AIC_2009

ANNALES

INTERNATIONALES DE CRIMINOLOGIE

INTERNATIONAL ANNALS OF CRIMINOLOGY

ANALES

INTERNACIONALES DE CRIMINOLOGIA

e

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N PS

ANNEE 2009 (volume 47-1/2)

SOCIÉTÉ INTERNATIONALE DE CRIMINOLOGIE

Ministère de la Justice

12, rue Charles Fourier

75013 - Paris

phone

33.(0)1.45.88.00.23

fax : 33.(0)1.45.88.96.40

e-mail : crim.sic@wanadoo.fr

web site

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/societe.internationale.de.criminologie

ANNALES INTERNATIONALES

DE CRIMINOLOGIE

Organe officiel de la Société Internationale de Criminologie

Président de la Société : Tony PETERS (Belgique)

Secrétaire général de la Société : George PICCA (France)

COMITÉ DE RÉDACTION DES ANNALES

Rédacteur en chef

Prof. Georges KELLENS (Belgique)

adj. Prof. Michaël DANTINNE (Belgique)

Rédacteurs Associés

Prof. Edmundo Oliveira (Brésil)

Prof. Louise Shelley (USA)

Prof. Setsuo Miyazawa (Japon)

La redacciôn agradece a la Dr. Maria Jesûs Guardiola (Investigadora

«Juan de la Cierva», Universidad Autônoma de Barcelona) su colabo-

raciôn en la traduccion de los textos en castellano.

The editors want to thank Dr. Maria Jesûüs Guardiola (Investigadora

«Juan de la Cierva», Universidad Autônoma de Barcelona) for her

assistance in Castilian.

Merci à Dr. Maria Jesûüs Guardiola (Investigadora «Juan de la

Cierva», Universidad Autônoma de Barcelona) pour sa précieuse aide

en castillan.

Table de matières

Table of contents

Indice

Editorial

. ». « «s e « +e + e © « » « e + « . » + » © + + » + —s © » =s » e « » < » » + + » —s — « — e o À

In memory of Louk Hulsman

John Blad

. » . e e + + e » + « e + » » * » « e » + © » + * # < » s. « « e + = » + e « »s — — « « ». +À

Préface

Georges Picca

e —. e » + =. e — « * » …. + « e » + … e e e .s = «s e . — » + e « e * e « « e — « »

19

Efforts to put an end to E.T.A.’s terrorism : evolution, present

situation and perspective of future

José Luis de la Cuesta

. « e « e « + < s. » s. « + + * + = » » « « e e « + —s « » « « « e = À

23

Writers on the storm. Punishment, public debate and persua-

sive speech

Tom Daems

. . »s « … » »s < « e + + « s e e — = © « * e » » : e » e » »s =. + » e + « » « e « — = e

47

Teenage motherhood The frequency of teenage motherhood

in Italian provinces : Economic, cultural and institutional fac-

tors

Uberto Gatti, Richard E. Tremblay, Hans M.H. Schadee...

65

Victimization and Predatory Violence among Street Youth in

Toronto, Canada

Patricia G. Erickson, Jennifer E. Butters, Tara L. Bruno ….

&l

The relationship between criminal justice and criminology :

«poetry» or «technique»?

Klara Kerezsi

. . e « + + « e e e * © »s e e + + + + . e % 6 + e » e « + © © « e v » e « « e = »

101

La S.I.C. face aux développements de la criminologie comme

discipline académique : Le projet d’un observatoire des pro-

grammes académiques en criminologie

Tony Peters

. . « + + + © =. e « = » * + e e = + »s * « » + « + e —. « * * + + e » * » + + « =. » + e

117

sS —

9. Les Organisations non gouvernementales (O.N.G.) à vocation

une

influence

sur

les

scientifique

ont-elles

politiques

criminelles ?

Georges Picca

. e » e » » + « » =s ° « + « + + » « © * » » » + + e » » … = » + « + © + « e » e e

123

EDITORIAL

2008 était pour la Société internationale de criminologie une année de

congrès : la livraison des Annales internationales de criminologie de 2008

était le reflet de grands moments du congrès mondial de Barcelone.

C’est un ouvrage de bibliothèque.

Kobe se profile à présent : le 16° congrès mondial de la Société inter-

nationale de criminologie de 2011 se prépare intensément. Les Nations

Unies, quant à elles, préparent le congrès qui se tiendra en avril 2010 à

Salvador de Bahia.

Le prochain numéro sera tourné vers cet avenir.

En 2009, nos sociétés sœurs ont organisé leurs congrès, l'Association

internationale de droit pénal à Istanbul, et la Société mondiale de victi-

mologie à Mito, et la Fondation internationale pénale et pénitentiaire a

réuni un colloque inter-associations à Liège, où la Société internationale

de défense sociale avait été fondée 1l y a soixante ans. Le thème débattu

a été «L'influence des ONG scientifiques sur les politiques criminelles

nationales et internationales». Le présent numéro en porte la marque. Il

traduit aussi le renouvellement et le bouillonnement des activités et des

réflexions de la Société internationale de criminologie.

EDITORIAL

2008 fue para la Sociedad Internacional de Criminologia un año de

congreso : la entrega de los Anales Internacionales de Criminologia de

2008 ha sido un reflejo de los grandes momentos del congreso mundial

de Barcelona. Constituye una obra de biblioteca.

Kobe se perfila en este momento : el 16° congreso mundial de la

Sociedad Internacional de Criminologia de 2011 se està preparando

intensamente. En cuanto a Naciones Unidas, prepara un congreso que

tendrà lugar en abril de 2010 en Salvador de Bahia.

El prôximo nümero tratarä estas cuestiones futuras.

En 2009,

nuestras

sociedades

hermanas

han organizado

sus

congresos : la Asociaciôn Internacional de Derecho Penal en Estambul,

la Sociedad Mundial de Victimologia en Mito y la Fundaciôn Interna-

cional Penal y Penitenciaria ha organizado un congreso inter-asociacio-

nes en Lieja, donde la Sociedad Internacional de Defensa Social se

fundô hace sesenta años. El tema debatido fue «La influencia de las

7

ONGs

cientificas

en

las

criminales

nacionales

€

politicas

internacionales». El presente nûmero lleva su impronta. Asimismo, tra-

duce la renovacion, las actividades y reflexiones de la Sociedad Interna-

cional de Criminologia.

EDITORIAL

2008 was a congress year for the International Society for

Criminology : the release of the International Annals of Criminology for

2008 was the record of the important events of the world congress in

Barcelona. It 1s a library publication.

Kobe is next in line : the 16'® congress for the International Society

for Criminology scheduled for 2011 is undergoing intense preparation.

The United Nations, for their part, are preparing the Congress that will

be held in April 2010 at Salvador de Bahia in Brazil.

The next edition will be directed towards these future events.

In 2009, our sister societies organised their Congresses. The Interna-

tional Association for Penal law in Istanbul, the World Society for Vic-

timology in Mito, and the International Penal and Penitentiary Foun-

dation organised an inter-association conference in Liège, where the

International Society for Social Defence was founded sixty years ago.

The subject under debate was «The influence of scientific NGOs on

national and international criminal policies». The present event bears

the mark of this subject. It also demonstrates the renewal and reactiva-

tion of the activities and thoughts of the International Society for Crim-

inology.

_8—

IN MEMORY OF LOUK HULSMAN

John Blad ©)

On January 28, 2009 Louk Hulsman, at the age of 85 years, passed

away at home in Dordrecht (Netherlands). The message sent out by his

family described him as a «gardener of the world, open and connected

until his final day, always striving for more humanity». Hulsman was

also literally a fine and eager gardener, but apparently the metaphor

refers back to the final phrases of the book «Peines Perdues» in its

(adapted) Dutch translation : «When I remove from my garden the

obstacles that prevent the sun and the water from fertilizing the soil,

plants will grow up that I never knew existed. In a comparable manner

the disappearance of the states criminal justice system, in a more healthy

and dynamic society, will pave the road for a new kind of justice.»

The Dutch legal scholar Kelk also referred to these words in his dis-

cussion of the meaning of Hulsmans work for criminal law science in the

book of friends that was issued at the occasion of Hulsmans retirement

from the Erasmus University (Rotterdam) in 1986. At that time an icy,

expansive wind blew through the gardens of criminal policy and Kelk

applauded Hulsman as the indispensable gardener «who does not only

care for what 1s growing and flowering but also examines the health of

the roots of these developments critically.» *

Hulsmans retirement and his «Peine Perdues», translated into Dutch

as «Farewell to criminal Justice» did however not imply taking his leave

of the national and international debate about criminal justice and the

necessity of its abolition, far from that. He kept on being invited from

around the world to explain his abolitionist perspective and found a cer-

tain degree of resonance everywhere and especially in Latin-American

countries, which he came to love more and more. Untill December 2008

he was travelling and lecturing and when he came home he surprised his

loved ones by saying he was tired.

() John Blad is associate professor in criminal law sciences at Erasmus University of Rot-

terdam. In 1996 he published his doctorate thesis about the work of Louk Hulsman.

J.R. BLan, Abolitionisme als strafrechtstheorie, Gouda Quint, Deventer. 1996 (with an Eng-

lish summary).

C Louk HULSMAN, in co-operation with Jacqueline BERNAT DE CELIS and Hans SMiTs.

Afscheid van het strafrecht, Een pleidooi voor relfregulering, Het Wereldvenster, Unieboek,

Houten, 1986, p. 134. (My translation, jrb.)

(3 C. KELK, « Het ‘strafrechtelijk discours’ of wel, ieder vogeltje zingt zoals het gebekt

is», In: Bezonnen Hoop, Opstellen aangeboden aan L.H.C. Hulsman, W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink.

Zwolle, 1986, p. 10.

Without a focussed empirical research (f.e. on the basis of a quota-

tion-index) Hulsmans influence on contemporary debates about criminal

justice can not be ascertained, but 1t is clear that this influence has been

considerable. This regardless of the fate of the abolitionist proposals

themselves, which have not been accepted on a systemic level anywhere.

The abolitionist discourse itself, proposing to replace the system of

penal law by various alternative interventions, was formulated and

strongly advocated by Hulsman and his fellow protagonists Christie,

Mathiesen and Bianchi and remains an option to be reflected upon seri-

ously, in view of all the well-known drawbacks and disadvantages of

systems driven by the punitive mentality.

Recently the criminal law scholar Groenhuijsen, discussing various

theoretical schools in the Netherlands, stipulated that Hulsmans

«welfare-orientation» on criminal law still has great importance, espe-

cially internationally for the development of restorative justice. And

indeed, many of Hulsmans ideas - such as the importance of emanci-

pating the victim and serving the victims needs and the necessity to

avoid types of intervention that are non-communicative and degrading

and stigmatizing for the offender — have become fundamental tenets in

theories of restorative justice. And it must be said, that these notions

were brought forward by Hulsman before he became an abolitionist :

they were part of his reasons for seeing criminal justice as a social prob-

lem, in stead of a solution for (other) social problems, inadequately

bulked together under the legal concept of crime.

Already in 1971 Hulsman urged for a victim-oriented system of crim-

inal justice with interventions serving the victims needs primarily and

not directed «against the offender», making it more difficult for the

offender, on the one hand to restore the damages he has done and on

the other hand to learn to behave in conformity with the law. The obli-

gations of the offender to redress the damages should be weighed of

against the common interest of reintegrating the offender and in this

context also imprisonment was discussed as an impediment to both. (*

AIl very topical today. But Hulsman has never written anything about

penal mediation or conferencing, although he must have been aware of

the first experiments done in Canada around 1974.

(% L.H.C. HULSMAN, «De benadeelden door strafbaar gedrag en hun schadeloosstelling»,

in : Slachtoffers van Delicten, Baarn, Anthos, 1971, 30-45.

— 10 —

HHULSMAN AS CRIMINAL LAW SCHOLAR

Hulsman started his professional carreer in 1949 at the ministry of

Defense and, being recognized as an excellent legislative jurist he was

soon commissioned to represent the Dutch interests in European organ-

isations, trying to promote a Furopean Defense Community and later,

having moved to the Ministry of Justice working for (the committee of

experts on penal matters of) the Council of Europe. One could say that

the legislative approach to problems has always remained Hulsmans

fundamental point of departure when addressing whatever issue at hand.

Legislation and policy were his foci, and these activities should be ade-

quate and effective in the way they were designated to be and this meant

stressing the importance of adequate feedback and policy changes when

necessary in view of the real, manifest and latent (often counterproduc-

tive) effects.

Criminal policy he defined as «the complex of decisions about the

usage of the criminal justice system» and in his inaugural lecture (1965)

with the title «The maintenance of Law» he discussed criteria for the

selection and allocation of societal problems to be addressed, to the var-

ious available systems of law : civil law, administrative law and criminal

law. These allocation criteria were stressed as fundamental, because the

systematic capacities to maintain any law adequately depend on the

validity of these criteria. ‘

S)

The inaugural lecture and his essay about (absolute and relative) neg-

ative criteria for penalisation (1974)‘® are two of the most consulted

and appreciated contributions of Hulsman in the Dutch legal literature

to this day.

As chairman of the state committee installed to design an adequate

drug-policy (1968) Hulsman was the intellectual father of the interna-

tionally renowned Dutch drug-policy, based on a certain amount of tol-

erance and a sharp distinction between the (legal) regimes for soft and

hard drugs. Criminal law interventions were discussed as more likely to

enhance the (personal and social) problems related to the use of sub-

stances than to decrease them and health care was considered to be of

great importance. ‘ This policy is one of the causes of the Netherlands

being the country with the lowest number of drug-deaths of the world.

As already mentioned, the position and interests of victims had his

attention early and in this regard he was advocating an important role

C L.H.C. HULSMAN, (1965) Handhaving van Recht, Kluwer, Deventer/Antwerpen.

(6) L.H.C. HULSMAN, «Kriteria voor strafbaarstelling», in : E. ANDRÈ DE LA PORTE (Ed.).

Strafrecht te-recht?, In den Toorn, Baarn, 1972, pp. 80-93.

(O 'THE COMMITTEE HULSMAN reported in 1971 : Ruimte in het drugheleid, Boom, Meppel.

—

]1

for social security systems and for an easily accessible and generous Vic-

tim Compensation Fund.

Hulsman was very involved in teaching probation officers and in

developing their functions in criminal justice, which he considered of

great importance. On the other hand, he was interested in the theoretical

and practical issues of the determination of criminal sanctions in con-

crete cases adjudicated by the courts, instructing judges to decide in a

rational and systematic way in view of the types of offences and the

goals that were to be reached by the sanction in concreto. The course

he developed in this field was unique and also taught in the Erasmus

University in the 1970’s and 1980°s.

In 1983 important legislative innovations in the system of (available)

criminal sanctions were implemented, deeply influenced by Hulsman

stress on the need to avoid imprisonment, making the monetary sanc-

tion and the «transaction» between the public prosecutor and the

defendant available for all types of offences.

INTEGRATED CRIMINAL LAW SCIENCE

When Louk Hulsman was appointed in 1963 to the newly founded

law school of Erasmus University he had high hopes of developing a

criminal law science with a much higher degree of scientific rationality,

especially in terms of influencing the conduct of individual delinquents

and the population at large in the direction of conformity with legiti-

mate behavioural expectations (norms). In 1965 he stipulated that crim-

inal law was a «briljant instrument to maintain the law» but directly

identified many shortcomings in the criminal law system and in the

administration of criminal justice. In particular, he claimed, that the sys-

tem was not adequately equipped with suitable means and resources and

that the level of legal professionalism was too low. But much more

importantly, any realistic insights and social scientific — psychological

and sociological — knowledge about how behaviour can adequately be

influenced were lacking completely. ‘ For this reason the criminal jus-

tice system risks to be more counterproductive than productive in terms

of maintaining laws.

For the first ten years of the intellectual journey that began, one can

say that the search was for a «functional theory of criminal law», trying

to find out what works adequately and what not. Colleagues were

(8) L.H.C. HULSMAN, «De benadeelden door strafbaar gedrag en hun schadeloosstelling»,

in : Slachtoffers van delicten, Anthos, Baarn, 1971. Het schadefonds werd uiteindelijk veel

beperkter van strekking dan Hulsman bepleitte.

C) L.H.C. HULSMAN, «Strafrecht en gerechtigheid», Te Elfder Ure, 1965, 12, 2, pp. 60-65.

appointed who were thinking along the same lines, such as the criminol-

ogist Hoefnagels and the jurist and psychologist Ter Heide. Hulsman

agreed explicitly with the philosopher of law Van Haersolte stating :

«Man is not a magician whose good will naturally brings about the

desired results, but a technician who will have to find the adequate

10)

means to serve his goals. He (...) commands nature by obeying it.»‘

Both Hulsman and Ter Heide were heavily influenced by the school

of «Defense Sociale Nouvelle» as initiated by Marc Ancel in 1954.‘

}1)

In this new articulation of the ideas of social defense resocializing the

delinquent was one of the main techniques of serving society and this

was thought to be best facilitated in a context of fundamental solidarity

with the offender. Committing criminal offences was seen by both as a

disorder, not per se intra-personal, but of the person in relation to his

or her social behavioural field. Learning to act differently would have

to be the main purpose and meaning of the sanction as Ter Heide stip-

ulated.‘!*) In order to create room for adequate behavioural interven-

tions a certain degree of de-juridification was considered necessary, loos-

ening up the strictly punitive interpretation of the criminal sanction

(punishment). which became defined by Hulsman — not as the imposi-

tion of a pain but — as censuring the delinquent and «calling him back

to the normative order.» !*

From 1965 onwards Hulsman was a member of the «Société inter-

nationale de défense sociale (pour une politique criminelle humaniste)»

and of the advisory board of its journal Cahiers de Défense sociale. At

the occasion of his 80" birthday there was a special issue of this journal

in honour of Hulsman with as central theme : criminal justice between

(14)

abolitionism and zero tolerance.

Hulsman passionately worked on his ideas for an integrated criminal

law science, combining law and criminology in his teaching and writing

and building up an integrated law curriculum in the Erasmus Law

School, launched in 1970, that contained so many social scientific ele-

ments that some professors in law began to doubt whether such a cur-

riculum could really deliver good lawyers.

In Hulsmans view, the social sciences should have the function of

offering jurists broader frames of reference for the prediction of the

(O Op. cit., footnote 9. (My translation, jrb.)

(D Marc ANCEL, La defense sociale nouvelle, Editions Cujas, Paris, 2d edition 1966 (first

edition 1954).

OD T. TER Herbe, Vrijheid. Over de zin van de straf, Bakker/ Daamen, Den Haag, 1965.

(3 This conception of punishment was already present in the famous Utrecht School.

represented in Rotterdam by Hoefnagels, although this school also hang on to retribution.

something which Hulsman refused to accept as a justification for punishment.

(4 See www defensesociale.org./revista2003/00.pdf.

_—

—

13

effects of legal interventions and thereby for the selection of legal instru-

ments to serve the legal and social order adequately.

