Skip Navigation


British Journal of Criminology Advance Access originally published online on September 4, 2008
British Journal of Criminology 2009 49(2):150-164; doi:10.1093/bjc/azn066
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
49/2/150    most recent
azn066v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ferret, J.
Right arrow Articles by Spenlehauer, V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

The British Journal of Criminology 49:150-164 (2009)
© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Does Policing the Risk Society Hold the Road Risk?

Jérôme Ferret* and Vincent Spenlehauer**

** Mastère d'action publique, Ecole nationale des ponts et chaussées, 6-8 avenue Blaise pascal 77455 Champs-sur-Marne Cedex 2 France; vincent.spenlehauer{at}enpc.fr.

* LEREPS/CIRESS, University of Toulouse 1, University of Toulouse, France.


  Abstract

Ericson and Haggerty's book, Policing the Risk Society (1997), sets out to annul Bittner's classical, coercion-based reading of the police and replace it with a radically new paradigm that foregrounds the panoptical or knowledge work dimension of the police and its potential to serve the interests of non-police social-disciplinary institutions. In this article, we test this neo-Foucauldian paradigm on the basis of a body of research into road traffic policing. As a result, we observe that though non-police owner-managers of new risks challenge the societal immanence, centrality and publicness of police organizations, with time, these challenges fail. We therefore argue that Ericson and Haggerty's notion of panoptical policing should be taken as a theoretical innovation, which, far from eliminating Bittner's paradigm, enhances it with a new force.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.