Tagged: police

Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

The Rise of Police Body Cameras

Police departments across the country are rapidly increasing their technological capacity to become a more efficient and effective force. These technologies vary from new weapons, wide-area surveillance, facial recognition software, closed caption television cameras, and crime mapping software. Each of these technologies is oriented towards identifying offenders and preventing or intervening in crime incidents. The technology has become a multi-billion dollar industry with vendors regularly contacting departments attempting to sell them the next great technology. One technology becoming increasingly popular...

Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Fear and Data Hoarding in the U.S.A.: The Use of Big Data to Fight Crime

  Key components of New York Police Department’s controversial stop-and-frisk strategy were recently struck down by a Federal Judge for violating the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.  The controversy surrounding the stop-and-frisk program primarily focused on its racial profiling—over 85 percent of the 4.3 million people stopped since 2003 were minorities. This decision has received considerable attention; however, there was a second component of NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program that was also defeated that received less attention. As part of the stop-and-frisk program,...

Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Sex Offender Rehabilitation via Friendship

Bob Howard of the BBC has recently published an article looking at a scheme to combat sex offender recidivism. Originating in Canada, friendship circles are ‘based on the premise that while some offenders have friends and family to return to when they come out of prison, others have not and the more isolated they are, the more likely they are to re-offend’. Throughout the article, Sarah from London talks about her experiences as a volunteer for the child protection charity...

Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Visual Culture according to the Police

by kiddingthecity It sounds more and more likely that the Police have something to do with the death of a newsagent at the rally in the City of London. Many witnesses have come forward and most importantly there is The Picture: the evidence, the forensic clue, the probatio, the real stuff judges love and on which the surveillance culture of the streets in this country has been built upon. Mr Tomlinson is on the floor, surrounded by police officers, his...

Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change

Capitalism's Meltdown and the Body (III)

by kiddingthecity The financial system is ‘ill’, capitalism is on the verge of ‘collapsing’, a drastic ‘cure’ has to be found quickly, ‘toxic’ funds need to be ‘eradicated’, and so on. Terms from the vocabulary of medicine and biology have been largely used to describe the systemic crisis of the latest capital, often comparing it to the body in pain. Probably, in an attempt to localize and make more understandable the phantasmagoria of the trillions to Mr. and Mrs. Smiths,...

Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Anticipated Recommendation to Downgrade Ecstasy Raises Concerns

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is expected to propose the reclassification of Ecstasy (MDMA). At present, ecstasy is categorized as a Class A drug, alongside heroin and cocaine. The recommendation to downgrade the drug to Class B appears to be based on a principle of “relative harm.”   Such reclassification may be seen as both radical and constructive, enabling drug workers, as well as the wider criminal justice system to take more appropriate action. However, early indications...