While developing a radically new kind of curriculum for legal educa-

tion, Hulsman went on playing his part in many national and interna-

tional committees, editorial boards, conferences and research pro-

grammes. His energy and commitment seemed to be endless.

The integrated approach to legal education gained an international

component for the students after the start in 1984 of a comprehensive

international «Erasmus» programme, subsidized by Brussels, called

«Criminal Justice and Critical Criminology» which still exists today

although the label «critical» has disappeared from the title.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ABOLITIONIST PARADIGM

Between 1974 and 1977 Hulsman gradually developed the intuition,

that efficaciousness and control of penal interventions could only be

possible when the structural and cultural organisation of the criminal

justice system were radically changed. In his inaugural lecture and later,

designing negative criteria for penalisation (1972), he hoped that the

usage of criminal law interventions could be rationally steered and lim-

ited. In the beginning of the 1970s articles appeared on issues as «feed-

back» in the system and the «costs and benefits» and «cost-

effectiveness». He began to work with two opposite understandings of

criminal justice : one interpreting it as a solution to social problems, the

other interpreting it as a major social problem itself. He gradually

became convinced that the second was the more plausible interpretation.

In 1977 the first lecture was given, in French, in which Hulsman tried

out an abolitionist perspective on criminal justice, focussing on what he

had come to see as the most problematic and misleading concept : crime.

In summary : crime has no ontological reality and the only thing the very

different problematic behaviours or situations have in common 1s that

they have been labelled as crime. If we want to do good research into the

causation of these very different phenomena, looking for interventions

that could really remediate their causes and/or address the harmful con-

sequences, does it help us to know that these phenomena are called

crime? It only distracts or blinds us and leads us to think that punish-

ment is the necessary reaction. All the connotations of the concept of

crime Hulsman began to see as misleading and counterproductive in our

endeavour to gain reliable knowledge of the phenomena at hand. “

(15)

Later these views were the subject of the famous article : Louk HULSMAN, «Critical

criminology and the concept of crime», Contemporary Crisis, 10, 1986, 63-80.

— 14 —

The French lecture on «an abolitionist perspective on criminal

justice» appeared in the Dutch language in 1979, as an appendix in a

book resulting from a series of meetings between prominent professors

and practitioners of criminal law. ° It was an appendix because Huls-

man had not succeeded to convince his conversation partners of the cor-

rectness of his perspective, although most of them were also quite crit-

ical of criminal justice and particularly of imprisonment. Meanwhile in

the Netherlands the incarceration-rates were on the rise and Hulsman

feared that this would escalate further soon.

On European level Hulsman had been preparing an extensive report

on decriminalisation, that was issued in 1980 by the Council of Europe.

The report not only offers a very detailed analysis of the nature and

processes of decriminalisation, but also insights into the strategic uses of

it. Hulsman was very proud and happy with the report because, as he

said, it had been possible to develop another kind of language, e.g. a

language that was not colonized by the linquistics of criminal justice,

between the members of the committee, allowing them to see the prob-

lems of criminal justice in a new light and thus finding different and new

exits and options for adequately dealing with them.

One could say that from then on Hulsmans primary method in think-

ing about any problem became to deconstruct and debunk informal and

formal language in order to create room for alternative action. In his

own words he shifted from a «catascopic» to an «anascopic» perspec-

tive. Did it also imply a radical good-bye to any type of instrumental

ambition with the use of law, the type of ambition he started out with?

Yes and no : paradoxically, abolitionism was the ultimate attempt to

(gain control over and) improve the system.

In a letter to his good friend Wim Duk - an eminent Dutch scholar

in administrative law - Hulsman wrote in 1984, he said that he had

come to the conclusion that criminal policy could merely be influenced

deeply by choosing an abolitionist perspective : «À reformist vision, that

does not fundamentally question the system (that does not develop a

different set of images and concomitant fundamental concepts) can exert

only little influence on the ondulatory motion between ‘reduction’ and

‘expansion’.»

(17)

At the funeral service Duk said that he was convinced by Hulsmans

views, but they found no resonance with the majority of criminal law

d6) L H.C. HULSMAN, «Een abolitionistisch (afschaffend) perspectief op het strafrechtelijk

systeem», in : Problematiek van de strafrechtspraak, Bosch en Keuning. Baarn, 1979, pp. 50-

74.

OD L.H.C. HULSMAN, «Een brief aan Wim over capaciteitstekorten, het niet-tenuitvoer-

leggen van strafrechtelijke beslissingen en expansieve strafrechtspolitiek», in

Recht op

scherp, Tjeenk Willink. Zwolle, 215 227, p. 215.

—- 15 —

scholars and policymakers in The Netherlands and the criminal justice

system started to expand from 1985 onwards and became more punitive

than it has ever been in this country.

One of the few colleagues who explicitly supported Hulsman, A.A.G.

Peters, appreciated his viewpoints confirming that «l’abolition du sys-

tème penal ..

serait pour le tissue social le signal d’une renaissance»

and criticized criminal law scientists in general for not putting up any

resistance against the formation of a repressive ideology within the crim-

inal justice system.

(18)

A COURAGEOUS AND CONSISTENT SCHOLAR

In view of what has been discussed above, it would be wrong to put

the meaning of Hulsmans work only in the key of penal abolitionism :

so much of what he has contributed to criminal law theory then remains

unseen. When one considers his abolitionist discourse as most charac-

teristic, it should however be noted that this is only the surface of a dis-

course that on a deeper level remained oriented at or looking for ade-

quate responses to problematic situations that we are used to call

«crime».

Hulsman was one of the founders of the Coornhert League in 1971,

a society for humanistic reform of the criminal justice system that had

real influence on policies in the 1970s but has faded away now. Many

of Hulsmans functionalist and humanistic ideas about criminal justice

were widely shared in the Dutch professional society. To quote the

famous professor of law, W.P.J. Pompe (Utrecht School), reporting on

Crime and Punishment in 1976 : «(...) Guilt does not need to be only

and not even in the first place to be amended by punishment. It would

be commendable, to begin a dialogue with the offender to find out how

reconciliation could be brought about, be it by making amends, be it by

forgiveness, be it by punishment. All under the condition that the

offender appreciates the wrongfulness of his conduct.» ‘!?)

Hulsman claimed that this type of dialogue was perverted and made

impossible by the threat of punishment and the way the criminal proce-

dures work and one could say that he was more stubborn, consistent

(18) Antonie A.G. PETERS, «Strafrecht en beleid: de constitutionele dimensie», in

C. FIINAUT and P. SPIERENBURG (Ed.), Scherp toezicht, Gouda Quint, Arnhem. 1990, 211-

225, 218.

(19) As quoted by Hans Smits in a recent study of the demise of the Coornhert League,

Strafrechthervormers en hemelbestormers. Opkomst en teloorgang van de Coornhert-Liga,

Amsterdam : Aksant, 2008, 13.

— 16 —

and insistent than many of his colleagues in arguments with policymak-

ers

It should also be mentioned, that for Hulsman a retributionist justi-

fication of punishment was unacceptable, since for him this would imply

absolute norms and a denial of the separation of law and ethics, which

seemed to him fundamental to modern society, characterized by per-

sonal liberty. Retribution would in his view only increase the suffering

by adding the suffering of punishment — not only for the offender but

for his social network too — to the suffering caused by the problematic

and damaging conduct of the culprit.

(20)

It is unfortunate that Hulsmans abolitionist strategy — for that 1s

what it was: a strategy — seems to have had the opposite effect in the

sense that from the middle of the 1980’s his influence on the debate

waned. The functionalist approach to criminal justice has been replaced

by penal populism and instrumentalism and the notion that the punitive

system could be part of the problem has become suppressed.

Since his departure from Erasmus University in 1986 Hulsman did

not publish a lot in Dutch anymore, but numerous articles were pub-

lisned in many other languages and so was his book «Peines

Perdues». ‘* Hulsman kept on travelling to contribute to countless con-

ferences and to acquaint himself with the cultures of other countries,

regions and cities. And he always found confirmation of his intuition,

that «things are not necessarily so» and that we should be open to many

different solutions and experiments.

Hulsman kept the courage to be dissident and to suggest what he

knew was extra-oridinary and to many people even shocking or fright-

ening. But he brought his messages kindly and with great personal inter-

est in the views of others, hoping that they would find reasons in their

own experiences in life that «the menu is not the meal» and that the

reality of experiences is always so deeply different from the stories that

are told about them.

After his death Hulsman was awarded the W.A. Bonger prize for his

complete criminological work by the Dutch Society for Criminology and

in connection to this a collection of selected essays will be published in

2010 (in the Dutch language).

The laudation applaudes Louk Hulsmans work as «scientifically

original, trail-blazing and of decisive societa! importance for the liberal

CO L.H.C. HULSMAN, «De strafrechtelijke sanctie en zijn maat». Wijsgerig Perspectief.

1968, Meulenhof Educatief, pp. 207-232.

CD There is a Dutch, French. Spanish and Korean translation but some friends claim

there are more. Hulsmans daughter 1s trying to find out if that 1s so. See www.loukhuls-

man.org.

17

Dutch drug-policies, the position of victims in the criminal justice sys-

tem and the development of alternatives for penal interventions such as

mediation and restorative justice. »

Louk Hulsman never took leave from the debate about criminal jus-

tice systems and, although those who knew him well will miss his warm

personal presence, he will remain part of it through his work.

RESUMÉ

Louk Hulsman est mort le 28 janvier 2009. Ce texte est un hommage

à un grand pénaliste, à un talentueux avocat d’une science criminelle

intégrée, à un initiateur célèbre du paradigme abolitionniste en justice

criminelle, à un savant courageux et cohérent, et à une personnalité atta-

chante.

RESUMEN

Louk Hulsman falleciô el 28 de enero de 2009. Este texto constituye

un homenaje a un gran penalista, a un talentoso defensor de una ciencia

penal integrada, a un célebre iniciador del paradigma abolicionista en la

justicia penal, a un cientifico valiente y coherente y a una personalidad

atrayente.

SUMMARY

Louk Hulsman died on the 28th of January 2009. This text is a hom-

mage to a great criminal lawyer, a talented exponent of an integrated

criminal science, a famous instigator of the abolitionist paradigm in

criminal justice, a courageous and coherent scholar and a charming indi-

vidual.

— 18 —

PRÉFACE

Georges Picca ‘)

Il y a plus d’une année, avait lieu à Barcelone (Espagne) notre

X V* Congrès mondial de criminologie. Il a réuni, comme les précédents

Congrès, un nombre important de participants, venus de diverses

régions du monde. Depuis, l’activité de notre Société s'est poursuivie et

développée ainsi qu'en témoignent diverses manifestations.

Ce nouveau volume des ANNALES, témoigne, en outre, de l’activité

de la recherche et, sa diversité, dans différents domaines intéressant de

nombreux aspects de la délinquance actuelle.

On doit souligner, en effet, à cet égard, que l’évolution de diverses

tendances de la criminalité d’aujourd'’hui, appelle des réponses nouvelles

et adaptées, dans le cadre des diverses politiques criminelles, nationales

et transnationales. En effet le contexte économique, politique ainsi que

le développement de la communication et des échanges internationaux,

contribuent à donner désormais, des caractéristiques nouvelles à la cri-

minalité.

L'action dans les différents domaines de la criminologie, apparaît,

par suite, plus que jamais nécessaire pour favoriser les évolutions que

l'on peut souhaiter aux diverses politiques criminelles.

C’est dans cette perspective, que s'inscrit le thème choisi pour le

XVI° Congrès mondial de la Société Internationale de criminologie :

(Kobe, Japon, 5 au 9 août 2011) «Global Socio-Economic Crisis and

Crime Control Policies : Regional and National Comparison».

Ainsi après Rio de Janeiro (2003), Philadelphie (2005) et Barcelone

(2008), le prochain Congrès de la Société Internationale de Criminologie

s'inscrit dans un cadre géographique et culturel, nouveau. Il répond, en

cela, aux perspectives dans lesquelles se situe la Société Internationale de

Criminologie dans les différentes régions du monde. C’est par suite, en

son nom que nous remercions les organisateurs nationaux de ce nouveau

Congrès mondial, de leur invitation et de leur accueil.

() Secrétaire général de la Société Internationale de Criminologie.

_— 19 —

PREFACIO

Georges Picca ?

Hace mâs de un año tuvo lugar en Barcelona (España) nuestro

XV Congreso mundial de criminologia. Como en los precedentes con-

gresos, éste reuniô un importante nûmero de participantes, procedentes

de diversas regiones del mundo. Posteriormente ha continuado y se ha

desarrollado la actividad de nuestra Sociedad, como asi lo atestiguan

diversas manifestaciones.

Ademaäs, este nuevo volumen de los ANALES testimonia la actividad

de investigacion y su diversidad en diferentes ambitos, interesandose por

numerosos aspectos de la delincuencia actual.

Al respecto, se debe subrayar que la evoluciôn de las diferentes ten-

dencias de la criminalidad actual reclama respuestas nuevas y adaptadas

en el marco de las diversas politicas criminales nacionales y transnacio-

nales. En efecto, el contexto econômico y politico, asi como el desarrollo

de la comunicaciôn y de los intercambios internacionales, contribuyen a

dar, a partir de ahora, nuevas caracteristicas a la criminalidad.

La acciôn en los diferentes ambitos de la criminologia aparece a con-

tinuaciôn como necesaria, mâs que nunca, para favorecer las evolucio-

nes que pueden ser deseables en las diversas politicas criminales.

Es en esta perspectiva que se inscribe el tema seleccionado para el

XVI Congreso mundial de la Sociedad Internacional de Criminologia :

(Kobe, Japôn, del 5 al 8 de agosto de 2011) «Global Socio-Economic

Crisis

and Crime

Control

Policies :

Regional

and — National

Comparison».

Asi, después de Rio de Janeiro (2003), Filadelfia (2005) y Barcelona

(2008), el prôximo Congreso de la Sociedad Internacional de Crimino-

logia se inscribe en un nuevo margo geogräfico y cultural. Con ello res-

ponde a las perspectivas en las que se sitüa la Sociedad Internacional de

Criminologia en las diferentes regiones del mundo. Es por ello, en su

nombre, que agradecemos a los organizadores nacionales de este nuevo

Congreso mundial su invitaciôn y su acogida.

(@) Secretario General de la Sociedad Internacional de Criminologia.

— 20 —

PREFACE

Georges Picca ©)

More than one year ago, our 15th World Criminology Congress took

place in Barcelona (Spain). As in previous years, it brought together an

important number of participants from different regions of the world.

Since then, the activities of our society have continued and developed as

evidenced by different events.

This new periodic volume of the ANNALS, underlines the variety of

research activities into different interesting areas of numerous aspects of

current crime.

We must emphasise, in this respect that the development of certain

criminal trends, calls for new and adapted responses, in the context of

diverse criminal policies, both national and international. Indeed the

political and economic contexts, as well as the growth of communication

and international exchanges, contribute henceforth, to the development

of a new dimension in terms of crime and criminal characteristics.

As a result, action in the different areas of criminology would seem

to be more necessary than ever to foster the developments that we

would wish to see in terms of various criminal policies.

The theme chosen for the 16 world Congress of the International

Society for Criminology fits the bill. «Global Socio-Economic Crisis and

Crime Control Policies : Regional and National Comparison» (Kobe,

Japan, 5 to 9 August 2011).

So after Rio de Janeiro (2003), Philadelphia (2005) and Barcelona

(2008), the next International Congress of the International Society for

Criminology will sign up to a new geographical and cultural framework.

It will respond, in this respect, to the views of the International Society

for Criminology, and so in its name, we would like to thank the national

organisers of this new world congress, for their hospitality.

(* General Secretary of the International Society for Criminology.

_ 21 —

EFFORTS TO PUT AN END

TO E.T.A°S TERRORISM :

EVOLUTION, PRESENT SITUATION

AND PERSPECTIVE OF FUTURE

José Luis de la Cuesta “)

ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION

OF THE BASQUE CONFLICT

As a cultural region, the Basque Country (Euskal Herria) constitutes

an ensemble of seven territories (Alava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Navarra

in Spain, along with Lapurdi, Zuberoa and Nafarra Behera in France)

located in the European Western Pyrenees, on the Biscay Gulf’s shore.

Over three million inhabitants live in these territories (2,500,000 in the

Southern territories; 500,000 in the Northern territories) that cover an

extension of approximately 20,664 squared kilometres.

The Basques’ history is an ancient one. According to the most

learned historians, Basque is one of the most ancient ethnics in Europe

and the Basque language is considered a pre-indoeuropean language

whose origins are still very much discussed. Historically, Navarra was a

very important Kingdom and under Sancho III (X-XIth centuries) its

influence covered much more than all the Basque territories. Neverthe-

less, upon his death in 1035 his Kingdom was distributed among his

heirs and, notwithstanding their cultural and linguistic links, from that

point onward, the Basque territories were never formed nor integrated

into a political unity.

Recent origins of the Basque political conflict are found in the long

and difficult transition, particularly in Spain, from the Ancien Régime to

a liberal and constitutional system. In fact, since the 18* century, the

permanent questioning of the rights (Fueros) of the Basque provinces

provoked a progressive reinforcement of the Basque national feeling. “

Politically, the last two centuries were turbulent times in Spain and, par-

ticularly during the 19" century of nationalism, different attempts to

() Director of the Basque Institute of Criminology (University of he Basque Country).

President of the AIDP-IAPL. Member of the Board of Directors International Society of

Criminology.

C In this way the writings of Larramendi around 1756-1758, Manuel DE LA LARRA-

MENDI, Sobre Los Fueros De Guipuzcoa (Sociedad Guipuzcoana de ediciones y publicaciones,

San Sebastian, 1983): José Augustin CHAHO, Voyage en Navarre Pendant L'Insurrection des

Basques (1830-1835) (1836).

__ 23 —

assimilate Navarra and the other Basque territories with the other Span-

ish provinces always found a very strong popular opposition and led to

intermediate solutions that were never completely accepted by any of

both sides.

Under the Constitution of the Second Republic, established in 1931,

Spanish nationalities and regions could benefit of a political autonomy.

Thus, after the approval of the Catalan Statute, in 1936 the first Auton-

omy Statute for the Basque Country gave way to the establishment of

the first provisional Government of Euzkadi (the name given to the

Basque Country by Sabino Arana, the founder of the Basque National-

ist Party (PNV), in 1895). Although a provision opened the way to the

participation of Navarra, the 1936 Statute did not in the end include

Navarra. In any case, the military upraising had already taken place and

military rebels won the Civil War after three years (1939), lead by Gen-

eral Franco. General Franco, acting as a Dictator, maintained the

Fueros in Navarra and Alava, who had supported him during the war,

but declared the provinces of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, where the Basque

Nationalists had a greater influence, as betrayers.

