regulate the life of ordinary citizens. The article contends that this may be interpreted as a comprehensive at...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Borch, Christian (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Article
Language:English
Published: 2005
In: Journal of Scandinavian studies in criminology and crime prevention
Year: 2005, Volume: 6, Issue: 2, Pages: 91-105
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
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Availability in Tübingen:Present in Tübingen.
IFK: In: Z 181
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Summary:The article examines a number of prescriptions from The Danish Crime Prevention Council and argues that in the name of prevention, ever-new social and materiel technologies are invented to regulate the life of ordinary citizens. The article contends that this may be interpreted as a comprehensive attempt to exercise power, that is, to structure the possible field of actions of others. But what is more, the rationality of crime prevention amounts to an almost totalitarian biopolitical strategy, as it focuses on virtually all dimensions of life: our health, the way we live, our identities, how we play, the way we move, our relations to neighbours, etc. This biopolitical rationality of crime prevention is closely associated with a more general focus on risk and responsibility
ISSN:1404-3858
DOI:10.1080/14043850500365422