The Black Hand: A Study in Moral Panic

This analysis reviews the history of Black Hand extortion in the City of Chicago and argues that the societal response to Black Hand activity constituted a moral panic. In addition, special emphasis is given to the institutional legacy of society's response to Black Hand crime. It is argued that the moral panic created by the Black Hand contributed to the social construction of the alien conspiracy theory, which has dominated beliefs about the Mafia and organised crime for almost a century     

Three Duties to Rescue: Moral,Civil, and Criminal

Law and Philosophy -     

Mad Men,Meth Moms,Moral Panic: Gendering Meth Crimes in the Midwest

This research examines the content of a sample of newspaper articles from the Midwestern states. The analyses find highly gendered accounts of methamphetamine related crimes. Media depictions suggest women use meth for reasons drawn from conventional notions of motherhood, sexuality, and subordination. Alternately, motives of men appear constructed around dominant notions of male criminal virility and the viability of the drug trade. The findings offer a contextual framework to consider how this sort of mediated dichotomy emerges from and reinforces popular notions of gendered crime and drug users in non-urban spaces.     

The Enemy Within: The Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Moral Panic

When there is a period devoid of sensationalistic biker news, the public’s concern about outlaw bikers can be quite low. All it takes is one overt act of violence to heighten the public’s fear of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are the most current “dangerous class” which have been the subject of a moral panic in Canada. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs as organized crime bodies are deemed to be the single most serious threat to the country—the enemy within. The gang war in British Columbia is fuelled by drugs supplied by the Hells Angels and there is a wide spread fear that these evildoers are trying to harm and tear apart the fabric of our society. This article provides a critical in-depth analysis of the construction of an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang moral panic with the focus on Canada. The roles played by the media, politicians, and the public in using isolated, violent incidents to support their interests will be examined along with the interactions between these groups and the resultant punitive actions directed toward members of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.     

Government-Voluntary Sector Compacts: Governance, Governmentality, and Civil Society

In 1998 government and the main representatives of the voluntary sector in each of the four countries in the United Kingdom published 'compacts' on relations between government and the voluntary sector. These were joint documents, carrying forward ideas expressed by the Labour Party when in opposition, and directed at developing a new relationship for partnership with those 'not-for-profit organizations' that are involved primarily in the areas of policy and service delivery.This article seeks to use an examination of the compacts, and the processes that produced them and that they have now set in train, to explore some of the wider issues about the changing role of government and its developing relationships with civil society. In particular, it argues that the new partnership builds upon a movement from welfarism to economism which is being developed further through the compact process. Drawing upon a governmentality approach, and illustrating the account with interview material obtained from some of those involved in compact issues from within both government and those umbrella groups which represent the voluntary sector, an argument is made that this overall process represents the beginning of a new reconfiguration of the state that is of considerable constitutional significance.     

Popular Culture and Social Control: The Moral Panic on Music Labeling

American Journal of Criminal Justice - Informed by a moral panic perspective, I analyze the music labeling debate in the United States from the mid 1980s until the early 1990s. Instigated by the...     

伦理的维度：恐怖主义产生和泛滥的根源

恐怖主义是对全人类安全的共同威胁。贫困、不公正因素的加剧,发达国家的傲慢偏见以及美式反恐战略先天性的道德缺失是恐怖主义产生和泛滥的主要根源。     

A False Sense of Security: Moral Panic Driven Sex Offender Legislation

Data collected from correctional files of sex offenders managed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation were analyzed to explore the degree to which sex offender behavior meets the assumptions of the legislation intended to regulate their behavior. The study asked where offenders commit their sex crimes and the likelihood of choosing a known vs. a stranger victim. The concept of moral panic is used as a framework to discuss possible motivations for current sex offender legislation.     

Dynamic Attenuation: Terrorism,Transnational Crime and the Role of the US Army Special Forces

This article analyses the ability of the US Army Special Forces to combat illicit networks (criminal and terrorist) through ‘dynamic attenuation’. It is argued that a process of dynamic attenuation, where network ties and not the actors in the network are targeted, should replace the current US strategy of ‘killing or capturing’ criminal agents threatening US interests. By dynamically attenuating (not destroying) the ties between and among criminal actors and criminal organisations, the US can effectively reduce the capability of criminal organisations to operate and achieve their missions (profit and/or terror). This argument is substantiated by assessing the environments where criminal networks thrive, the characteristics of criminal networks, the utility of targeting networks instead of individual actors, and through a comparison of criminal organisations' and US Army Special Forces' strengths and weaknesses. This article concludes with implications and recommendations for US policy in the fight against criminal organisations.     