FRANCO REGIME

AND THE BIRTH OF THE ETA

The political repression in Spain during the Franco regime was

immense

and

specifically focused on popular

and nationalist

movements; thus, in the Basque country, Basque nationalism and cul-

ture. In 1952, EKIN was created as a reaction against the passivity of

the traditional Basque nationalism and in 1959 a group of Basque stu-

dents, dissident to EKIN, created Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Euskadi and

Freedom) (E.T.A.)°’ to assure the defense of the Basque language,

Euskera, and the Basque ethnic, as well as to fight against Spain and to

support the independence of the seven Basque territories. In 1961, the

ETA committed its first violent action in the attempted derailment of a

train occupied by Franco sympathizers travelling to San Sebastian to

celebrate the anniversary of the military uprising of 1936.‘* In 1962, the

G Antonio ELORZA, La Historia de ETA (Ediciones Temas de Hoy, S.A. 2000) (4th ed.,

2000); Antonio Fernändez HERNANDEZ, Ley de partidos politicos y derecho penal. Una nueva

perspectiva en la lucha contra el terrorismo 33-78 (Libreria Tirant Lo Blanch 2008);

J.M. GARMENDIA, La Historia de ETA (vol. 2, San Sebastiän, 1996); G. JAUREGUI BERECI-

ARTU, ÎIdeologia y estrategia politica de ETA : analisis de su evolucion entre 1959-1968

(Madrid : Siglo XXI 1981); F. LETAMENDÏA, Historia del nacionalismo vasco y de ETA (vol. 3,

San Sebastiän, 1994).

(4) Some sources consider however that the first ETA’s violent attack was a bomb in San

Sebastian on June, 27 1960, provoking the death of Begoña Urroz Ibarrola, a child

22 months old, available at http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banda_Terrorista_E.T.A.

— 24 —

ETA celebrated its First Assembly as the Basque Revolutionary Move-

ment of National Freedom, a revolutionary and clandestine organiza-

tion that adopted armed struggle as its main vehicle for achieving

Euskadïs independence.

In 1969, the Burgos Military Process sentenced nine ETA activists to

the death penalty.’ This provoked a strong international opposition

forcing Franco to commute them. This important military process thrust

the ETA into worldwide recognition. Under Franco’s regime, the most

spectacular action of the ETA involved the killing of Admiral Carrero

Blanco °)’, the President of the Spanish Government in 1973. In 1974,

the ETÀ assassinated 12 civilians and wounded more that 80 in its first

massive attack in Madrid. This attack provoked a division in the ETA

among those favorable to the popular insurrection, ETA militar, and the

members of ETA politico-militar that accepted only selective violence, as

practiced until 1974.

THE EFFECTS OF PARDONS AND AMNESTIES

Upon Franco's death on November 20, 1975, several pardons and

amnesties were signed by King Juan Carlos I, at the proposal of the

Government and Parliament,. The first limited Royal pardons were fol-

lowed in 1976 by partial amnesty (Royal-Decree-Act, July 30, 1976),

after the nomination of Adolfo Suarez as the new President of the Gov-

ernment. Even if around one thousand political prisoners benefited of

the pardons and were liberated, they failed to cover terrorist offenses.

Most of the ETA prisoners thus remained in prison. In 1977, Royal

Decree 19/1977 which intended to broaden the application of amnesty

laws, was approved. However, the decree’s effects were not felt until

October of 1977 after the first democratic elections when the Spanish

Parliament unanimously approved the Amnesty Act 46/1977. This Act

covered all crimes and offenses committed with political intent during

Franco’s time and until the democratic elections of June 15, 1977. The

1977 amnesty law greatly contributed to the political normalization of

Spanish life.

However, the situation was more complex in the Basque Country.

The traditional political parties took part in the 1977 first democratic

elections while the ETA politico-militar declared their support for a new

party, Euskadiko Ezkerra. ” Nevertheless, supporters and sympathizers

° Gisèle HALIMI, Le procès de Burgos (Gallimard, Paris, 1971).

(6) Eva FOREST, Operaciôn Ogro. Cômo y por qué ejecutamos a Carrero Blanco (San

Sebastiän, 1978).

( «Euskadis Left».

- 25

of the ETA militar decided not to take part in the elections because the

Alternativa KAS was not accepted. The ETA militar had conditioned

their participation upon the inclusion of the Alternativa KAS. Approved

in the summer of 1976, the Alternativa KAS required :

l

the establishment of all the democratic freedoms;

2

a complete amnesty ;

3

the adoption of measures in order to improve the life conditions of

the popular mass and in particular of the working class;

the dissolution of the repressive forces; and

recognition of Fuskadi’s national sovereignty, and therefore of the

right of the Basque Country to decide in entire freedom its national

destiny and, eventually, the creation of an own State.

The decision to not take part in the elections was followed by con-

tinued commitment in the ETA’s armed struggle. In the Fall of 1977,

the release of the last 30 ETA prisoners was accompanied by new crim-

inal processes resulting from the recent terrorist attacks and actions

occurred during that summer. On January 6, 1978, an autonomous pro-

visional government of the Basque Country was established and at the

end of 1978 the Spanish New Constitution, where general pardons were

proscribed (Article 62 1), was proclaimed.

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS ON TERRORISM

WITHIN THE SPANISH DEMOCRACY

Many reforms were introduced during the Spanish transition regard-

ing the legal treatment of terrorism. Until then, terrorist offenses were

exclusively contained in the Code of Military Justice and prosecuted

before military tribunals. During the political transition to Democracy,

the offenses were transferred to the Penal Code in 1977 and initially

treated as ordinary crimes. Nevertheless, in 1979 and particularly in

1981, new offences concerning association in armed bands and the

favoring of terrorism (and apology) were introduced into the Penal

Code. In 1984, a special Act was approved to refund and complement

the whole and disperse legal and procedural legislation on terrorism,

outside of the Penal Code and of the Code of Penal Procedure. These

new provisions were later, in 1988, reintegrated into the Penal Code and

the Code of Penal Procedure. The approval of the 1995 new Penal Code

did not put an end to the legal reforms in this field. On the contrary,

reforms appeared, and continue to appear, periodically with the purpose

of extending the incriminations and establishing harsher punishments, as

it was specifically recognized in 2003.

—-" 26 —

Nowadays, like in many other countries, Spanish anti-terrorist crim-

inal

constitutes

«a

of

legislation

typical

example

emergency

legislation»‘*’. Diversion from the general rules concerning incrimina-

tions and sanctions are the principal characteristics of this legislation

that 1s devoted to assure a firm answer to terrorism in the criminal and

penitentiary frame. This is done by advancing the moment of penal

intervention, expanding incriminations, increasing punishments and

their execution, even with respect to minors and juveniles, combining

sentences with mitigation measures, giving increased power to the pros-

ecutorial and enforcement instances and restricting procedural guaran-

tees. Although history has repeatedly taught «that when the rule of law

1s replaced by the rule of might, civilization regresses and the social costs

increase far beyond the temporary impressions of security» , this leg-

islative evolution has been accompanied, particularly in recent times, by

a decided extension of pressure on the /zquierda abertzale (the Basque

leftists radicals close to the ETA) by the way of new penal and non-

penal legal reforms : in particular, the new legislation on Political Parties

(2002) that establishned a «new perspective in the fight against

terrorism»!M); at the same time a new trend of case law, led by the

Audiencia Nacional, decided to extend the concept of terrorism to the

social and political groups that operate in the «grey zone», even 1f their

behavior does not involve violence directly. !

TREATMENT OF THE VICTIMS OF TERRORISM

The victimization generated by the ETA during 1its 50 years of exist-

ence is high. Although the figures change according to the source, the

Fundaciôn de Victimas del Terrorismo “ informs that 822 persons have

been assassinated; 44 before November of 1975“°. After Franco’s

death, * nearly 800 assassinations have taken place‘!°’ and at least

( José Luis DE LA CUESTA, « Anti-Terrorist Penal Legislation and the Rule of Law : Spa-

nish Experience», in Revue électronique de l'Association Internationale de Droit Pénal ! elec-

tronic-Review of the International Association of Penal Law / Revista electronica de la Aso-

ciacion Internacional de Derecho Penal, 2007, A-03 : 11.

9 M. Cherif BASSIOUNI, «The Regression of the Rule of Law Under the Guise of Com-

bating Terrorism». 76 Revue Internationale de Droit Pénal 17. 24 (2005).

(d0 A .Fernändez HERNANDEZ, supra note 2.

OD See infra.

( Fundaciôn : Victimas del Terrorismo, http://www.fundacionvt.org/.

(3 Wikipedia.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo :Asesinatos_cometidos_por_ETA

entre_1968_y_1975.

19 Wikipedia.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo :Asesinatos_cometidos_por_ETA_

desde 1975.

( In the period 1978-1980 (approval of the Spanish Constitution and the Autonomy

Statute for the Basque Country, first Basque elections for the Autonomous institutions. and

_ 27 —

84 sequestrations. 19 The number of individuals subjected to the

«revolutionary tax» and, more specifically, to what has been called

«prosecuting violence» ” is not easy to calculate.

State legislation

The legal treatment of terrorism victims began at the early 1980's.

Following the path laid out by Article 7 of the Royal Decree-Act of Cit-

izenship Security (1979)“8, the Organic Act 8/1984, against the action

of armed bands and terrorist elements, established that the corporal

damages provoked by, or in the occasion of, terrorist crimes were sus-

ceptible to State reparations. ° This Act was developed by Royal

Decree 336/1986 (substituted by Royal Decree of October 28, 1988)

where the content and extent of the reparation were established, requir-

ing a link of causality between the delictual activities of the armed gangs

or terrorist elements and the death or serious injures occurred. “ In

June 19, 1992, a new Royal Decree was approved extending the frame

of reparation to both physical and psychological injuries, treatment

expenses and to material damages that took place in the domicile of nat-

ural persons who were victims of terrorist attacks. (* A more complete

and detailed regulation was approved in 1997. This regulation, that was

separated from the general system provided for the victims of violent

crime and sexual offenses (established by the Act 35/1995 and Royal

Decree 738/1997),? aimed at improving quantitatively and qualita-

tively public intervention towards the victims of terrorism. To do so, the

regulation promoted integrated and personalized assistance to victims

and was followed by specific initiatives, the Royal Decree-Act of

August 1, 1997 and the Royal Decree of 23'“ January 1998. @

In 1999 two important texts were approved :

constitution of the first Basque Government), ETA assassinated 247 persons : 82 per year.

Covite, http://www.covite.org/.

(16) The longest sequestration was the sequestration of José Antonio Ortega Lara, in Jan-

uary 17, 1996; it lasted 532 days. It is followed by the sequestration of José Maria Aldaya,

in May 8, 1995; it lasted 342 days.

(7) La Coordinador Gesto Por la Paz de Euskal Herria Ante la Violencia de Persecuciôn,

July, 2000, available at http://www.gesto.org/pdf/violenciapersecucion.pdf.

(18) This provision was developed by the Royal Decree of March 5, 1982.

(19) By Act 52/1984, a particular protection of the international transport against terrorist

attacks in Spain was also established.

(20) Gerardo LANDROVE Diaz, La Moderna Victimologia, 143 (Valencia : Tirant lo blanch,

1998).

@!) Except if they were the responsible of these attacks.

(@2) Nevertheless, the recognized purpose of Act 35/1995 was «to gradually homogenize

the legal funding system for victims of all crimes».

(23) G. LANDROVE DfAZ, supra note 19, at 155. (These norms declared also all the victims

of terrorist acts after January 1, 1976, as beneficiaries of the results of the National Lottery's

lot of October 18, 1997).

__ 28 _

Royal Decree 1974/1999, establishing the Royal Order of Recogni-

tion of the Victims of Terrorism ; and

Act 32/1999 on Solidarity with the Victims of Terrorism. This text,

as amended in 2000 and 2003, and as developed by Royal Decree

288/2003 and different orders, established the regime presently in

force.

According to Act 32/1999 (that also maintains the protection of

international transport established in 1984), victims of terrorist offenses

or serious attacks (so long as the victims are not responsible for the acts

against public order or public safety), are to be compensated by the

State through a system compatible with civil liability compensations and

broader than the general mechanisms of victims assistance, both in mat-

ters of the protection covered and of the financial aid quantities and the

forms of indemnity. The State compensation in cases of terrorism

COVETS :

—

any personal injuries suffered (either physical or psychological) :

and/or

the costs of medical treatment : and/or

(24

any damages to their homes,

) vehicles, to the mercantile or indus-

trial establishments, and to the seeds of the political parties, unions

and social entities. In these cases, the State compensation has a sub-

sidiary nature before any other compensation recognized by the

Public Administration or assurances.

Financial aid is also foreseen to cover certain necessities of the vic-

tims and their families, including study, research, psychological treat-

ment and psycho-pedagogical assistance ?* There are also funds

devoted to the support and aid of programs developed by associations

in defense of or assistance to the victims of terrorism. Furthermore, the

coverage of personal and family special situations which are unattended

or insufficiently covered by ordinary aid programs is also provided.

Applications for compensation must be presented to the Home Minister.

The list of possible beneficiaries 1s broader than in the case of victims

of violent crimes and sexual offences. The Home Minister is competent

to examine the necessary link with a terrorist act or attack, according

to the circumstances, and must decide expeditiously (4-6 months) and

avoiding 1f possible complex formalities or the need of documentary evi-

dence, particularly if it is a well known case or there 1s sufficient infor-

mation on it in the Minister’s files and archives.

C4 Reparation includes a provisional lodging, if required.

C5) Funds for exemption from academic fees and for financing medical treatments, pros-

theses and surgical operations not covered by another public or private system are also

included (art. 7 Act).

__ 29 —

In 2004, a High Commissioner for the Support of the Victims of Ter-

rorism position was created (Royal Decree 2317/2004) to follow and

assess the intervention of the competent organs of the State Administra-

tion concerning the assistance and help of the terrorism victims and to

promote the collaboration with the other Administrations, as well as

with associations and other public and private entities seeking compre-

hensive protection of the victims of terrorism. The proposal of legisla-

tive initiatives to improve existing mechanisms of information, assist-

ance and support of the victims of terrorism was also a competence of

the High Commissioner, a position that disappeared in September 2006.

Legislation and Programs

of the Autonomous Communities

Concern surrounding the victims of terrorism led some Spanish

Autonomous Communities (Madrid, Navarra, Valencia and the Basque

Country) to the adoption of several norms and programs of help and

support of the victims of terrorist attacks and/or the associations and

çntities devoted to the defense of the interests of the victims of terror-

1SM

Of particular interest under this framework is the policy followed by

the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. This policy

opened a program in 1988 (Decree of August 4, 1988) with the purpose

of completing those areas of support and help not sufficiently covered

by the State program. As has been already evoked, at that time only

personal injuries where covered by State compensation. ? After several

reforms the administrative program and regulations were completed in

2008 by an Act (4/2008) on the recognition and reparation of the victims

of terrorism. The Act’s purpose is to provide answers mainly to the vic-

tims of the ETA’s terrorist violence, but also of the terrorist attacks

coming from the extreme-right groups, paramilitary actions “" and, par-

ticularly, of the GAL (Antiterrorist Groups of Liberation) . The pre-

(6) G. LANDROVE DfAZ, supra note 19, at 146.

@N As to the Batallôn Vasco Español, the Grupos Armados Españoles and the Triple A

the Basque Government considers that they killed 32 persons, available at http://www-

org2.rtve.es/noticias/20080624/gobierno-vasco-asegura-que-extrema-derecha-matado-perso-

nas/101671.shtml.

(8) The GAL was a group directed created by the Spanish Minister of Interior. Between

1983 and 1987 they attacked ETA and its entourage. They committed more than 30 attacks,

killed 24 persons and injured around 27 (some of them had no relationship with ETA), avail-

able at http://Www-org2.rtve.es/noticias/20080624/gobierno-vasco-asegura-que-extrema-dere-

cha-matado-personas/101671.shtml. Although even the Minister and the highest positions of

the Minister were seriously punished, Supreme Court jurisprudence was contradictory con-

cerning the terrorist nature of GAL : they were not considered terrorists in 1992 (Decision

of March 12, 1992), and later in 1998 (Decision of July, 29, 1998) even if their terrorist

nature was affirmed the sentence punished the accused because of illegal association. Criti-

— 30 —

vention of situations of injustice or abandonment of the victims due to

the impunity of certain terrorist acts also remains a central focus of the

Act, that presents three main branches :

- the recognition of the victims of terrorism ;

- the assistance and material help of the victims of terrorist attacks,

having a link with the Autonomous Community of the Basque

Country and committed or not by persons integrated in terrorist

groups (Article 2) in order to give an adequate answer to their daily

needs; and,

following the international instruments and documents on the pro-

tection of victims against serious and systematic violations of

human rights, the establishment of a list of general principles and a

complete regulation of the rights of the terrorism victims — this con-

stitutes certainly an important and new approach in the victims'

field in Spain.

Truth, justice, reparation, memory, dignity, peace, freedom and con-

viviality are, according to the Act, the basic points of reference in order

to establish the list of rights of the victims of terrorism.

- Justice, legal justice and restorative justice (Article 3), dignity (Arti-

cle 4), recognition and reparation - comprehensive not only in eco-

nomical but also integral restitution, reparation, rehabilitation and

assistance, as well as the moral reparation (Article 5)79 - are con-

sidered clearly victims’ rights, that require complete solidarity on

whole society.

Truth (Article 7) and memory (Article 8) are rights shared by the

victims and society as a whole. According to the Act, once the

present terrorist threat has definitively finished, the right to truth

may require the establishment of a Truth Commission to contribute

to the reintegration of the citizens in a new society peaceful, free

and in harmonical conviviality. Concerning the right to memory, the

Act considers that the victims memory is an essential element in

achieving the ethical, social and political de-legitimacy of terrorism

and clearly requires a public and official recognition of the harm

caused to innocent victims and of the political significance of the

victim s condition.

cally, C. LAMARCA PÉREZ, «Sobre el concepto de terrorismo (À propôito del caso Amedo)»,

in Anuario de Derecho Penal y Ciencias Penales, 535-559 (1993); G. PORTILLA CONTRERAS,

«Terrorismo de estado : los Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberaciôon (G.A.L.)», in Libro hom-

enaje al Profesor Marino Barbero Santos 501-530 (vol. 2, Cuenca, 2001).

(9 And with the participation of the victims and their organizations and associations.

The establishment of a Basque Council of Participation of the Victims of Terrorism

(Article 6) 1s devoted to this aim.

31 —

— Peace, freedom and conviviality (Article 9) are rights of all Basque

citizens, and demand a clear and categorical proscription of the use

of any illegitimate force with the purpose of creating a generalized

state of terror. The requirement of peace, freedom and conviviality

also demands a promotion of culture of the peace, of human rights

and of the ethical and democratic values, implementing the neces-

sary actions in order to attain a compromise of the educational sys-

tem and the mass media.

The victims’ assistance is developed by Title III. À complete revision

of the ensemble of programs already implemented in the Basque Coun-

try was made, establishing a real «system of protection and assistance»

intended to build a whole set of measures (reparation of material dam-

ages, assistance, medical and psychological treatment, educational help,

assistance concerning housing and employment) that are organically

consistent and seeking to cover every need of the victims.

