Strip-searching as abjectification: Racism and sexual violence in British policing

This article examines police strip-searching practices in the UK. Drawing on newly acquired Freedom of Information data, publicly available testimonies, thematic analysis of official literature and media reports, and first-hand experience, we advance three arguments. First, strip-searching is used s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Duff, Koshka (Author)
Contributors: Kemp, Tom
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2025
In: Theoretical criminology
Year: 2025, Volume: 29, Issue: 1, Pages: 65-90
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Keywords:
Zemiology
strip-searching
state harm
Sexual Violence
Racism
Policing
Description
Summary:This article examines police strip-searching practices in the UK. Drawing on newly acquired Freedom of Information data, publicly available testimonies, thematic analysis of official literature and media reports, and first-hand experience, we advance three arguments. First, strip-searching is used systematically, not exceptionally, and targets young people and people of colour, especially Black young men and boys. Second, strip-searching in practice is demonstrably excessive when measured against its stated rationales of ‘crime’ detection and ‘caring’ for detainees; we unpick the circular logics through which it is legitimized in official and public discourse. Third, drawing on Sharpe's notion of the abject, we argue that strip-searching, as a form of normalized sexual violence folded into the rubric of ‘care’, is part of a project of abjectification that aims to exclude the individuals and groups it targets from social and political subjecthood.
ISSN:1461-7439
DOI:10.1177/13624806241230485