Criminologists have by and large sought to explain crime by the deficiencies people may have. It took till the 1970s until the idea that crime can also be caused by structural power inequalities got an actual name in criminology: crimes of the powerful. Starting with the works of Willem Bonger and Edward Ross in the early 20th century, the author analyses how critical criminologists like Frank Pearce introduced the term ‘crimes of the powerful’ in the 1970s and how this concept was subsequently applied to gender- and racial inequalities, state crime, corruption et cetera, whilst pointing at the topical relevance of using a lens of ‘crimes of the powerful’ as a sensitising concept to analyse present-day problems, ranging from sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church to the banking sector or indeed the expropriation of indigenous lands in the Amazon by soy-farmers and timber traders. |
Voorbij de horizon |
Babylon Berlin, een ‘must’ voor de culturele criminologie |
Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 2 2019 |
Auteurs | Prof. dr. Marc Cools |
Auteursinformatie |
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Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 2 2019 |
Trefwoorden | crimes of the powerful, white collar crime, hate crime, eco crime, ‘lawful but awful’ |
Auteurs | Prof. dr. René van Swaaningen |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
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Researching elites at the margins of research ethics frameworks |
Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 2 2019 |
Trefwoorden | code of ethics, corporate crime, research ethics, gaining access, interviewing elites |
Auteurs | Daniel Beizsley PhD |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
For social scientists undertaking critical research on elites in organisational contexts securing access is a challenging exercise that may rely on the use of several access strategies over extended periods. This process is further complicated by the existence of research ethics frameworks that establish boundaries to access strategies, posing dilemmas on how to best balance access needs with a commitment to ethical practices. This article focuses on such dilemmas – or the ‘ethics of access’ – through a reflection on PhD fieldwork during 2016-2017 in Luxembourg spent researching the European Investment Bank. The paper will conclude by calling for an overhaul of existing frameworks in order to foster more research on elites. |
Artikel |
The concept of violence in (times of) crisisOn structural, institutional and anti-institutional violence |
Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 2 2019 |
Trefwoorden | structural violence, institutional violence, anti-institutional violence, economic crisis, Greece |
Auteurs | Marilena Drymioti |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Attempting to understand the Greek narrative of crisis, this paper examines the most prominent forms of violence that emerged in the period of acute economic recession and political upheaval in Greece namely structural, institutional and anti-institutional violence. This paper aims to highlight existing theoretical gaps and avoid common fallacies of the current body of knowledge. In contrast to some of the more common features of the discussion on violence, this note sets out to: a) acknowledge that violence is not necessarily a physical act, b) acknowledge that the outcomes of violence performances might not be physical either, c) specify and adequately distinguish agency and structural dynamics and d) address the cultural and contextual aspects of violence. Vital to this endeavor is to acknowledge, identify and understand the interactive relation between different forms of violence that emerge during the same period of time in a context in which conflict escalates. |
Artikel |
Top-down and out?Reassessing the labelling approach in the light of corporate deviance |
Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 2 2019 |
Trefwoorden | labelling, corporate crime, moral entrepreneurs, peer group, late modernity |
Auteurs | Anna Merz M.A. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Multi-national corporations are increasingly facing attention and disapproval by different actors, including authorities, public and (non-) commercial organizations. Digital globalization and especially social media as a low-cost, highly interactive and multidirectional platform shape a unique context for this rising attention. In the literature, much attention has been devoted to top-down approaches and strategies that corporations use to avoid stigmatization and sanctioning of their behaviour. Reactions to corporate harm are, however, seldom researched from a labelling perspective. As a result, corporations are not considered as objects towards whom labelling is targeted but rather as actors who hamper such processes and who, as moral entrepreneurs, influence which behaviour is labelled deviant. Based on theoretical analysis of literature and case studies, this article will discuss how the process of labelling has changed in light of the digitalized, late-modern society and consequently, how the process should be revisited to be applicable for corporate deviance. Given a diversification of moral entrepreneurs and increasingly dependency of labelling and meaning-making on the online sphere, two new forms of labelling are introduced that specifically target institutions; that is bottom-up and horizontal labelling. |
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Integratief seksindustriebeleid in Nieuw-ZeelandSucces voor een unieke sociale beweging |
Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 2 2019 |
Trefwoorden | sekswerk, Nieuw-Zeeland, decriminalisering, sociale beweging, beleidsverandering |