Last but not least, Article 27 focuses on the promotion and support

of the organized movement of terrorist victims. Their public behavior

has always impacted society as a whole ” and raises important ques-

tions regarding their social and political protagonism 6. The Basque

Act, in recognizing the increasing importance of these associations and

the fact that they actually assume the direct management of many pro-

grams, places in the Administration a predominant function of support

of their activities and of promotion and coordination of their tasks in

the field of the assistance of victims of terrorism.

On June 19, 2008, the Basque Minister of Justice, Azkarraga,

announced that, following the Basque Parliament’s Resolution of Octo-

ber 5, 2007, the Basque Government will also present soon a Draft con-

cerning the victims of torture and disappearances, not included in the

Act 4/2008. According to the Direction of Human Rights of the Basque

Government, the different police forces have caused in the Basque

Country about 109 deaths and 538 injured persons. More than 95 % of

these victims have no relationship or link either to the ETA or to the

wrongdoers, nor are these individuals linked to political parties $” and

the Basque Government would like to provide for them specific treat-

ment and assistance through this new Act 6°.

(30) A. BERISTAIN, «Las victimas y el perdôn..

Hacia la superaciôn integradora del

sufrimiento», in Du monde pénal. Mélanges en l'honneur de Pierre-Henri Bolle 367-379 (Bale,

2006).

GD José Luis DE LA CUESTA, «Reflexiones sobre el protagonismo social de las victimas del

terrorismo», in Bake Hitzak 46-48, 49 (2003).

G2) Jon MIRENA LANDA, «La Otra Victimizaciôn y la Ertzaintza : Una Réplica», in Diario

Vasco 25 (July 8, 2008).

G3) Deia,

http://www.deia.com/es/foros/viewtopic.php?t=4843&sid=

be505ced0d79b1d.

__ 32 —

ATTEMPTS TOWARDS A NEGOCIATED RESOLUTION

OF ETA’S TERRORISM

Many attempts towards a negociated resolution of FTA'’s terrorism

have been developed since the political transition in Spain

(34)

Early contacts between Spanish Government

and the ETA

Soon after the approval of the Act for the Political Reform (1976)

the contacts between the ETA and the Spanish Secret Services took

place, with the Government’s approval, for the first time in Geneva in

November of 1976. However the ETA militar rejected the dialogue and

it was pursued only with the E7'A politico-militar. These contacts never

succeeded. One of the Government’s intermediaries, J.M. Portell, was

assassinated in 1978 and one of the ETA'’s representative, J.J. Etxabe,

suffered an attack in the following days. As an end result, the ETA

politico-militar suffered a division in 1976 when the Special Commandos

(Bereziak) dissociated and entered in ETA militar.

Dissolution of ETA politico-militar

Other attempts at peacetalks in 1979, after the approval of the Con-

stitution, also failed. However, in 1981 the negotiations between

J.J. Roson, the Minister of Interior, and M. Onaindia, the General sec-

retary of EIA , a political party close to ETA politico-militar, and

J.M. Bandrés, a famous lawyer and member of Euskadiko Ezkerra

(Basque Country's left party), opened the way to the dissolution of ET'A

(36)

politico-militar.

This led to the integration into free society of

130 ancient ETA members ®. After this experience, a new methodology

was established. In 1981, a reform of the Penal Code opened the way

of mitigation, and even exemption, of responsibility for those members

of terrorist organizations that dissociated and helped to prevent some

crimes, or to reduce their effects, and collaborated with the authorities

(Article 174bis c). However, neither this provision nor Article 6 of the

Act 9/1984 were fundamentally applied in the program of social reinser-

tion of the ETA members. On the contrary, individualized pardons,

based upon a personal and public declaration of reject of the «armed

struggle» and acceptation of the democratic system followed in Decem-

(4 A. FERNANDEZ HERNANDEZ, supra note 2, at 102-130.

CS) Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia (Party for the Basque Revolution).

G6 A fraction (the Octavos) separated and entered in ETA military.

C" In January 1985, only three cases remained still unsolved. El Pais, 15/01/1985.

_33 _

ber of 1983.68 Around 60 persons benefited of this methodology, unan-

imously supported by the Basque Parliament (March 14, 1985) in which

the Basque Government, and in some cases the Socialist Party, the

Spanish Ombudsman, the Ministers of Justice and Interior, and the

National Audience took part °°). Nevertheless, the ETA militar’s com-

pletely opposed to this new methodology and on September 10, 1986,

they killed Dolores Gonzâlez Catarain, Yoyes. This woman, an ancient

ETA leader, had abandoned the ETA in 1980 and returned to the

Basque Country in 1985 against the ETA’s will.

First Political Pacts (1987-1988)

Since the middle of the 1980’s, strengthening political cohesion and

social rejection of terrorism has been a recurrent thematic purpose of

democratic political parties in Spain. Already on November 5, 1987,

after the ETA’s indiscriminate attack of Hipercor, in Barcelona, where

21 persons died, an important Pact was signed in Madrid, denouncing

the ETA”s illegitimacy to represent the Basque Country, rejecting the

negotiation of political issues with the ETA and requiring the ETA to

abandon their weapons and respect democratic ways. This Pact was fol-

lowed by the Pact of Ajuria Enea (Agreement for the Normalisation and

Pacification of Euskadi — January 12, 1988), approved in the Basque

Country after the publication of the Report demanded by the Basque

Government to an International Experts’ Commission (1986), and the

Agreement in Favor of Peace and Tolerance (Pamplona 1988). The Pact

of Ajuria Enea was signed by all the Basque groups represented in the

Basque Parliament, except Herri Batasuna ° (the leftist group close to

the ETA). The Pact of Ajuria Enea aimed at rejecting violence, affirm-

ing the unity of all the democratic parties in the defense of the Statute

of Autonomy of the Basque Country, its full development and declaring

the leadership of the Basque Government concerning the political and

social action against violence and to achieve peace. The Pact left an

open door to favor the reinsertion of those who dissociated and, also,

to uphold dialogue between the State and terrorists to find a final solu-

tion to the violence.

(8) José Luis DE LA CUESTA ARZAMENDI, «Atenuaciôn, remisiôn de la pena e indulto de

miembros de grupos terroristas», in Cuadernos de Politica Criminal 584-591 (30, 1986). See

also Maria Luisa CUERDA ARNAU, Atenuaciôn y Remision de la Pena en los Delitos de Ter-

rorismo (Ministerio de Justicia e Interior, Madrid, 1995).

G9) J L. DE LA CUESTA ARZAMENDI, supra note 37, at 584-591.

(40) Wikipedia, http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herri_Batasuna.

— 34 _

Algiers Talks and Other Intentions

of the Socialist Government

In the mean time, and as previous Governments had already tried,

after several contacts and a special public offer in 1984 (the « Alternative

for peace»), in 1986 the secret conversations between the Socialist Gov-

ernment and some ETA leaders in Algiers‘*! began and, as an answer

to the Government's requirement, the ETA declared a 15-day ceasefire

on January 8, 1989. This opened the way to some high level individuals

taking part in the discussions in Algiers, including the Spanish Minister

of Interior and the State Security Secretary. The peace talks did not

progress. The ETA did not declare a truce and on April 7, 1989, they

sent parcel bombs to several authorities. This put an end to the dia-

logue. Having deported all the FTA members in Algiers to other coun-

tries, the three main representatives were sent to Santo Domingo

(Dominican Republic). Even if contacts were maintained, until 1992,

they did not result in any new formal talk or conversation.

The «Democratic Alternative» and Further Efforts

by the Socialist Government

In 1992, after the police intervention in Bidart, France, that heavily

hurt the ETA’s organization, and the failure of a new attempt (Opera-

cion Azkoiti) in 1993, the ETA'‘s new direction opened a door to the

establishment of new contacts and promoted a revision of the KAS

Alternativa. As already explained above, the KAS alternative proposal,

approved in 1977, contained the list of the ETA°s conditions‘*”) and was

substituted by the Al/ternativa Democrâätica$° in April 1995. Several

requirements were established as minimum conditions for any negotia-

tions with the Government :

recognition of Euskal Herria's right to self-determination;

- territorial unification of the Basque Country; and

amnesty for prisoners and exiled.

The use of the referendum as a way of exerting the right of self-deter-

mination was also included.‘**) In 1995, Margarita Robles, the Secretary

of State of the Minister of Interior, endorsed the intervention of Nobel

(D C. FONSsECA, Negociar con ETA. Del proceso de Argel de Felipe Gonzâlez a la paz

dialogada de Rodriguez Zapatero (Temas de Hoy 2006).

G5 See supra.

(4) Elkarri, http://elkarri.org/pdf/AlternativaDemocratica.pdf.

( During the electoral campaign of 1995, as they tried to publish through a video the

ETA's proposal, the Herri Batasuna leaders were prosecuted and sentenced to seven years

imprisonment by the Supreme Court (1997); this sentence was however annulated by the

Constitutional Court in 1999.

_— 35 _—

Prize winner Adolfo Pèrez Esquivel, whose mediation activity was inter-

rupted soon after the 1996 general elections by the new Popular Party

government.

The Nationalist’s Declaration of Lizarra

(Estella, 1998)

After the assassination of Ermua’»s councilman Miguel Angel

Blanco, ‘*°) a member of the Popular Party, the Pacts came to an end.

The last meeting of the Pact of Madrid was in December 12, 1997, while

the Pact of Ajuria Enea ended in 1998. At the beginning of that year

Lehendakari Ardanza, the Basque President, proposed a new plan, par-

tially inspired by John Major’s proposal for Ulster, to promote a final

agreement and to establish an active and global strategy towards paci-

fication, based upon an eventual FTA decision of non-limited tempo-

rary ceasefire. The failure of Ardanza’s proposal provoked a deep pes-

simism about the «political horizon»‘*°) concerning the end of the

ETA’s terrorismand, pushed the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and

Eusko Alkartasuna (EA)“”) to reach an agreement with the Basque rad-

ical leftists groups, including Herri Batasuna (HB), * culminated in the

Lizarra Declaration of September 12, 1998. Izquierda Unida, the Spanish

leftist party that succeeded the Communist Party, also joined this pact

that allowed the Basque Nationalist Party remain in the Government

with a new Lehendakari, Ibarretxe, and a new majority. This new Gov-

ernment achieved a legislature pact with Euskal Herritarrok, “ the new

coalition of Basque radical leftist groups, who publicly stated their com-

mitment to employ exclusively political and democratic means to

achieve a solution to the «existing political conflict in Euskal Herria».

The Lizarra Declaration defended, as a main basis for pacification

purposes, a dialogue without conditions and including the recognition of

the so-called «Basque framework of Decision». The Lizarra Declaration

was immediately followed by the ETA’s announcement of a total, uni-

lateral and without any temporal limit ceasefire.

(45) Miguel Angel Blanco was sequestrated on July 10, 1997 and ETA gave 48 hours to

the Government in order to put an end to the policy of dispersal of ETA'’s prisoners and

nearing them to penitentiary establishments closer to the Basque Country. On July 12, 1997

Miguel Angel Blanco appeared seriously injured (two shots in the nape of the neck) and

immediately died.

(46) Petxo IDOYAGA, «El conflicto vasco sin horizonte politico», in 97 Viento Sur 84 (May

2008).

(4) «Basque Solidarity».

(48) «Popular Unity».

(49) «Basque Citizens».

__ 36 _

Meeting in Zurich 1999

Then, in Zurich, the new Government of the Popular Party tried

again to reach a peace agreement. Having the ETA declared a truce on

September, 1998 (after a public declaration of President Aznar, who had

been the victim of a terrorist attack on April 19, 1995, and a new pact

among the nationalist parties, the Pact of Lizarra, on May 19, 1999), a

unique meeting was held in Zurich. Although the Government trans-

ferred some Basque prisoners to penitentiary establishments closer to the

Basque Country, the ETA’s proposal in favor of a deeper nationalist

pact in August 1999, was not accepted by the nationalist parties. À sec-

ond meeting with the Government did not take place and in November

the ETA announced that the truce was broken. On December 2, 1999,

one day before the truce’s final date, the Basque Nationalist Party

declared its position favorable to promote with Euskal Herritarrok, the

leftist coalition close to the ETA, a new political frame for Euskadi.

Nevertheless, in January 2000, the ETA began to assassinate again.

The Antiterrorist Agreement (2000)

The rupture of this ceasefire by the ETA, in December 1999, pushed

the Socialist Party to propose to the Popular Party, then governing

Spain, the signature by the two Spanish majoritary parties of a new

« Agreement

in favor of the liberties and against

terrorism»

on

December 8, 2000). In this Agreement both Parties decided to jointly

promote the policy against the ETA, establishing a permanent collabo-

ration and exchange of information and declared that the formal rup-

ture with the Lizarra Pact would be a condition to any institutional or

political pact with Basque Nationalists.

One of the first results of this Agreement was the Organic Act 6/2002

on Political Parties that, as already evoked ° opened the door to the

political illegalization of the leftist radical party Batasuna ". After the

elections of March 2004, that took place immediately after Al Qaeda’s

terrorist attack in Madrid on March 11‘%, the so called «Antiterrorist

Pact» was weakened ; the last meeting of this Pact was held on Novem-

ber 3, 2004.

G0 See supra.

(S1)

«Unity».

37 —

The « Peace Process» (2006)

The last attempt occurred in Geneva in 2006 67 with the support of

the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue Henri Dunant. After long prep-

arations, a previous declaration of truce restricted to Catalonia in 2004,

another proposal of Batasuna, «Orain Herria, Orain Bakea» («Now the

people, now the peace») of November 2004, ° and three years without

terrorist attacks, the approval of a resolution in the Spanish Parliament

in May 2005 allowed the Government to open dialogue with the ETA.

According to this resolution, the dialoge would be only possible 1f there

was unequivocal evidence of abandoning the violence and without dis-

cussing political issues which should be solved by the political parties.

On March 23, 2006, the ETA announced a ceasefire that was imme-

diately confirmed and extended into the following day. This opened the

way to official meetings with the Government, as recognized by Presi-

dent Rodriguez Zapatero in his institutional Declaration in the Parlia-

ment of June 29, 2006. The purpose of these meetings had to be a

«technical one» and thus involved the abandoning of weapons along

with the treatment and release of prisoners. In fact, following the meth-

odology already proposed by Batasuna, parallel to these meetings

another secret forum in Loiola, the place of the Jesuits Sanctuary in

Gipuzkoa, took place. In these meetings individuals working out polit-

ical issues concerning the Basque conflict, first between Socialists and

Basque radical leftists and later including the Basque Nationalist Party,

drafted a first agreement. This document included a compromise, with

the recognition of the «national identity» of the Basque people, as

belonging to a nation, widely shared by the Basque society. It assured

the respect by the State institutions of the decisions freely and demo-

cratically adopted by the Basque citizens and opened the way to a

reform of the present institutional model, including the establishment of

an Institutional Common Organ for the Basque Autonomous Commu-

nity and the Foral Community of Navarra. AIl the parties were com-

mitted to incorporating these agreements to the juridical framework,

and to develop and submit them in a referendum.

However, the representatives of Batasuna did not receive the ETA's

endorsement for this agreement and, after a new meeting with the Gov-

ernment’s representatives, on December 30, 2006 the ETA put a bomb

in the Terminal 4 of Barajas Airport that killed two individuals. Even

if the ETA declared that this attack did not mean a rupture in the peace

(52) El

Pais,

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/reportajes/fue/dialogo/ET A/elpepusocdmg/

20070610elpdmgrep_1/Tes.

63) Elkarri, http://www.elkarri.org/pdf/batasuna_es.pdf. Batasuna had already made a

Proposal in favour of a democratic solution in January 26, 2002.

__ 38 —

process, as they did on January 9, 2007, the process obviously broke

down.

PRESENT SITUATION

AND PERSPECTIVES OF THE FUTURE

Basque Rejection of Violence

According to G. Jauregui Bereciartu, * different phases can be dis-

tinguished concerning the Basque social reaction against the ETA. The

explicit support during Franco’s time transformed progressively in an

implicit one during the Spanish political transition, The period between

1981 and 1986 can be considered a period of indifference. After the

assassination of « Yoyes» in 1986 and until the attacks of Hipercor in

1987 the implicit rejection of the ETA’s violence grew fast. The Hipercor

attack, and the one in Zaragoza in the same year, opened a new phase

of explicit rejection characterized by the creation and development of

pacifist NGO's. After the kidnapping of Julio Iglesias Zamora in 1993

and, more particularly, the assassination of Miguel Angel Blanco in

1997, this explicit rejection became massive.

Nowadays, even 1f the majority of the Basque population (54 %) con-

siders the Basque conflict as one between Euskadi and Spain, a 63 %

absolutely rejects justifying any radicalism because of this conflict, as in

a democratic system any political option can be defended without vio-

lence. Nevertheless, 16 % of the Basque population still considers legit-

imate or at least justified the use of violence as a way of defending polit-

ical projects. But even among the electors of the Izquierda Abertzale

only 15%% support (with criticism) violence and 40 % declare that they

share the ETA’s political objectives but reject its violent methods 6°).

Increasing Repression

Against the ETA’s Entourage and More

The increasing social reaction against the ETA has been accompa-

nied in the 21* century by an increase of the number of ETA’s prison-

ers. According to antiterrorist sources °® at the end of 2007 the number

of Basque activists in prison in Spain, France, United Kingdom and

Canada, either prosecuted or sentenced because of their links to ETA,

was the highest of the last decade totaling 728 persons of which 560

C4} A. ELORZA, supra note 2, at 272-273.

55) Euskobarômetro, Estudio Periôdico de la Opiniôn Püblica Vasca 40-58 (May, 2008).

(G6) Noticias de Gipuzkoa, http://www.noticiasdegipuzkoa.com/ediciones/2008/01/02/polit-

1ca/euskadi/ d02eus19.870108.php.

__ 39 _

were in Spanish prisons °”. At the same time, a clear intensification of

the pressure on the /zquierda Abertzale has taken place on the basis of

the new legislation on Political Parties.

Act 6/2002 created a new kind of political illegality, allowing the dis-

solution of those political parties, pursuant to activities that damage to

the foundations of democracy. According to this Act, a long list of acts

evidences the aim of undermining individual freedom and disabling the

democratic system (Article 9) : express or tacit support for terrorist acts:;

exculpating or minimizing the significance of terrorist acts; encouraging

a culture of civil conflict and confrontation (or aimed at intimidating,

reversing the opinion, neutralizing or socially isolating those who

oppose terrorism), allowing individuals who have been found guilty of

acts of terrorism and who have not publicly denounced terrorism to sit

as members of the executive bodies of the party, including such individ-

uals in their electoral lists or allowing individuals who have a dual polit-

ical affinity to remain members of the party; using symbols, messages

or other items representing, or identified with, terrorism, violence or

other associated conduct as tools for the party’s activities; making over

electoral rights or privileges enjoyed by political parties to terrorists or

those collaborating with terrorists; regular collaboration with groups or

entities acting systematically in concert with a violent or terrorist organ-

ization, or protecting or supporting terrorism or terrorists; giving sup-

port to terrorism through institutions of government by means of

administrative, economic or other measures; promoting, giving coverage

to, or participating in activities rewarding, paying homage to, or hon-

oring terrorist or violent acts or those who commit them or collaborate

with them; giving coverage to acts of disruption, intimidation or social

duress relating to terrorism or violence.

