Steven Box and police crime: understanding and challenging police violence and corruption
In Power, Crime, and Mystification (PCM), Steven Box suggested that the law-and-order climate of the 1980s made it very difficult to even mention police violence and corruption without being accused of adopting a ‘hysterical and anti-police stance’ (1983, p. 82). This chapter considers the need for,...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
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2023
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| In: |
Demystifying power, crime and social harm
Year: 2023, Pages: 223-246 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | In Power, Crime, and Mystification (PCM), Steven Box suggested that the law-and-order climate of the 1980s made it very difficult to even mention police violence and corruption without being accused of adopting a ‘hysterical and anti-police stance’ (1983, p. 82). This chapter considers the need for, and responses to, critical work on policing in the current era. In the forty years since Box published his account, the evidence of police violence and corruption in the UK has continued to mount. From institutional racism in 1999 to institutional corruption in 2021, official inquiries have highlighted enduring structural problems with policing, and this is reinforced by data on a range of key issues including, deaths in police custody, racial profiling, sexual violence perpetrated by police officers, and undercover policing of political activism. The evidence of what Box called ‘police crime’ is significant, but we arguably face the same responses Box highlighted when seeking to research and highlight police violence and corruption. The growth of police studies and partnership work between academics and police has meant that research with rather than on police has been prioritised in criminology with critical work further marginalised. Recognising the challenges for thinking and speaking critically about the police, this chapter considers how Box’s analysis of ‘police crime’ can inform our work to both understand and challenge the violence and injustice that characterises contemporary policing. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite |
| ISBN: | 9783031462122 |