Auteurs | Dr. Joep Rottier |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Contrary to its allies in other countries, the sex industry decriminalization movement in New Zealand, embodied by the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC), achieved its goal in 2003. This article explores the reform of the sex industry policy in this country on the basis of a Social Movement Concept. Apart from the specific New Zealand culture, particularly the interaction between three social political aspects – awareness, political opportunities, and a strong social movement organisation – can be identified as crucial factors in realizing a decriminalized sex industry environment. The enactment of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 meant a unique and huge success for a small sex workers movement. |
Artikel |
Walk this wayThe impact of mobile interviews on sensitive research with street-based sex workers |
Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 3 2019 |
Trefwoorden | mobile and walking methods, multisensory methods, ethnography, sex work, prostitution, ethical and sensitive research |
Auteurs | Dr Lucy Neville en Dr Erin Sanders-McDonagh |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
This article draws on a piece of ethnographic research carried out with outreach workers in London working with street-based sex workers (SBSWs). The aim of the research was to determine the efficacy of the services offered to this hard-to-reach client group. The charitable organization has a long history (20+ years) working with SBSWs in the Kings Cross area; we evaluated their drop-in and outreach services for this client group, many of whom have high-level needs due to substance misuse and mental health issues. We initially conducted semi-structured interviews with women at the drop-in services, but encountered a number of ethical and logistical issues that prompted us to consider alternative methodological approaches. This article explores our use of mobile interviews with SBSWs and the outreach team who encounter them, which we argue gives us unique insights into the realities and lived experiences of both women who work (and sometimes live) on the street and the outreach team members who engage with this hard-to-reach group. We argue that mobile interviews offer a highly effective way of conducting research with a vulnerable population, and enabled us to gain a unique perspective into best practice around effectively and ethically researching hard-to-reach groups. Critically, we maintain that these walking interviews gave detailed insights into the lives of SBSWs that would not have been possible using more traditional methods. We provide empirical data in this article from these walking interviews, including fieldnote excerpts, and consider the value of using mobile and innovative methods for criminological research with hard-to-reach populations. |
Artikel |
Conflict narratives and conflict handling strategies in intercultural contextsReflections from an action research project based on restorative praxis |
Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 3 2019 |
Trefwoorden | action research, conflict, restorative justice, intercultural contexts |
Auteurs | Brunilda Pali |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
A rapidly growing field of research and practice, restorative justice has primarily found its gravitational centre within the criminal justice system, as an alternative of dealing with the aftermath of crime. Less explored remains the application of restorative justice in complex, urban, or intercultural contexts, an application which raises a whole set of conceptual and practical challenges. This article is based on an action project which aimed to research conflict narratives in intercultural contexts and transform them through restorative praxis. Mostly used in educational, organizational, and health care settings, action research remains an underused but a highly interesting methodology for criminology and criminal justice research. Its alternative epistemology makes it particularly apt for scientific projects that aim both at investigating crime and justice related issues and at engendering change, either at the level of criminal justice or communities. Although action research has focused mostly on creating change at the level of practical knowledge, when conceived in a critical manner, action research aims not only at improving the work of practitioners, but also at assisting them to arrive at a critique of their social or work settings. Practice concerns at the same time problem setting or problem framing. By zooming into one of the case studies of the project, more specifically the social housing estates in Vienna, I focus in this article specifically on the tensions and dilemmas created by processes of engagement in a problematizing approach to the context and to practice. During these processes, together with other social actors, such as inhabitants and professionals, we named problems (in our case social conflicts) and framed the context in which we addressed them. I argue that participatory forms of inquiry, such as action research, should actively reframe rather than merely describe contexts and problems they work with. |
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Tijdschrift | Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, Aflevering 1 2019 |
Trefwoorden | Norbert Elias, punishment, historical criminology |
Auteurs | Dr. Tom Daems en Prof. dr. René van Swaaningen |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In this article Tom Daems and René van Swaaningen discuss work and life of the late Dutch historian Pieter Spierenburg. The article is based on an interview the authors conducted with Spierenburg in November 2018 as well as his published work and excerpts of an unpublished biography. The article discusses in particular themes related to his interest in, and contributions to, the history of crime and punishment, in particular Spierenburg’s path-breaking book The Spectacle of Suffering (1984), his relation to Norbert Elias and the Amsterdam School and his critique of Michel Foucault. |