Following this legislation, Batasuna, the political party of the

Izquierda Abertzale (the Basque leftists radicals) integrated in the

Basque National Liberation Movement, where the ETA 1s also present,

was declared 1llegal already in 2003 and could not take part in the fol-

lowing elections. Nowadays, other organizations (the Comunist Party of

the Basque Territories (EHAK) and the Basque Nationalist Action

(ANV), considered the successors of Batasuna, as of September 2008

have been declared 1llegal. This kind of 1llegality is not a criminal one

and only affects to the political parties, and not to the individuals.

Nevertheless reforms in the penal field have also intervened in 2003,

increasing the punishments for terrorism and trying to assure a complete

and integral execution of the punishments; these reforms have been rein-

67 On the characteristics of ETA activists, see F. REINARES, Patriotas de la Muerte :

Quiénes han militado en ETA y Por Qué (Taurus, Madrid, 2000).

— 40 —

forced by the Doctrine Parot in caselaw. Simultaneously a new jurispru-

dential trend has extended the application of terrorist incriminations to

the social and political groups that operate in the «grey zone», even 1f

their behavior do not involve direct violence. This has affected the juve-

nile organizations of the Izquierda abertzale (JARRAI, HAIKA,

SEGI) S, that integrated as leaders those responsible for many public

disorders as part of the FTA's strategy (kale borroka). Until then, these

young leaders were prosecuted on the basis of their illegal associations,

but nowadays they are considered terrorists. Also legal entities have

been the target of this jurisprudential policy. The newspapers Egin and

Euskaldunon Egunkaria, and the radio station Egin irratia were closed

in 1998, as a provisional measure, by the Instructor Judge Garzoôn after

the decision of opening proceedings against their directors and owners

because of their alleged relation to the FTA; Howeve doubts about the

constitutionality of such a measure are very heavy and ten years later

have yet to be solved ©°).

On the other hand, on the occasion of the very much criticized

macro-process 18/98 against KAS and EKIN (successor of KAS), other

legal entities were also the object of prosecution and in December of

2007 47 persons were punished to more than 520 years of prison. The

Audiencia Nacional, a specialised court in Madrid, having competence

over terrorism cases, rejected that KAS and EKIN were simple «satellite

organizations» and considered them as a real part of the ETA. Accord-

ing to the Audiencia Nacional this was not the case of the Foundation

Joxemi Zumalabe, also submitted to the same process; nevertheless his

leaders and managers were accused and punished to 9 years of prison

as collaborators in the promotion of the ETA's strategy of «civil diso-

bedience, as a complementary way of fighting»‘

60)_

Furthermore, although the Act on political parties is not, as already

said, a criminal one, several penal consequences derived from the decla-

ration of 1llegality on the basis of Act 6/2002, provoking serious con-

cerns and reactions within the Basque Country. The former President of

the Basque Parliament and two members of the Board have been

charged and punished with incapacitation because of disobedience, as

they executed the decision of the Parliament's Board considering that

(8) Antonio FERNANDEZ HERNANDEZ, Jarrai-Haika-Segi : de Asociaciôn Hicita a Organi-

cacion Terrorista, Revista Penal, January 17, 2006, at 95.

(9) José Luis DE LA CUESTA & Ignacio MUNAGORRI LAGUÏA (Dirs.), Clausura de Medios

de Comunicacion Vascos (Egin, Egin, Irratia y Euskaldunon Egunkaria) (Report for the

Basque Government, 2008 printing).

9 On the 18/98 process, Freedom of Expression and Opinion, and Right of Association

in the Basque Country (Report of the Basque Association of Lawyers -Eskubideak

and the

Basque Observatory of Human Rights, Basque Country, October 2002), available at http://

www.joxemi.org/sos-berria/dokumentazioa/behatokia_1.pdf.

— 41 —

the Parliament’s internal regulation opened no way to enforce the

Supreme Court’s Order of dissolution of the Parliamentary group of

Batasuna and did not enforce it‘6). On the other hand, due to the fact

that they had political interviews with the leaders of Batasuna after its

legal dissolution, and even if the Public prosecutor has not maintained

any kind of accusation, the Lehendakari, President of the Basque Gov-

ernment, and the leader of the PSE (Euskadi's Socialist Party, the

regional organization of the Spanish Socialist Party) are presently sub-

ject to penal prosecutions, promoted by two associations, because of

their alleged cooperation in the disobedience committed by the

Batasuna“s leaders ‘6”).

Searching for New Paths

Towards a Final Solution

These interventions have not interrupted the search of new paths

towards a final solution of terrorism in the Basque Country. On Febru-

ary 8, 2007, before the ETA’s formal declaration of the end of the last

truce (but after the attack on the T-4 in Barajas, Madrid), Batasuna pre-

sented a new proposal of a multilateral political dialogue on behalf of

the Izquierda Abertzale‘). According to this «Proposal of Autonomy

and Right to Decide in View of a Definitive Peace», that seems to depart

from the «principle of reality» and presents new interesting elements

(64)

there would be two political issues to be solved before arriving at a solu-

tion of the Basque conflict :

— the right of Euskal Herria to be treated and to decide as a unique

political subject : and

— the territorial integration of the Basque Community, which nowa-

days is split in two Autonomous Communities, in Spain, and three

provinces, in France.

On the other hand, in recent years, the Nationalist Government led

by Mr. Ibarretxe has promoted several initiatives concerning the

«political conflict» in the Basque Country.

Following the demand in favor of the recognition of the right of self-

determination, which had been declared for the first time by the Basque

Parliament in February 15, 1990, a proposal of a new Statute of Auton-

(61) A. FERNANDEZ HERNANDEZ, supra note 2, at 359-375.

(62) Jd. at 255-265.

(63) El

Pais,

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Texto/integro/propuesta/Batasuna/

elpepuesp/ 20070207elpepunac_8/Tes.

(64) Ramôn ZarLo, La Propuesta de autonomia politica de la Izquierda abertzale, Deia,

February 23, 2007, available at http://www.deia.com/es/impresa/2007/02/23/bizkaia/iritzia/

340468.php.

_— 42 —

omy declaring the Basque Country as an Associated Free State, the so-

called Plan Ibarretxe,‘°’ was approved by the Basque Parliament in

December 2004, by 39 favorable votes (nationalist parties with a partial

support of Batasuna) and 35 votes against. Already in the Basque Par-

llament the Project found, therefore, an strong opposition from the

Socialist Party (PSOE) and the Popular Party (PP), absolutely majori-

tary in the Spanish Parliament (Cortes Generales). Consequently, on

February 2005, the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Con-

greso de los Diputados, who needs also to approve this kind of texts

before submitting them to referendum, decided by an absolute majority

not to accept the debate on this proposal.

The Lehendakari of the Basque Country immediately called for new

elections in April of 2005. The coalition in the Basque Government

promised that a democratic consultation on the right to decide would be

organized if they won the elections as they did. On June 26, 2008, the

Basque Parliament approved, by a difference of one vote resulting from

the partial support of the EHAK (considered a successor of Batasuna)

and, again, with the full opposition of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and

the Popular Party (PP), an Act to call the Basque Population to a dem-

ocratic consultation on October 25'" regarding two questions ‘°9 :

—

the opening of a final dialogue if the ETA manifests its unequivocal

commitment to put an end to violence once and forever; and

the opening of a negotiating process by the Basque political parties

to attain a Democratic Agreement on the exercise of the Basque

people’s right to decide. and the submission of this Agreement to

referendum before the end of 2010. ‘67)

Nevertheless, on September 11, 2008, the Constitutional Court

admitted the Spanish Government’s appeal deeming the Basque Act

unconstitutional and annulling it.

(69) Euskadi, http://Wwww.nuevoestatutodeeuskadi.net/default.asp?hizk=ing.

(66) These are the two questions approved by the Basque Parliament : «Do you agree to

support a negotiated end to violence, if ETA declares unequivocally its will to put an end

to violence once and for ever?» and «Do you agree to the initiation by all Basque political

parties, without exclusions, of a negotiation process to reach a Democratic Agreement on the

right of the Basque People to decide their own future, and to the celebration of a Referen-

dum on the aforementioned Agreement before the end of 2010?», available at http://

www.lehendakari.euskadi.net/r57-4075/en/contenidos/noticia/decla_29080528_leydeconsulta/

en_consulia/presentacion.html.

( The last «Sociometer» of the Basque Government indicates that in April 2008 a 30 %

of the Basques manifested his opposition to the independence of the Basque Country, and

a 22% was in favor. À 32% declared that they would be in favor or against depending on

to the circumstances. Eusko JAURLARITZA, Gobierno Vasco, Euskal Soziometroa, Sociometro

Vasco 37. 41 (July, 2008), available at ftp://gvas.euskadi.net/pub/gv/estudios_sociologicos/

08sv3711.pdf.

— 43 —

Increasing Pessimism

Regarding the End of Terrorism

Furthermore, after the assassination of Isaias Carrasco, a former

Socialist councilmen in Arrasate (Gipuzkoa), four days before the gen-

eral elections of 200868 a deep pessimism about the «political

horizon» ‘°) concerning the end of the ETA°s terrorism is shared by the

73 % of the Basque Country's opinion, even if 81 % would support even-

tual negotiations between the Spanish Government and the ETA, and

55 % would accept several counterparts in case of a definitive abandon

of weapons, like the celebration of a referendum (53 %) or the adoption

of pardons and reinsertion measures (56 %). ‘7°)

RESUMEN

E.T.A. (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) naciô como reacciôn al intensa-

mente represivo régimen de Franco en los años 50, con el fin de preser-

var la identidad y la lengua vascas y de luchar a favor de la indepen-

dencia del Pais Vasco. Tras la muerte del General Franco, aun cuando

se concedieron diversos indultos y amnistias con el fin de facilitar la

transiciôn al régimen democrâtico, E.T.A. y los grupos politicos de su

entorno decidieron no participar en las elecciones democrâticas de 1977,

continuando con los atentados terroristas. El nûmero de atentados se

incrementô mucho en los años 80, lo que dio lugar a reformas impor-

tantes de la legislaciôn penal. También se aprobaron progresivamente

medidas dirigidas a la reparacion de las victimas, pero sôlo desde finales

del pasado siglo se han puesto en marcha programas mäs completos

dirigidos a la ayuda y reconocimiento de las victimas del terrorismo.

Desde finales de los 70 han tenido lugar también diversos procesos de

negociaciôn con el fin de llegar a una soluciôn pacifica del conflicto,

pero todos han fracasado. Desde la finalizaciôon del ültimo proceso de

paz (enero 2007), se reanudaron los atentados. En 2008 han sido cuatro

los asesinatos.

SUMMARY

E.T.A. (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) was born as a reaction to the

immensely oppressive Franco regime in the 1950s and aimed to preserve

(68) In 2008 three new assassinations took place: Juan Manuel Piñuel Villalôn, Luis

Conde de la Cruz and Ignacio Uria Mendizäbal.

(69) P. IDOYAGA, supra note 45.

(0) Euskobarômetro, supra note 54, at 59-61.

__ 44 —

the Basque language, ethnicity and fight in support of the Basque terri-

tory's independence. After General Franco’s death even 1f a series of

wide amnesties were granted in order to facilitate the transition to a

democratic regime, E.T.A. and the political groups around it decided

not to participate in the democratic elections of 1977 and more terrorist

attacks ensued. The number of attacks increased very much during the

80's and this provoked important reforms in the penal field. Legislative

measures in favor of the reparation of the victims were also progres-

sively adopted, but only since the end of the XXth century more com-

prehensive programs to aid (and recognize) the victims of terrorism have

taken place. Several negotiations have been underway since the end of

the 1970s to attempt a peaceful resolution to the conflict; but all of

them failed. The breaking down of the most recent peace process in Jan-

uary of 2007 opened the way to new terrorist attacks and four new kill-

ings and assassinations occurred in 2008.

RÉSUMÉ

L'E.T.A. (Euskadi ta Askatasuna) était née en réaction au régime

intensément répressif de Franco et visait à préserver l’identité et la Lan-

gue Basques, et à lutter en faveur de l’indépendance du pays basque.

Après la mort du général Franco, malgré une série d'amnisties destinées

à faciliter la transition vers un régime démocratique, l’E.T.A. et les

groupes politiques qui l’entourent ont décidé de ne pas participer aux

élections démocratiques de 1977, et une augmentation des attaques ter-

roristes s'ensuivit. Le nombre des attaques s'accrut lourdement durant

les années '80, et provoqua d'importantes réformes dans le domaine

pénal. Des mesures législatives en faveur de l'indemnisation des victimes

furent progressivement adoptées, mais il fallut attendre la fin du

XX° siècle pour voir apparaître des programmes plus complets d’aide et

de reconnaissance des victimes du terrorisme. Depuis la fin des années

"70, différents processus de négociation ont été entrepris pour résoudre

pacifiquement le conflit, mais tous ont échoué. La rupture du plus

récent processus de paix, en janvier 2007, a ouvert la voie à des nou-

velles attaques terroristes. Quatre assassinats ont eu lieu en 2008.

- 45—

WRITERS ON THE STORM.

PUNISHMENT, PUBLIC DEBATE

AND PERSUASIVE SPEECH

Tom Daems “!)

1. — INTRODUCTION

In recent years there has been a great deal of interest in «public

criminology». In part following up on the grand debate in sociology,

which was more or less initiated by the influencial yet somewhat con-

troversial presidential address by Michael Burawoy (2005) for the Amer-

ican Sociological Association, the discussion also received a more prom-

inent place within criminology (see e.g. Chancer & McLaughlin, 2007a:

Loader & Sparks, 2008; Engbersen, 2008; De Haan, 2009). Perhaps this

is most tellingly 1illustrated by having a quick look at the programmes

of three recent criminology conferences. The 8th conference of the Euro-

pean Society of Criminology carried the title «Criminology in the public

sphere» and aimed to explore inter alia the most fruitful ways in which

the work of criminologists may inform intervention and enter wider

public conversation (Edinburgh, 2-S September 2008). The annual con-

ference of the British Society of Criminology was devoted to the theme

«AÀ ‘Mirror’ or a ‘Motor’? What is Criminology For?». One of the goals

was to ask, given criminology's increasing significance and reputation,

what 1s the public role envisaged for criminology now and in the future

(Cardiff, 29 June-l1 July 2009). And in June the Dutch Society of Crim-

inology devoted special attention to «Criminology and the media». The

plenary speakers — professor Richard Sparks and professor Chrisje

Brants-Langeraar — were invited to reflect upon the relationship between

criminology and the media on the one hand, and the public face of crim-

inology, on the other hand (Leiden, 18-19 June 2009).

In a certain way the idea of a «public criminology» is not new : it

forms part of —- or should form part of — the broader, intellectual role

social scientists have within society. However, the distinctiveness of the

current debate, so it seems, is that there is apparently a perceived need

for more involvement of criminologists in the public sphere. Whether

(U Postdoctoral Fellow Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Institute of Criminal

Law and Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Bel-

gium. This article 1s based on my book Making Sense of Penal Change (Oxford University

Press, 2008).

_— 47 —

this has to do with a recent (either will-ful or not) retreat from public

debate or, alternatively, with a perceived need to increase such an

involvement, remains more or less an open question. Some who sense

that criminology has become a technicist science that increasingly limits

its intellectual ambitions to delivering ready-made recipes to policy ques-

tions, may be arguing that developments within criminology are to

blame (e.g. Walgrave, 2008). Others who think that salient developments

in crime control in recent times call for more public intervention by

criminologists may be inclined to opt for the second reason (see e.g.

Chancer & McLaughlin, 2007b).

In this article we aim to contribute to this discussion. We will be

doing this by examining the intellectual life-courses of four authors who

have published widely, and over an extended period of time, on the

topic of recent penal change. More in particular, we will try to establish

a number of links between the three terms that are figuring in the sub-

title of this article — punishment, public debate and persuasive speech —

and we will explore how this adds up to four different positions in the

public sphere. In the next section we will devote a few words to the topic

of what makes scientific — and therefore criminological — speech distinc-

tive when compared to those other voices that enter the public discus-

sion on crime, unsafety, punishment and control. We then continue by

describing in more detail four different ways in which social scientists

have given flesh to the relationship between their professional activities

within an academic community on the one hand, and their involvement

with social and penal issues as participants in a political community on

the other hand. Fleshing out this relationship between academia and

polity is important, so we will argue, because the specific ways in which

scholars tend to perceive their public roles can also have an impact on

how they produce knowledge about the world out there. That will be the

topic of the fourth section of this article. We will conclude with a plea

to move the terms of debate from a «public criminology» to an

«antipolitical criminology», a term that we will borrow from the Hun-

garian writer George Konräd.

2. — SCIENTIFIC RHETORIC

The discussion about «public criminology» raises questions about

the distinctive character of scientific speech within the broader societal

debate. Indeed, the ultimate goal 1s not merely to reach a select audience

of fellow academics but also, and in particular, to inform members of

a larger, non-professional public and to convince them of certain (sci-

entific) insights. Scientific texts, then, are rhetorical objects, that 1s,

__ 48 —

means to persuade colleagues and others about certain interpretations

about the world out there (Gross, 1990). To approach criminology as a

rhetorical enterprise is not the same as arguing that the voice of the

criminologist 1s indistinguishable from the voices of the lawyer, judge,

politician, journalist, church leader, victim, and so on. On the contrary :

it moves the question where the criminologist's voice can be distin-

guished from those other voices straight into the centre of discussion.

The answer to that question 1s nicely epitomized in what Dutch crim-

inologist Elisabeth Lissenberg told her students towards the end of her

inaugural lecture for the Chair of Criminology at the University of

Amsterdam : «everyone who has not studied the subject will be able to

tell you more about crime than yourself» (Lissenberg, 1989 : 22, my

translation). Between the lines one can read that we are not merely deal-

ing with a quantitative distinction but also with a qualitative one :

because we have studied the subject we (as well as those to whom we

direct our words) can assume that what the criminologist says and

writes adds something distinctive to the debate. In the mid-1990s David

Nelken went one step further and drew our attention to the need for

rethorical reflexivity within criminology. On that occasion he offered the

following questions for criminologists to reflect upon :

«How does, and how should. criminological argument relate to the tech-

niques of description and persuasion used by those (police. prosecutors.

judges, journalists, offenders, other criminologists, etc.) whose communi-

cations they analyse and often criticise? What, if anything, makes it

superior? Are some forms of writing more reflexive than others? Is there

a limit to the extent to which it 1s practical or desirable to reveal the props

of production which make accounts convincing?» (Nelken, 1994 : 18)

Science matters not so much in absolute philosophical terms of

«epistemological superiority» but in more down-to-earth sociological

ones. Indeed, as Harbers once argued, we are not dealing here with ver-

tical differentiation in terms of truth and objectivity as the Olympus-

model suggests but with horizontal differentiation in terms of the divi-

sion of labour within the Agora (Harbers, 1992 : 49). It is the craftman-

like, controlled and controllable approach (Bauman (1990) would speak

about «responsible speech») to questions about crime and deviance,

punishment and control, that differentiates the criminologist's voice

from other voices on the topic and this is also the key argument in

favour of the superiority of the knowledge he or she offers (see also

Hood, 2002). Criminologists enter public discussions primarily as scien-

tists — as crimino-/ogists — and it 1s from that perspective that they are

invited (or take steps themselves) to contribute to that debate.