市民社会及其理念——市民法的基石

市民社会是个历时性的概念。它经历了等同于政治社会,与国家/政治社会相分野,区分于国家、经济的文化领域等几个时期。各时期有着不同的价值理念,即市民社会的理念。由市民社会—市民社会的理念—市民法的理念—市民法这一线索可看出,市民社会及其理念对市民法及理念起着基础作用。民法典的编纂过程中应吸纳西方市民法固有品格,进而推动市民法及其理念在中国的根植。     

The Liberal Polity,Criminal Sanction,and Civil Society

The article explores an intersection of moral psychology and political principles regarding criminal sanction. A liberal state cannot require that persons acquire certain states of character or lead certain specific kinds of lives; it cannot require virtue. Moreover, it would be wrong for the state to punish offenders in ways that damage their capacities for agency, and in ways that encourage vice. In the U.S. the terms and conditions of punishment often have deleterious effects on agential capacities, undermining the ability to reintegrate in civil society. Prison experience is often antithetical to maintaining or acquiring the dispositions of prudence, accountability, trust, and trustworthiness needed for participation in civil society, raising significant questions concerning the legitimacy of punishment.     

Civil Cases and Society: Process and Order in the Civil Justice System

It is not an exaggeration to say that we live in an era preoccupied with the problems and challenges of obtaining justice in civil cases. Concerns expressed about the civil justice system range from warnings that civil court dockets are clogged by disputants too litigious for their own good to complaints that the legal system is used too rarely in civil cases.
The authors approach their analysis with a sense that this subject area is in need of more and better theory. It is an unfortunate fact that discussions of civil justice—and suggestions for reform—have been marked by contradiction and confusion and have been engrossed with small matters that tend to obscure from view the system as a whole.
The first part of this essay focuses on what the civil justice system is and does. It presents a five-stage model of civil case processing and examines relationships between this model and the criminal justice system. The second part of the essay considers this model in a broader context. Here the authors examine two paradigms of civil case processing and their implications for the implementation of legal norms and the pursuit of justice in society.     

法团主义、公民社会以及中国民主转型

在分析国家和社会关系的诸多路径中,公民社会以多元主义假设为基础,强调社会之于国家的独立性并以此作为对国家权力的制约;法团主义则关注国家对社会的控制以及二者之间制度化通道的建立。较之公民社会,法团主义的路径选择从民主发生学、制度基础以及体制改革等方面与中国民主转型更为契合,因此更具有现实意义。     

Queering State Crime Theory: The State,Civil Society and Marginalization

This article argues that criminology desperately needs to look at the ways in which states marginalize and persecute lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer (LGBTQ) identities. It critically examines the ways in which states reproduce hegemonic dictates that privilege those who adhere to gendered heterosexual norms over all others. This article further considers how the application of state crime theories, in particular Michalowski’s (State crime in the global age, pp. 13–30, Devon, Willan, 2010) tripartite framework, might further foreground the responsibility of the state in protecting LGBTQ identities. Examples of how this framework could be applied are given, with the case study of criminalization of same sex relations being focused on in depth. The article concludes by positing four key points to be considered in any analysis that attempts to critique the role of the state in the perpetuation of heterosexual hegemony.     

Bankrupting Terrorism: The Role of US Anti-terrorism Litigation in the Prevention of Terrorism and Other Hybrid Threats: A Legal Assessment and Outlook

Global terrorist networks are dependent on receiving financial support from a variety of sources, including individuals, charities and corporations. Also known as terrorist financing, the potential of terrorism finance to resemble a global threat has been recognised and also its closeness to other international crimes such as money laundering and organized crime. As a result, possible responses have to constitute co-ordinated, multi-lateral and multi faceted actions under the umbrella of a wide range of international stakeholders such as the United Nations Security Council and the Financial Action Task Force. Combating terrorism requires a ??holistic?? approach which allows for a mix of possible responses. Besides ??kinetic?? security operations (such as targeted killings) and the adoption of criminal prosecution measures another possible response could be the use of US styled transnational civil litigation by victims of terrorism against both, terrorist groups and their sponsors. Corporations, both profit and non profit, such as banks and other legal entities, as well as individuals, are often complicit in international terrorism in a role of aiders and abettors by providing financial assistance to the perpetrators (cf. UN Al-Qaida Sanctions List: The List established and maintained by the 1267 Committee with respect to individuals, groups, undertakings and other entities associated with Al-Qaida). Such collusion in acts of terrorism gains additional importance against the background of so called ??Hybrid Threats??, NATO??s new concept of identifying and countering new threats arising from multi-level threat scenarios. This article discusses the potential impact of US terrorism lawsuits for the global fight against terrorism.