Unmasking the Crimes of the Powerful

Even in formally open, liberal, democratic states, a series of barriers exist as obstacles to critical criminologists who wish to conduct research that scrutinises the activities of powerful states and corporations. Much evidence suggests that in the current political climate, the barring of access to sources of data, neo-liberal re-configurations in the funding of research, and the narrowing of publishing and dissemination opportunities to counter-hegemonic voices are severely limiting the ability to conduct critical research. This article reports on recent experiences of researchers concerned with unmasking the crimes of the powerful and argues that, despite the obstacles power sources use to obscure and mystify the illegal and violent practices engaged in by states and corporations, there remains fertile space around research agendas, and in universities, for critical researchers to exploit. To gain insight from the ways in which researchers can, and do, establish alternative agendas, this article seeks to explore some of the principles that might inform and encourage those forms of resistance, and to establish how critical criminologists might continue to subject the powerful to scrutiny. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Reviews

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The Business of Peace: Raiding and Peace Work along the Kenya-Uganda Border (Part II)

Peace work is big business along the Kenya–Uganda border.Each year, new groups are created thanks to the generosity ofmajor donors while others disappear due to corruption and mismanagement.This cycle has continued for decades and, despite an absenceof tangible results, millions of dollars continue to flow intothe bank accounts of peace groups in the North Rift. As thefirst part of this article suggests, the focus on the so-called‘root causes’ of violence may well be responsiblefor the dismal performance of the peace industry. However, thebehaviour of peace NGOs in the field has been appalling. Peacemeetings are often only held so NGOs can display an engagementwith the conflict, despite the dangers created by such events.Other groups are dominated by politicians who use money earmarkedfor peace work to fund their political ambitions. Better monitoringis the obvious solution, but local groups have been able toavoid this by exaggerating the security risks of visiting theregion. Others argue that offloading peace work responsibilitiesto CBOs might lead to better results, but in the highly ethnicizedNorth Rift smaller groups are rarely able to transcend theirlocal roots. This article concludes that the peace industryis deeply flawed, and requires a complete overhaul in orderto have a beneficial impact on the region.     

Celebrating 50 years of equal franchise in the United Kingdom: personal reflections on celebrations in 1978

Interest in swimming for women during the second half of the nineteenth century was stimulated by the public appearances of professional female natationists who performed in endurance events, exhibited and raced in swimming baths, and displayed ornamental swimming skills in music hall tanks, as well as teaching swimming in female-only classes. This narrative explores briefly the life course of Agnes Beckwith, the ‘London Naiad’, during the last quarter of the century and concludes that individuals like Agnes, who had a lifetime of involvement in all areas of aquatics, contributed significantly to the increasing popularity of the activity among women.     

High School Exit Exams and Dropout in an Era of Increased Accountability

A key form of student‐level accountability is the requirement for students to pass high school exit exams (HSEEs) in order to receive a diploma. In this paper, we examine the impact of HSEEs on dropout during a period when these exams became more common and rigorous. Further, we study whether offering alternate pathways to graduation for students who cannot pass HSEEs moderates any dropout effects. Using a district‐grade‐level panel assembled from the Common Core of Data, we exploit the fact that new exit exam policies first affect a particular graduating class, so we can isolate the impact of exposure to HSEEs for students in one grade in a district separate from other unaffected grades in the same district. We estimate dropout effects by grade for all students, and by race, sex, and urbanicity. We find that HSEEs increase dropout rates for students in the 12th grade, with especially large effects for African‐American students. Dropout effects are uniformly larger in states that do not provide alternate pathways to receive a diploma or alternative credentials for students that cannot pass exit exams. We estimate that 1.25 percent of 12th graders in these states do not graduate with their high school class, likely due to having a diploma withheld because of inability to pass the requisite HSEE. © 2013 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Medicalized Metamorphosis: Biological Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders

Critical Criminology - Convicted offenders who consent to medical treatment may secure a preferable sentence. They make these decisions within a hybrid medico-legal system that often views...     

Re-imagining crime prevention: controlling corporate crime?

While the discourses and practices of crime prevention are of increasing salience, few criminologists have sought the inclusion of corporate illegalities on such agendas. Relatedly, within criminology, there has been a diminished tendency to think in idealistic, utopian and emancipatory terms. This paper is one small attempt to think in precisely such terms.¹ But it is not an exercise in pure imagination. In particular, the paper makes extended reference to Finland, where recent experience suggests that corporate crime prevention may be feasible, under certain conditions, albeit subject to certain limitations. Thus we consider both the desirability and the feasibility of corporate crime prevention intruding upon the generally narrowly constructed terrain of ‘crime prevention’. We begin with a critique of some of the key aspects of crime prevention discourses – at both theoretical and practical levels – with a particular emphasis upon the extent to which these are both more appropriately and usefully applied to corporate crime prevention, before going on to discuss corporate crime prevention ‘in action’, through a focus upon recent developments in Finland. In a concluding section, we consider various aspects of both the desirability and feasibility of corporate crime prevention.