49 —

3. — FOUR INTELLECTUAL POSITIONS

For this paper we draw upon a recently finished research project

(Daems, 2008). We selected four authors (David Garland, John Pratt,

Hans Boutellier and Loïc Wacquant) who have published widely on

(changes with respect to) punishment and control, a theme that in the

past 10 or 15 years has attracted a great deal of scholarly interest within

criminology and that is also explicitly mentioned as one of the reasons

why a «public criminology» is deemed to be necessary (Chancer &

McLaughlin, 2007b : 156). The central question that they address in

their work is the following : How to explain the salient transformations

with respect to crime control and punishment in recent decades? For

each of the selected authors we compiled an extensive list of their pub-

lications which can be found in the usual scientific fora (books, articles,

book chapters, reviews). If possible we complemented this with inter-

views and opinion articles that were distributed through other, more

popular media channels. This resulted in thousands of pages of research

material, published in a time period of 25 à 30 years.

One of the advantages of the applied methodology was that we could

explore how an author, on a critical and normative level, relates to his

subject, and how such orientations may change over time. When schol-

ars write about «penal regressions», «mass imprisonment», «new

western

«culture

of

punitiveness»,

«gulags

style»,

control»,

«hyperincarceration», «killing state», and so on, they reveal a sense of

unease — and sometimes even disgust — towards current penal develop-

ments. These notions are often deliberately used to expose the profound

consequences these changes may have for social life. Against this back-

ground it becomes interesting to explore how authors develop their own

public identity, that is, how they perceive the relationship between their

scientific activities on the one hand, and public debate and policy for-

mation on penal issues, on the other hand. When scholars write about

developments which they perceive as undesirable or disturbing, one can

expect that the relationship between their scholarly and public lives

moves front-stage. In the following pages we will briefly illustrate how

Garland as «scientist», Pratt as «prophet», Boutellier as «crusader» and

Wacquant as «boxer» have given flesh to that relationship in their

work.

3.1. — The scientist

At the start of his academic career, in the early 1980s, David Garland

conducted research on the history of the penal welfare strategy in Brit-

ain and the historical roots of criminology (Garland, 1985). His theo-

retical framework at that time was strongly inspired by Foucault and,

to a lesser extent, by neo-marxist perspectives on punishment. In those

years Garland was explicitly oriented towards the public debate. It was

crucial, so he wrote in a book review of 1982, to construct «alternative

strategies of control» which would draw upon «ideologies of collective

and social responsibility, popular participation, democratic regulation

and the accountability of expertise» (Garland, 1982 : 185). In the 1983

book The Power to Punish, Garland wrote with Peter Young that the

production of knowledge about the social world is always steered at

changing it (Garland & Young, 1983 : 32). Alternative forms of penality

needed to be constructed which were, so they argued, «more socialist,

more popular, more democratic» and which «aspire to the paradox of

a liberative penality» (Garland & Young, 1983 : 33).

However, soon after the publication of Punishment and Welfare in

1985 Garland started to move to a pluralist theoretical position. His ear-

lier (partly Foucauldian, partly neomarxist) theoretical framework

became one framework amongst several others, in particular those

derived from Durkheim and Elias. From his pluralist position, there was

no longer an a priori superiority of the one above the other. Garland

aimed to understand punishment in all its complexity and the only way

to do that, so he argued, was to develop and practice a multidimen-

sional sociology of punishment (Garland, 1990).

This theoretical shift had major implications for how he could get

involved in public debate. To move away from the early Foucault /

Marx-inspired framework implied that punishment was no longer

merely about discipline and regulation : it was also about irrational

emotions and passions, and it always operated within certain morally

and culturally defined boundaries. Such a pluralist theoretical position

was difficult to reconcile with proposing the «alternative strategies of

control» of the early 1980s : even 1f it were possible to construct such

strategies, their viability and efficacy would be limited by the «tragic

quality of punishment», that 1s, the fact that punishment 1s always beset

by

«irresolvable

tensions»

and

inescapably

marked by

«moral

contradiction» and «unwanted irony» — as he explained in Punishment

and Modern Society (Garland, 1990 : 292). Revealing multiple causes,

effects and meanings makes it much more difficult to formulate a

straightforward critique and to single out that one panacee that would

liberate the (penal) world of all evil. Garland was well aware that this

was the price he needed to pay for his theoretical choice. But for him

the gains of arriving at a more truthful description of punishment out-

weighed the losses. Indeed, in The Culture of Control (2001) and also in

more recent publications (Garland, 2006; Garland, 2009 : 265), he reaf-

firmed the value of the multidimensional approach.

_— 51 —

Against this background it also becomes better understandable why

Garland described himself recently as a «dispassionate observer» who

aims to investigate issues with which one is «passionately involved» but

at the same time with «a detachment that permits one to grasp com-

plexities and to minimize the projection of one’s own wishes and fears

onto the phenomenon» (Garland, 2004 : 163).

Such a position has implications for how Garland relates to the public

debate. For sure, Garland aims to reach a wide audience with his writings

(as he emphasized on different occasions, The Culture of Control was

written with a large, non-professional audience, that stretches beyond the

boundaries of the academic world, in mind (Garland, 2001, ix-x; Garland,

2004 : 186, note 1)) but not at any price. For that reason we label his posi-

tion the «scientist». We want to stress, however, that this does not mean

that we are suggesting that the three other authors that we will discuss

furtheron are not scientists. The crucial difference, however, has to do

with how they aim to persuade the broader public of their messages : Pratt

as «prophet», Boutellier as «crusader» and Wacquant as «boxer» use

other — so to speak, «extra-scientific» — rhetorical means to convince their

readers of the strength of their stories and to make their messages travel

successfully from sender to receiver. In particular in the cases of Boutellier

and Wacquant — as we will discuss later in this article — these «extra-

scientific» elements enable them to come up with a much sharper critique

and to arrive at a much more pronounced normative position.

3.2. — The prophet

Throughout the 1980s Pratt published in particular on the topics of

(controlling) youth delinquency and various forms of deviance. At that

time he was strongly inspired by the work of Foucault, revisionist history

writing, and the critical social control literature. Towards the late 1980s,

and in particular in the run-up to his study Punishment in a Perfect Soci-

ety (Pratt 1992a), he began to reconsider his theoretical framework : Pratt

started to move away from the Foucauldian position and he became con-

vinced of the value of the work of Norbert Elias to understand the history

of modern penality in New Zealand. For a moment it seemed as 1f Pratt,

like Garland, would adopt a pluralist theoretical framework. Indeed, in

Punishment in a Perfect Society Pratt drew upon Foucault, Elias and

colonialism to arrive at a more complex account of historical develop-

ments in New Zealand (Pratt 1992a). However, in the mid-1990s he would

return to Foucault for his study Governing the Dangerous (1997) which

was strongly inspired by the «governmentality»-literature. In his next

research project, which resulted in the publication of Punishment and Civ-

ilization (2002a), Elias was his main author.

__ 52 —

Throughout his intellectual life-course Pratt would relate in different

ways to the public debate. Like the young Garland, the young Pratt was in

the early years of his academic career closely engaged with the themes he

was researching. In 1981 he argued that his work on the rise of the New

Right in the UK was driven by the need to find «an alternative and coher-

ent strategy» (Pratt, 1981 : 371). His research on juvenile delinquency and

social work was driven by attempts to initiate a (Matza-inspired) ideological

challenge and to alter working practices of social workers so that they

would stop pathologizing young truants and lessen the regulation they were

subjected to (e.g. Pratt 1985b). With the years, however, Pratt grew increas-

ingly sceptical about the prospects of progressive change. From the 1990s

onwards there are no longer practical suggestions for imp»roving day-to-

day practice in his published work. Pratt’s turn to historical questions in this

period, however, was not meant to be an escape strategy. Exploring the

past, so he argued, could help him to understand better the present and

would assist him in drawing lessons from history (Pratt, 1992b).

The most important change in his intellectual position happened

towards the end of the 1990s. From then onwards it is possible to see

him adopting a position that is «prophetic» in nature. Pratt’s work

became increasingly infused with warnings and outlines of possible

dark-coloured futures. According to Pratt the boundaries of punishment

came to be pushed, and we were entering into a new era of punishment

which could have deep implications for our futures (e.g. Pratt, 1998;

Pratt, 2000; Pratt, 2002b). Like a prophet Pratt aimed to confront his

audience with the potential (dark) future in the hope that this would

avoid that such a future would become our reality. Indeed, prophets

predict catastrophe in order to prevent it (see Bauman, 2006).

When we perceive his relationship to his object of research as a shift

to such a prophetical position then this helps explain his disproportion-

ate attention for the dark sides of punishment; it could explain why he

focused so much on chain gangs, «three strikes and you’re out»-laws,

austere prison regimes, punitive work orders, boot camps, mass impris-

onment, and so on; it also helps understand why he was persuaded by

the «postmodern penality»-hypothesis, with its suggestion that we have

entered a new epoch. This prophetical position, then, has implications

for how Pratt aims to achieve persuasion : Pratt as «prophet» does vio-

lence to «realistic» and «balanced» descriptions of the (penal) world out

there in the hope that the world would not become more violent itself.

3.3. — The crusader

From the start of his career Dutch criminologist Hans Boutellier

became interested in the morality of our times. In the early 1980s this

- 33

topic was somewhat unfashionable. Sociological criminology was partic-

ularly interested in the control machinery and moral questions related

to «good» and «evil» were hardly being addressed. During his fieldwork

in the late 1970s in a youth institution Boutellier identified more with

the youth workers than with the youngsters : their problems of giving

moral guidance to the young delinquents who demonstrated a remark-

able self-confidence, started to interest him. According to Boutellier

(1985) youth workers had ended up in an «ideologically and morally

unprotected position». In order to address crime as a moral problem the

work of Foucault was not very helpful to Boutellier. Instead he turned

to Durkheim and formulated his hypothesis of the victimalization of

morality in his first book Solidariteit en slachtofferschap of 1993 (later

translated as Crime and Morality (2000)). With his follow-up study The

Safety Utopia (2004) Boutellier would expand his gaze and he started to

reflect more widely on the meaning of safety in a vitalist culture.

Throughout his career we can observe a remarkable consistency in

his use of theory. From the early beginnings until now his framework

is Durkheimian. Boutellier was well aware of other theoretical develop-

ments but he always kept them at a safe distance. Authors such as Rich-

ard Rorty or Zygmunt Bauman were used but only to the extent that

they fit into his moral framework. Boutellier’s life-long fidelity to Dur-

kheim becomes better understandable if we consider more closely the

role in public life that he has designed for himself. Boutellier’s academic

work on the morality of our times was always driven by a deep-

ingrained aspiration to make it useful for practical intervention. His

«diagnosis» of society was always steered toward «remedying» its path-

ological features. Like a therapist Boutellier puts society «on the couch»

in the hope that, after a number of sessions, the patient’s «Super-Ego»

is able to regain control over the nasty «Id».

We therefore have labelled him the «crusader» : Boutellier’s mission

to identify what binds people together in a morally fragmented society

has driven him towards a moral crusade against the pathologies of con-

temporary culture. Unlike Pratt who like a modern-day prophet

presents his readers with images of what the future might bring, Boutel-

lier is firmly oriented towards the present : his scholarship and policy-

oriented activities are directed at the instant treatment of a society that,

in his opinion, is in need of boundaries and moral renewal.

Boutellier’s crusading ambitions have implications for how he aims

to persuade his audience. In order to convince the reader of the need

and viability of his moral crusade Boutellier paints a streamlined picture

of postmodern criminals, emancipated victims, fearful and worried citi-

zens, and responsive policy-makers. Instead of highlighting the darkest

of penal developments (as the prophet does) Boutellier aims to

__ 54 —

strengthen his case by insisting on the harsh reality of crime and

unsafety. It 1s also here that his uncompromising reliance on Durkheim

needs to be understood : the bottom-up approach of Durkheim with its

consensual view on society, is most useful for his larger public mission

and his outspoken intention to remain a loyal ally for the policy-maker.

3.4. — The boxer

Loic Wacquant'’s interest in crime and punishment was sparked in

part by a personal experience : his fieldwork in a black ghetto in Chi-

cago in the late 1980s/early 1990s in general, and his enrollment in a

local boxing gym in particular, sensitized him to the deep impact of the

criminal justice system on the lives of the residents in the ghetto and the

functions this system fulfils in post-Fordist America. For Wacquant the

study of punishment became a necessary complement to his work on

marginality. This happened in two ways. First, his study of the trans-

formation of the American ghetto brought him to study how the con-

temporary «hyperghetto» and the prison meet and mesh (Wacquant,

200la). Second, his more wide-ranging observations on the rise of

advanced marginality in post-Fordist cities led him to consider more

closely the increasing reliance on the penal system. The upsurge of the

penal state was in particular related to the rise of neoliberalism : a neo-

liberal penality had seen the light in the United States and was being

exported to other countries around the globe (see e.g. Wacquant, 1999;

Wacquant, 2001b; Wacquant, 2002a; Wacquant, 2004).

Wacquant'’s analysis of penal change has some similarities with the

line of research initiated by Rusche and Kirchheimer (1968), that 1s, the

political economy of punishment which investigates relationships

between economic systems and forms of punishment. However, his

approach is also different in a number of respects. Wacquant empha-

sized in particular the importance of political agency; he insisted on

treating neoliberalism as a complete ideological package about how

human beings and society function; he drew attention to the multiple

groups that are being disciplined and controlled by the penal system;

and he highlighted the symbolic function of penal systems which draw,

dramatize and enforce group boundaries. His deep critique of the spread

of neoliberal penality needs to be understood against the background of

how he wants to act in the public sphere. For Wacquant there is an

indispensable link between the neoliberal revolution and the rise of the

penal state. Neoliberalism is held responsible for rising inequalities in

the USA and those other places where 1t settles in. Sociology as sport

de combat or «martial art» needs to be mobilized in a struggle against

neoliberal doxa. Like his former mentor Pierre Bourdieu and other par-

— 55 —

ticipants in the collective Raisons d'agir Wacquant joined in a global-

wide struggle against the neoliberal revolution. Wacquant’s position,

then, is the position of the «boxer» who uses his sociological gloves to

fight a round against the ruthless opponent.

This boxing position also has implications for how Wacquant inter-

acts with his wider audience. In terms of persuasion, Wacquant presents

the reader with a streamlined picture that squares well with the public

«boxing» role that he has designed for himself. The characters of his

story are criminals engaging in protopolitical action against «violence

from above», poor families living in crime-ridden and deprived neigh-

bourhoods, and policy-makers who fail to take political responsibility in

protecting the weak against the devastating side-effects of the neoliberal

revolution. In order to convince the reader of the need to join him in

the ring against the neoliberal enemy, Wacquant directs the attention of

his audience to the most appalling penal developments (such as mass

imprisonment, registration and notification laws for sex offenders, boot

camps, and so forth); he sees crime control policies travelling in one

direction (from the USA to elsewhere); and he identifies transatlantic

parallels which enable him to highlight how similar causes lead to sim-

ilar effects. In Wacquant’s account «evil» (neoliberalism) breeds «evil»

(the penal state) and to demonstrate this, penal change 1s approached

from its most exclusionary and most divisive side.

4. — PERSUASIVE SPEECH

In a recent thematic issue of Theoretical Criminology on «public

criminology» Elliott Currie — who 1s strongly in favour of such a public

criminology — raises the following important question : «Does that mean

we abandon our longstanding standards for the proper conduct of

research?» His answer followed immediately and sounded confidently :

«Of course not» (Currie, 2007 : 189). The question is important because

it makes a brief reference to what sets the «criminological voice» apart

from those other voices in the public debate. It is criminology's scientific

credentials which make the voice of the criminologist distinctive from —

which 1s not necessarily the same as superior to — the voices of others.

However, one of the things that we aimed to demonstrate in the pre-

vious section is that the answer to this question may be a bit more com-

plicated than Currie suggests. The «public criminology» debate should

be about more than simply how to reactivate or stimulate the public

activities of the criminologist : the production of knowledge, and the sta-

tus of criminology as a scientific discipline, might be at issue. Às we dis-

cussed earlier, some positions in the public debate have implications for

__ 56 —

how we arrive at descriptions, and how explanations are build up. Dor-

othy Smith once made a useful distinction between ideology and social

science. The crucial difference between ideology and knowledge 1s situ-

ated in the use of procedures as «means not to know» (Smith, 1974 :

40). Such a choice to use procedures as «means not to know» also

seems to be present at times in the work of the authors that we have

discussed in this paper. Indeed, at times we can observe a selective use

of empirical material, an uncritical endorsement of (or shift between)

theoretical perspectives, an amnesia about methodological problems,

and so on as «extra-scientific» means to increase the persuasive power

of particular accounts and to move various audiences into certain direc-

tions. Let us 1illustrate this briefly (for more details, see Daems, 2008).

In his prophetical writings Pratt often relies on a small number of

eccentric and exotic examples that are often solely derived from parts of

the USA but that form his empirical basis to make statements about five

English-speaking jurisdictions or «Western punishment» in general. The

same applies to the concept «new punitiveness» (Pratt et al, 2005).

Upon closer examination also here the presented empirical material 1s

sparse and mostly derived from some states in the USA. Moreover, the

concept 1itself lacks a sound criterion that would help us decide which

practices can be categorized under its umbrella. Pratt 1s probably aware

of these limits. We cannot only assume this from his long experience as

an informed writer on punishment but also because in the past he has

made exactly the same comments on empirical detail and conceptual

clarity that we now make about his work. For example, in a paper

where he argued against the idea that intermediate treatment provides

evidence of a Foucauldian disciplinary type of punishment he high-

lighted that the few examples that would support such a hypothesis

seemed to be «very atypical», particularly «when one considers the

diversity that is to be found in the full range of intermediate treatment

projects». In addition, training programmes were «comparatively minor

developments within the general system of punishment» (Pratt, 1990 :

228). On another occasion he argued that «we should be careful not to

use «social control» as a catchphrase concept, thereby neglecting the

complexities implicit in it», and he warned against «the dangers of talk-

ing too generally of ‘social control’» (Pratt, 1985a : 211-212). In order

to increase the persuasiveness of his prophetic accounts of recent penal

change Pratt seems to have put such comments aside : the end of per-

suasion (that is, to convince the reader of his «prophecies» about the

dark penal future that lies ahead of us) have led him to look away.

