¶ … vision of the police force in aspects of 'modernity' is that it is a replica of the nation-state enforcing a unitary body of law on a specific population; it is an objective institution expressing a universal truth and binding social deviants to follow that truth. Postmodernism, through consumerism, fragmentation of values, globalization, and fracturing of nation-state, is popularly seen as destructive to modernity's grasp on crime control and community safety (Gibbins, 1998; O'Malley, 2005). That, however, as this essay shows, is not so clear.
Foucault summed it up nicely when he referred to the prison system as an institution that foists an identify on a specific population (Hill & Tait, 2004), and by so doing fails in its objective of 'correcting' these individuals:
The prison, and no doubt, punishment in general, is not intended to eliminate offences, but rather to distinguish them, to distribute them, to use them; that it is not so much that they render docile those who are liable to transgress the law, but that they tend to discriminate the transgression of the laws in a general tactic of subjection. The failure of prison may be understood on this basis (Foucault, 1977: 272).
In a similar manner, Grabosky (1999) finds the concept 'zero tolerance' policing aggravating for it is reminiscent of the urge to seek a quick fix to the nation's crime problems, and, therefore, a simplistic statement and a potentially dangerous and ominous step in the direction of a totalitarian society. The police is made to seem as an occupying army, but, in reality, there is no single panacea since crime is a complex affair stemming as it does from many causes and many different origins.
Governments do not intend...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now