In the case of Boutellier the «extra-scientific» means of persuasion

are even more clearly present. Throughout his career Boutellier has

always emphasized - and at times even deliberately exaggerated - the

_ 57 —

seriousness of the crime and safety problems without paying too much

attention to the limits of the data being used, and without discussing the

methodological problems involved. Boutellier also never deviated from

his Durkheimian moral perspective : no serious attempt was being made

to consider other perspectives and there has never been any engagement

with the criticisms levelled at the Durkheimian perspective. In his case,

the end of persuasion (that 1s, to convince his readers of the seriousness

of the crime problem and of the need to remoralize the whole of society)

prevented him from examining methodological issues and alternative

perspectives which, again, have led him to look the other way.

Also in the case of Wacquant we can raise questions of how he aims

to persuade his audience. The empirical examples he offers for detailing

the American penal state were mostly derived from a small number of

American states, and California in particular. The indispensable and

functional links between the penal and the social state are, upon closer

examination, far from indispensable and functional. The impact of his

major illustration of how a «neoliberal penal commonsense» travels

across the globe, that is, «zero tolerance», was minor. There are a

number of indications which suggest that also Wacquant was well aware

of these limits : in a 1998 paper he acknowledged that penal policies are

not

«monolithical»,

that one can detect «diverging»

and even

«contradictory» tendencies, and he referred to practices of mediation,

reconciliation, depenalization and individualization of penalties (Wac-

quant, 1998 : 4, note 4); in Les prisons de la misère he already indicated

that «zero tolerance» was on the decline in New York City (Wacquant,

1999 : 28-34); and, as a trained sociologist, he has at several occasions

severely criticized the work of colleagues who do not live up to the high

standards of sociological research (see e.g. Wacquant, 2002b). Wac-

quant’s end of persuasion (that is, to convince the reader of the evils of

the American-born neoliberal ideology with its concomitant neoliberal

penality), then, has steered his sociological gaze to the most appalling

American penal developments that would help him convince his readers

about the location of the source of all evil and that would make them

join in his battle against the neoliberal revolution.

5. — CONCLUSION

In order to safeguard the «special quality» of the voice of the crim-

inologist in the public sphere, there are limits to the kinds of persuasion

that we, as criminologists, can resort to. But such limits are not bad. On

the contrary : they form part of our profession, they are an essential

ingredient of our craft, and they come with a number of clear benefits

__ 58 —

to us. When we speak in public as criminologist then we do this as gate-

keepers to a certain kind of knowledge. We can rely on a certain cul-

tural capital that other participants in the debate usually lack. It is here

that the added value of the criminologist in the public debate needs to

be situated and which gives his or her contribution to the debate its dis-

tinctive quality. But this also comes with a responsibility.

We have aimed to demonstrated that going public is not without

risks : arriving at clear, unequivocal critical or normative statements can

have implications for practicing science itself. Such an observation 1s

probably not new but, in the light of the many calls for greater involve-

ment in the public sphere, it might deserve more attention because the

credibility of criminology might be at issue. As Roger Hood recently

suggested :

«the voices of criminologists will be heard only 1if they can speak in their

‘wider-ranging role’ from a firm base of empirical research, and research

that can make claims to be scientifically rigorous, in the sense that it is

repeatable, reliable and valid. This 1s what distinguishes criminology from

other types of discourse about crime. Unless legitimacy can be claimed for

this view, the ‘criminologist’ will be treated as just another person with an

‘opinion’ on the subject» (Hood, 2002 : 159)

We would argue that such a claim to legitimacy also implies adopt-

ing, safeguarding, and defending a certain intellectual position in the

public debate which we, following George Konräd, term anti-political :

«Anti-politics 1s the political activity of those who don’t want to be pol-

iticians and who refuse to share in power» (Konräd, 1984 : 230). Kon-

rad pictured the relationship between politics and anti-politics as

follows : «The relationship between politics and anti-politics is like the

relationship between two mountains : neither one tries to usurp the

other’s place; neither one can eliminate or replace the other» (Konrad,

1984 : 231). À criminology that aims to be anti-political welcomes the

division of labour between intellectuals and politicians, and accepts and

cherishes the different rhetorical mixtures of /ogos, pathos, and ethos.

An anti-political criminology does not have the ambition nor the pre-

tension to take the place of politicians. It recognizes that science has a

peculiar rationality different from politics : «organizing ideas» cannot be

the same as «organizing men and things» (Pels, 1995). It therefore also

accepts that public debate on crime and punishment happens at a

number of distinctive levels — moral, religious, commonsense, political,

practical, scientific — and that its legitimate place 1s at the level of

knowledge. Such an anti-political criminology patrols closely the bor-

ders of the discipline in order to safeguard its ethos and to build up a

collective identity of a scientific community that has a crucial role to

play in the public debate. Following the rules of «responsible speech»

__ 59 _

(Bauman, 1990), then, is indispensable for the public accountability of

such a criminology and for maintaining a form of scientific persuasion.

An anti-political criminology does not need to have a set of ready-

made answers to pressing policy issues. Criminology should do much

more because it knows much more and can enrich the public debate in

many different ways. Às Zedner recently argued : «There is no absolute

reason why the ability of criminology to inform or influence policy-mak-

ing should be taken as a measure of success; any more than one would

judge Durkheim by his influence on suicide levels» (Zedner, 2003 : 202).

Moreover, as she added, «the common assumption that criminological

theory, with its tendency to radical critique and unverifiable abstraction,

is incapable of influence is to misunderstand the subtle, indirect ways in

which knowledge can generate social understanding and inform the pol-

icy agenda» (Zedner, 2003 : 227). Entering the debate on crime and pun-

ishment is much more than playing society's diagnostician and offering

recipes

for the perceived

illnesses.

It

IS also about

«revealing

complexities», «questioning certitudes» and «puncturing the false hope

of simple solutions» (Zedner, 2003 : 234). This 1s, arguably, an impor-

tant and valuable contribution to any public discussion on crime and

punishment. Moreover, as professional gate-keepers of an accumulated

body of criminological knowledge, criminologists are particularly well-

equipped to fulfil such a task.

There are many forces at work that aim to push criminology's role

in the public sphere either into a political or an apolitical direction. The

danger of making it political 1s that criminology comes to be subsumed

under an ethico-political vision and only admits certain areas of research

as worthy of attention. Mathieu Deflem was one of the rare voices to

highlight this problematic aspect in the public sociology debate in the

USA. Public sociology was revealed as a thinly veiled disguise of a par-

ticularistic version of Marxist sociology, promoted by the 2003-04 Pres-

ident of the American Sociological Association, Michael Burawoy

(2005). There was the danger that sociology would turn into a form of

political activism thereby, paradoxically, jeopardizing the role of sociol-

ogy in the wider world and damaging its scientific credentials. ‘ The

recent call of three Scandinavian criminologists, published in the news-

letter of the European Society of Criminology, that criminologists

should dissociate themselves from the Stockholm Prize in Criminology

can be understood as a plea against an apolitical criminology. Balvig,

Christie, and Tham (2008) claim that the type of criminology being pro-

@) Mathieu Deflem, an Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of South Caro-

lina, launched a campaign «Save Sociology» and maintained a website which was regularly

updated between the summer of 2004 and the autumn of 2006 <http ://www.savesociol-

ogy.org>.

— 60 —

moted by the prestigious Prize, that is, an applied criminology at the

service of the state, and the procedure for awarding it, lead to the cre-

ation of a «tame criminology». An anti-political criminology needs to

be constantly on its guard for challenges coming from both sides — the

political and the apolitical — in order to preserve a legitimate and pro-

ductive place in the public debate. This implies acknowledging that the

ordering of ideas is not the same, and can never be the same, as the

ordering of men and things.

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ABSTRACT

In recent years there has been a great deal of interest in the question

of how social scientists in general, and criminologists in particular,

should communicate with the public. Discussion has been raised about

criminology's public status and its relationship to public policy, which

1s exemplified by recent debate on the need for a «public criminology».

In this article we describe and critically examine four different ways of

«going public» in criminology by focusing on the intellectual life-course

of four key-thinkers in the recent sociology of punishment, that 1s,

David Garland, John Pratt, Hans Boutellier and Loïc Wacquant.

Key words : public criminology, (sociology of) punishment, rhetoric,

persuasive speech

RESUMÉ

Ce texte est basé sur l’ouvrage Making Sense of Penal Change

(Oxford University Press, 2008), qui a valu à Tom Daems cette année

le prix Emile Durkheim de la Société internationale de criminologie. Il

_ 63 —

se réfère à l’intérêt considérable qu’a soulevé, ces dernières années, la

question de savoir comment les spécialistes des sciences sociales, et en

particulier les criminologues, doivent communiquer avec le public. La

discussion a porté sur le statut public de la criminologie et sa relation

avec la politique publique, sous la forme spécialement du débat récent

sur le besoin d’une «criminologie publique». L’auteur décrit et examine

de façon critique quatre façons d’«agir publiquement» en criminologie,

en se focalisant sur la carrière de quatre penseurs clés de la récente

sociologie de la peine : David Garland, John Pratt, Hans Boutellier et

Loic Wacquant.

RESUMEN

Este texto està basado en la obra Making Sense of Penal Change

(Oxford University Press, 2008), que le ha valido a Tom Daems la

obtenciôn del premio Emile Durkheim de la Sociedad Internacional de

Criminologia este año. La obra se refiere al considerable interés que ha

despertado estos ûltimos años la cuestiôon de saber cômo los especialistas

de las ciencias sociales, y en particular los criminôlogos, deben comuni-

car con el püblico. La discusiôn se refiriô al estatuto püblico de la cri-

minologia y su relaciôn con la politica pûblica, especialmente bajo la

forma del debate reciente sobre la necesidad de una «criminologia

püblica». El autor describe y examina de manera critica cuatro maneras

de «actuar püblicamente» en criminologia, focalizandose en la carrera

de cuatro pensadores clave de la reciente sociologia de la pena : David

Garland, John Pratt, Hans Boutellier y Loïic Wacquant.

__ 64 —

TEENAGE MOTHERHOOD

The frequency of teenage motherhood

in ÎItalian provinces : Economic, cultural

and institutional factors

Uberto Gatti ‘)

Richard E. Tremblay ?

Hans M .H. Schadee )

1. — THE EFFECTS OF EARLY MOTHERHOOD

ON CHILDREN

Babies born to teenage mothers are more prone to sudden infant

death, postneonatal deaths due to infection, accidents and other causes

(Babson and Clarke, 1983; Berthoud, 2001 ; Hellerstedt et al., 1995) and

tend to have a lower birth weight (Botting et al., 1998; Moore et al.,

1997).

The children of adolescent mothers are faced with various prob-

lems (Whitman et al., 1997), such as a 3-fold increase 1n mental retar-

dation (Broman, 1981), speech retardation (Rauch-Elnekave, 1994),

poor health (Wolfe and Perozek, 1997), cognitive difficulties, and

emotional and behavioural problems (Moffitt and the E-Risk Study

team, 2002). Abuse and neglect and hospitalization are also much

more frequent among the children of teenage mothers (Flanagan et

al., 1995: Moffitt and the E-Risk Study team, 2002; Social Exclusion

Unit. 1999).

In the long term, the children of teenage mothers have been seen to

display difficulty in socialisation, hyperactivity, poor impulse control

and aggression (Brooks-Gunn and Furstenberg, 1986; Nagin and Trem-

blay, 2001b), retarded progress at school (Moore et al., 1997), failure to

( University of Genoa, Italy.

Corresponding author : Uberto Gatti, DIMEL, University of Genoa. Via De Toni 12,

16132, Genoa (Italy), € mail ugatti@unige.it, tel. +39 010 3537892, fax +39 010 3537578.

C) University of Montreal, Canada.

C University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.

_ 65 -

complete school (Haveman et al., 1997), higher incarceration rates

(Grogger, 1997), and, for girls, a greater probability of becoming ado-

lescent mothers themselves (Furstenberg et al., 1990; Kiernan, 1995).

Moreover, they are 2-3 times more likely to run away from home

(Miller, 2000).

This negative impact on child development may either be due to the

young age of the mother (Fraser et al., 1995), or to the socio-familial

deprivation that often characterises young mothers (Gueorguieva et al.,

2001 ; Levine et al.; 2001; Timms, 1996; Turley, 2003).

2. — THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TEENAGE MOTHERS

In general, research into the personal characteristics of teenage moth-

ers seems to indicate that early motherhood is the result of a process of

social exclusion.

Often, adolescent mothers are poor, unemployed (Berthoud and

Robson, 2001) and live in run-down neighbourhoods. Adolescent moth-

erhood exerts an effect that goes beyond that of the original character-

istics (Hobcraft, 1998), not least because a poor girl who postpones

becoming a mother will improve her chances of gaining professional

skills and getting a job (Berthoud and Robson, 2001 ; Chevalier and Vii-

tanen, 2002; Wellings, 1999).

The lack of a father in the family nucleus constitutes a further risk

factor for early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy (Ellis et al., 2003).

Some experts have also reported psychiatric disorder (Maskey,1991),

conduct disorders (Zoccolillo and Rogers,1991), depressive symptoms

(Clemmens, 2002; Deal and Holt, 1998), high levels of alcohol and 1lle-

gal drug consumption (Quinlivan et al., 1999), sexual victimisation (Ger-

sheson et al., 1989; Osborne and Rhodes, 2001), juvenile delinquency

(Hobcraft, 1998).

Smoking is also much more common (MacDorman et al., 2002;

ONS, 1995). Given our current knowledge of the harm caused by smok-

ing during pregnancy (Brennan, 2003; Fergusson, 1999), it is not diffi-

cult to imagine that the link between the young age of mothers and cer-

tain health and social problems of their children.

The limited data on teenage fathers confirm the correlation between

early fatherhood and adverse childhood experiences, such as having suf-

fered physical, verbal or sexual abuse, having lived with mental 1llness

in the family, substance abuse, violence within the family, parental sep-

aration and parental delinquency (Anda et al., 2002).

__ 66 —

3. — MACRO-SOCIAL FACTORS

ASSOCIATED WITH THE RATE OF EARLY

MOTHERHOOD

Teenage birth rates are very different in different countries, ranging

from 2 per 1000 girls aged from 15 to 19 years in some Asian nations,

to 6-14 per 1000 in western and continental Europe, to 31 in the United

Kingdom and 52 in the USA (UNICEF, 2001).

If we compare the data for developed countries, no clear association

with economic or social variables emerges. Indeed, countries with a high

per capita income, such as the USA, have very high rates of teenage

births; the United Kingdom's rate 1s three times as high as France’s and

more than twice Germany’s; countries that are similar from the social

and cultural point of view, like Spain and Portugal, display very differ-

ent rates, while countries that are very different, such as Italy and Swe-

den. have almost 1dentical rates.

Comparisons among the various countries are made even more dif-

ficult by the fact that teenage mothers display different characteristics in

the different contexts. In the USA for example, teenage birth rates are

particularly high among black and Hispanic women (Corcoran et al.,

2000). while in other countries the ethnic factor has no influence. In

some countries, such as Holland, Germany, the United Kingdom and

France, most teenage mothers belong to the poorest strata of the pop-

ulation, while this 1s not the case in countries like Denmark, Portugal,

Finland and Greece (UNICEF, 2001). Moreover, in Japan and Greece,

more than 80 % of teenage mothers are married, while in Iceland, Ire-

land, Australia and New Zealand, more than 90% of teenage mothers

are unmarried (UNICEF, 2001).

It might be tempting to think that high rates of teenage motherhood

are linked with the difficulty of obtaining an abortion. In reality, how-

ever, the data reveal that low rates of teenage births are often associated

with low rates of teenage abortion. For instance, Holland's rates of

early birth and early abortion are among the lowest.

Teenage birth rates in the various countries can therefore be seen

as linked to a complex set of factors that either facilitate or curb the

phenomenon. The most important of these factors are : the mean age

at which the first sexual relations occur, a lower age facilitating early

pregnancy; the awareness of and ability to use contraceptive means,

which reduces the likelthood of early pregnancy; the availability of

abortion, and finally a whole range of social factors, such as poverty,

marginalisation and racial segregation. According to the report of

the British Social Exclusion Unit, the three main factors underlying

the phenomenon are : low expectations of success at school or of get-

67 —

ting a job; ignorance about contraception, the risks of unprotected

sex and the responsibilities of motherhood; and the contradictory

message that society sends out to young people, who are prompted

on the one hand to look upon sexual activity as desirable, while they

encounter silence or even condemnation with regard to contracep-

tion.

From a historical perspective, teenage births have declined markedly

over the last few decades in almost all of the countries of continental

Europe. While on the one hand the number of teenage mothers has gen-

erally fallen, on the other hand the perception of this phenomenon as a

problem has increased. In reality, teenage mothers may be girls who

marry very young with the consent of their family, and who then choose

to have a baby while supported by their husband and family of origin.

Alternatively, they may be deprived teenagers who drop out of school,

become pregnant as a result of a casual relationship, do not have the

support of a husband or family (UNICEF, 2001). Thirty years ago,

mothers of the former kind may have been prevalent in many countries,

while today it is those of the latter type who prevail; this change may

therefore have led to teenage motherhood being regarded as a serious

social problem.

Even within a single country the rates of early motherhood may vary

considerably. In the USA, very high rates are recorded in the southern

states (National Vital Statistics Report, 2002); in Britain, the highest

rates are found in northern regions (Wilson et al., 1992), and in Italy,

the southern regions have higher than average levels.

4, — OBJECTIVES AND METHODS OF THE STUDY

Our aim was to achieve a better understanding of the environmental

characteristics that foster the phenomenon of early motherhood. In

order to collect enough cases to enable the data to be elaborated and

control variables to be introduced, we took the 95 Italian provinces as

our units of analysis.

First of all, we investigated the economic factor; subsequently, we

tried to ascertain whether intervention aimed at improving childcare

services can reduce the phenomenon.

While the rate of unemployment has been taken as an indicator of

poverty, the rate of infant mortality has been used as a (negative) indi-

cator of the level of health care for children. We also took into

account the possible preventive effect of school attendance and the

level of education of the youth population. As an indicator, we took

—-— 68 —

the percentage of 19-year-olds who obtained a secondary school

diploma each year.

Moreover, we introduced into our model of analysis a cultural vari-

able, civic sense, a form of social capital which reflects citizens’ interest

in community affairs (Putnam, 2000; Putnam et al., 1993). À shortage

of social capital has been seen to be associated with violent crime (Gatti

et al., 2007; Kennedy et al., 1998; Messner et al., 2004; Sampson et al.,

1997), juvenile delinquency (Gatti et al., 2003) and early motherhood

(Denner et al., 2001; Gold et al., 2002). Our model also took into

account the rate of family breakdown, and the dichotomic variable

North-South. This constitutes an indispensable control variable, in that

many phenomena in ÎItaly are polarised along this axis, and therefore

several correlations might prove to be spurious.

The variables

Italy is divided into 95 provinces.

The dependent variable is constituted by the number of live births to

mothers between the ages of 15 and 19 years, per 1000 girls of the same

age resident in each of the provinces considered.

The independent variables are constituted by :

unemployment rates (mean in the years 1992-1995).

level of urbanisation (proportion of inhabitants in each province liv-

ing In municipalities with a population of 80,000 or more) in 1994;

the number of separations per 100,000 inhabitants in each province

(mean in the years 1992-1995):

the number of youths who got a secondary school diploma per 100

19-year-olds (mean in the years 1992-1995);

infant mortality : deaths during the first year of life, per 1000 live

births (mean in the years 1992-1995);

AIl data were gathered from the appropriate ISTAT (National Insti-

tute of Statistics, Rome) publications.

civicness : we assessed the degree of civicness at the provincial level

using three of the four indicators used by Putnam (Putnam et al..

1993) at the regional level. Specifically, these three were :

a) voter turnout in the 1993 referendums:;

b)the percentage of citizens over the age of 13 years who read or

leafed through a newspaper every day in 1994:;

c) the presence of clubs and associations for recreation, sports, cul-

ture. etc.. in 1995.

— 69 —

The source of data regarding the indicator b) was a publication by

AUDIPRESS, an agency specialising in monitoring newspaper

circulation ; for the indicator c), the source was the newspaper «Îl

Sole 24 Ore» (December 18* 1996), which elaborated data from

ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics).

The three indicators are positively correlated (mean correlation .52).

The average of their standardised scores was used to measure

civicness; the measure has good reliability (alpha = .76).

7. a dichotomic variable «South»; with the value 1 for the 34 provinces

located in the southern regions, and the value 0 for the 61 Provinces

in the northern and central regions.

5. — STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

Teenage birth rates vary considerably among the provinces, from a

minimum of 2.44 live births per 1000 girls aged 15 to 19 years in the

Province of Terni to a maximum of 24.39 (10 times higher) in the Prov-

ince of Catania. In general, the northern and central provinces have val-

ues that are lower than the national average, while the southern prov-

inces have higher values (Fig.1).

— 70 —

Fig. 1 N. of teenage births per 1,000 women 14 to 19 ys old in Italian

Province.s (1992-1995_)

8

10

12

14

16

18

2U

22

24

——F SR

GS

e NOVal à

—— LOFINO

——" Vvercelli

|

sta

— De

rescia

mo

(

\s CreMmon

mantova

ms MilanO

avla

sondrio

—

enova

imperia

L

— VO

à spezla

bolzano

elluno

nto

e

—s LrevISO

rovigo

—s Venezia

es VIC@NZà

na

rizla

e DO

none

(S |)

es f e

p

ä23

modena

cenza

A

ravenna

reggio emilia

arezzo

——

Irenze

=s Massa-Carrara

f

ena

istoia

rrr e

perügia

—s ter

rc

na

ts àSCO

mac

é)lâ&ﬂ0

-urbino

rosinone

1etl

ec

iterbo

—s C

OR

aquila

ŸÆ c%mpobasso

ms [SErnIa

avellino

nevento

—s napoli

salerno

——s Dari

lecce

f

l|>arindisi

taranto

:—

matera

enza

catanzaro

cosenza

reäw caltanissetta

enna

_n'a

messina

palermo

ragusa

trapani

siracusa

Cagliari

\ 0ﬂ$tano

nuoro

— 71 —

In a first exploratory analysis, we examined the correlation coeffi-

cients (see Tab. 1) among all variables.

TABLE 1 : CORRELATIONS AMONG THE VARIABLES

(N = 95; 1992-1995)

Mean

S.D

(8) South

(2) Unempl

(3) Urbaniz

(4) Civicness

(6) Infant mort

Teenage births (1)

.706**

.016|- .

Ë_‘î

ë* (5) High school dip

630**

Ë,Ê (7) Separation

654**

6.19j 4.17

—

6.10

Unemployment (2)

—|- .032| —

689**

060

676**

582**

829**

10.71

Urbanization (3)

—

421**

195

060

426

164

18.78 1 19.87

—

Civicness (4)

184

616**

699**

TT1**

00

82

High school diploma (5)

048

012

107

58.17j 7.09

Infant mortality (6)

455

.699**

6.52

1.69

Separation (7)

.659**186.41 |39.39

South (8)

__

36

48

** p < .001 *p < .01 (2-tailed)

We then conducted regression analyses using unemployment, urban-

isation, separation, secondary diploma, infant mortality, civicness and

the dichotomic variable South as predictors. In the first step, we

regressed these on the dependent variable. In the second step, we added

to the models the interactions of the independent variables with the var-

iable South and with the territorial variable Urbanisation, and kept the

interactions that were significant. No serious problems of multi-colline-

arity were detected.

TABLE 2 : EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC, CULTURAL

AND INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS ON TEENAGE BIRTH RATES

IN ITALIAN PROVINCES (N = 95; 1992-1995)

(N = 95; YEARS 1992-1995

R’ adj. = .67 F=32.55 p<.000

Standardized

£

regression coefficients

Unemployment

405

000

Urbanization

252

002

High school diploma

— .263

000

Infant mortality

255

004

_— 72 —

TABLE 2 : EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC, CULTURAL

AND INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS ON TEENAGE BIRTH RATES

IN ITALIAN PROVINCES (N = 95; 1992-1995)

(N = 95; YEARS 1992-1995

R’ adj. = .67 F=32.55 p<.000

Standardized

Sig

regression coefficients

Civicness

— .200

060

Civicness x Urbanization

— 215

002

The results of the regression analysis (see Tab.2) reveal the impor-

tance of various economic, social and cultural factors, while other fac-

tors are excluded. The factor South did not prove to be a significant

predictor; its relationship with teenage birth rates 1s therefore mediated

by other factors, such as the economic factor.

By contrast, unemployment displayed an association that was highly

significant, thus confirming in Italy a finding already reported in many

countries (Couiton and Pandey, 1992; Gold et al., 2002; Kirby et al.,

2001; Ku et al., 1993; Murry, 1996; Smith, 1993; Stouthamer-Loeber

and Wei, 1998). It therefore seems evident that in the Italian provinces

with the highest unemployment rates, conditions are created in which

girls are less aware, socially less integrated and more likely to behave

irresponsibly.

Infant mortality also constitutes a risk factor. As mentioned previ-

ously, infant mortality is a (negative) indicator not only of perinatal and

infant healthcare, but probably also of social intervention for children

and adolescents. Greater welfare investments therefore seem to be able

to reduce the teenage birth rate. Education is able to curb the rate of

early motherhood. The fact that girls (and also boys) remain at school

until the age of 19 years and obtain a secondary school diploma reduces

the likelihood of early pregnancy. Various factors may be involved in

this : as students, teenagers devote a good deal of their time to pro-

social activities, they are supervised by adults, and they develop a

greater awareness of the risks of early pregnancy and motherhood.

Indeed, in areas where fewer young people receive a college education,

teenagers initiate sexual intercourse at an earlier age (Brewster et al.,

1993) and tend to make less use of contraceptives (Hogan et al., 1985).

The effect of civicness as a factor of protection is seen in all prov-

inces, and especially in those that are most urbanised, though it 1s these

latter which display the highest rates of early motherhood. Indeed, the

interaction between urbanisation and civicness is highly significant (p =

.003), while civicness alone 1s only marginally so (p = .066). Civic par-

_73 —

ticipation and interest in the community therefore appear to be more

important in the large cities, while in small towns interpersonal relation-

ships and social control are stronger, regardless of civicness. It therefore

seems that such factors as community commitment, interpersonal trust

and the tendency to participate in solving community are more impor-

tant in situations of anonymity and lack of social cohesion, which are

more frequently encountered in some large city neighbourhoods than in

small communities.

6. — CONCLUSIONS

In view of the serious consequences that teenage motherhood gives

rise to, this phenomenon should be dealt with decisively. This 1s possible

through various types of intervention at various levels. First of all,

social and health services can be organised in order to help young moth-

ers to cope better with pregnancy and motherhood; such intervention

may prevent or postpone further pregnancies. The phenomenon of early

motherhood can also be curbed through specific programmes. In a

recent review of 73 studies assessing programmes aimed at reducing

unprotected sex, pregnancy and motherhood among adolescents, Kirby

(2001) was able to pick out some kinds of intervention that have proved

to be effective. These involve sex education programmes covering both

abstinence and condoms or contraception, protocols for health clinic

appointments and supportive activities on the part of healthcare person-

nel, and in-service learning programmes. These last, which seem to be

the most effective, consist of voluntary service in the community (tutor-

ing, working in nursing homes, helping out in day care centres, etc.) or

of structured time for preparation before, during and after service

(group discussions, etc). During the periods in which the young people

took part in these programmes, the number of pregnancies fell (Kirby,

2001). However, certain schemes adopted by various governments in

order to reduce the number of early pregnancies are heavily conditioned

by cultural and political constraints, and are therefore not equally

acceptable in different contexts. For instance, the so-called «morning

after pill», which 1s legal in France, would not be acceptable in Ireland

or Texas. Similarly, cutting benefits for single mothers or conducting a

campaign in favour of sexual abstinence, both of which have enjoyed

considerable popularity in the United States, would not be welcomed in

Sweden (UNICEF, 2001).

In the light of the results of our research, it may be claimed that the

phenomenon of early motherhood can be curbed also by intervention at

a more general level. Our data confirm at the environmental level the

— 74 —

general impression that emerges from the studies on individuals; that 1s

to say, that early motherhood is rooted in processes of social exclusion.

It is noteworthy that the negative effect of unemployment can be

counterbalanced by intervention aimed at improving the health and

social welfare of children, and by programmes that succeed in raising

the percentage of young people who continue their education beyond

the age of obligatory schooling until they have obtained a diploma.

Moreover, the negative effects of poverty and of other risk factors

can be mitigated by the civic sense of citizens. Taken together, the

results obtained indicate that the phenomenon of early motherhood,

which stems from individual choices and behaviours, 1s influenced by

macro-social factors. The phenomenon can therefore be prevented or

reduced not only through the implementation of specific programmes,

but also through intervention at the level of general social policy in the

fields of health care, social services and education.

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ABSTRACT

Teenage births are seen as a problem in modern societies, because of

the serious negative consequences for the mother, for her child, and for

society in general.

The children of teenage mothers have been seen to display difficulty

in socialisation, hyperactivity, poor impulse control and aggression, fail-

ure to complete school, higher incarceration rates.

Many studies carried out in different countries show that the rates of

adolescent mothers are linked to a pattern of cultural, political, histor-

ical and economic aspects that interact in a complex way, and are not

easy to interpret. We intended to ascertain the connections between

teenage birth rate and territorial characteristics inside a country, Italy.

using the 95 Italian provinces as units of analysis.

We found that the rates of adolescent motherhood were predicted by

unemployment, low school achievement, urbanization, high infant mor-

tality, and low civicness.

RESUMÉ

Les accouchements à l’adolescence sont vus comme un problème

dans les sociétés modernes, en raison des conséquences négatives pour

la mère, l'enfant, et la société en général.

On constate que les enfants de mères adolescentes présentent des dif-

ficultés de socialisation, de l’hyperactivité, un faible contrôle de l'impul-

sion et de l'agression, une difficulté à parfaire leur scolarité, et des taux

d'incarcération plus élevés.

De nombreuses études menées dans différents pays montrent que les

taux de mères adolescentes sont liés à un contexte d’aspects culturels,

politiques, historiques et économiques qui interagissent de manière com-

plexe, et ne sont pas faciles à interpréter. Nous avons tenté de discerner

les liens entre le taux d’accouchements à l’adolescènce et les caractéris-

tiques territoriales en Italie, en utilisant les 95 provinces 1taliennes

comme unités d'analyse.

Nous trouvons que les taux de maternité à l’adolescence sont prédits

par le chômage, l'interruption des études, l’urbanisation, la mortalité

infantile élevée, et le sens civique.

__ 79 _

RESUMEN

Los partos en la adolescencia se consideran como un problema en las

sociedades modernas, debido a las consecuencias negativas para la

madre, el niño y la sociedad en general.

Se constata que los niños de madres adolescentes presentan dificul-

tades de socializaciôn, de hiperactividad, un débil control del impulso y

de la agresion, una dificultad en acabar su escolaridad y tasas de encar-

celamiento mâs elevadas.

Numerosos estudios llevados a cabo en diferentes paises muestran

que las tasas de madres adolescentes estän relacionadas con aspectos

culturales, politicos, histôricos y econômicos, los cuales obran recipro-

camente de manera compleja y no son fâciles de interpretar.

Hemos intentado distinguir los vinculos entre las tasas de partos en

la adolescencia y las caracteristicas territoriales en Italia, utilizando las

95 provincias italianas como unidades de anâlisis.

Hemos encontrado que las tasas de maternidad en la adolescencia se

predicen por el paro, la interrupciôn de los estudios, la urbanizaciôn, la

elevada mortalidad infantil y el sentido civico.

— 80 —

VICTIMIZATION AND PREDATORY

VIOLENCE AMONG STREET YOUTH

IN TORONTO, CANADA

Patricia G. Erickson ‘

Jennifer E. Butters ®)

Tara L. Bruno © } @)

INTRODUCTION

Although no precise figures are available, it 1s estimated that there

may be as many as 150,000 homeless or under-housed youth in Canada

(Radford, King & Warren, 1998). Youth who leave home, whether

temporarily or permanently, often head for urban centres, preferring

the downtown or inner core. Recent Canadian figures identify from

10% — 30% of the urban homeless as youth (National Homelessness

Initiative, 2003). Once street-involved, youth may become progressively

more detached from their families, the educational system and main-

stream society. Such youth are likely to adopt a more entrenched street-

involved lifestyle that is best characterized as a predatory and unstable

( Ph.D., Centre for Addiction & Mental Health, and Department of Sociology, Univer-

sity of Toronto. Canada.

(( Ph.D.. Centre for Addiction & Mental Health.

“ M.A.. Department of Sociology, University of Toronto. Canada.

( Correspondence : Patricia G. Erickson, Ph.D.. Senior Scientist, Social, Prevention and

Policy Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, T-418, 33 Russell

Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2S1. (E-mail: pat_erickson@camh.net).

C Acknowledgments : The authors wish to acknowledge the Youth Pathways Project

[YPP] team consisting of Patricia Erickson, Principal Investigator: Co-Investigators/Collab-

orators, Edward Adlaf, Jennifer Butters, Deborah Goodman, Andrew Hathaway. Bruce Les-

lie. Paul Links, Lori Ross, Carol Strike, and Christine Wekerle; Community Partners,

Toronto Children's Aid Society. Catholic Children‘s Aid Society of Toronto. and SHOUT

Clinic; Research Staff, Katharine King (Project Coordinator), Tara (Fidler) Bruno. Tyler

Frederick, Maritt Kirst, and Eman Leung.

This project was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Home-

lessness and Diversity Strategic Grant; a grant from the Innovative Approaches to Dissem-

ination competition; a Canadian Institutes for Health Research Pilot Project competition of

the Institute of Gender and Health. Dr. Wekerle acknowledges the support to the YPP from

her CIHR New Emerging Team Grant for Tara Fidler.

An earlier version of the paper was presented at a Health Canada Seminar, Ottawa. Feb-

ruary, 2008. by the first author.

— 8l

environment, where youth are both victims and victimizers (Haley &

Roy, 1999). For youth leaving home in Ontario, the destination is usu-

ally the city of Toronto, with one of the largest populations of home-

less and marginalized youth in Canada, and also one of the most

diverse.

While youth crime is a pressing concern (Butters et al., 2003), street

youth are much more likely than housed youth to be victims, perpetra-

tors and witnesses of violent crimes. High-risk youth, those who are fos-

tered, placed in the care of the state, runaways, transient, and street-

involved, represent a vulnerable population that are both under-served

and hard-to-serve, yet carry a high personal burden of suffering and

costs to mental health, social service and the criminal justice systems

(Cameron & Karabanow, 2003). Street youth tend to be from dysfunc-

tional families, have histories of maltreatment, and by early or mid-ado-

lescence, be out of school, unemployed, and alienated from non-deviant

peer groups and supportive contexts (Baron, Kennedy & Forde, 2001 ;

Karabanow, 2003; Whitbeck, Hoyt, Yoder, Causce & Paradise, 2001).

Many drift in and out of homelessness. Such youth are at substantive

risk for mental health and addiction problems. Their lives are further

complicated by high rates of surveillance and arrest by police, leading

to records which in turn may further compromise their potential for

employment and transition off the street to conventional adult roles.

While some studies have explored the correlates of violence among

homeless youth (as opposed to adults over 20), few have included an

array of mental health and substance use factors and their different

impacts by gender. As noted, homeless youth have high involvement in

street crime and related violence, both as victims and perpetrators

(Baron & Hartnagel, 1998; Gaetz, 2004; Hagan & McCarthy, 1997). It

is increasingly recognized that adolescent girls and boys take different

pathways through high-risk behaviours such as delinquency (Wade &

Brannigan 1998; Wade, 2001), and also experience the stresses of home-

lessness differently in the gendered environment of the street (Gaetz,

2004). This has implications for their roles in street related violence.

Women’s greater vulnerability to poor mental health and particularly

depression has been well documented in street youth populations (Whit-

beck, Hoyt & Yoder, 1999; Wade & Cairney, 2000; Wade, Cairney &

Pevalin, 2002). Young women who are homeless are particularly vulner-

able to sexual assault and abuse by their partners (Strike et al., 2001 ;

Sales & Murphy, 2000; Simons & Whitbeck, 1999). Homeless women in

general experience frequent injuries, exposure to HIV, and frequent

recourse to both emergency and community health services (Butters &

Erickson, 2003; Chen et al., 2004; Jackson & Hood, 2001; Nyamathi,

— 82 —

Leake & Gelberg, 2000). Sexual minority males and females are also

exposed to more violence in street situations (Kruks, 1991).

Street youth in Canada are twice as likely to report being the victim

of a crime in the past year as a comparable age group in the general

population : 82 % vs. 38 % (Gaetz, 2004). Among homeless youth, males

are more likely to experience non-sexual physical victimization than are

females (Whitbeck et al., 2001). Compared to females, male homeless

youth are also more likely to commit property and violent crimes, inject

drugs and be involved in drug dealing (Baron & Hartnagel, 2002;

Baron, Kennedy & Forde, 2001; Whitbeck et al., 2001; Paradise &

Cauce, 2003; Gaetz, 2004). Illicit drug use, generally much higher

among street youth than high school students, shows similar levels for

both sexes but methadone and other prescription drugs tend to be used

more by girls (Dematteo et al., 1999; Smart et al., 1992). Poly-substance

use is also much more frequent among street youth and is associated

with more serious long range problems (Ginzler et al., 2003; Kirst,

Erickson and Strike, 2009). Homeless women are also more likely to die

of a drug overdose then men (Cheung & Hwang, 2004; Roy et al.,

2004). Persistent vulnerabilities in mental health and substance use for

both sexes not only help to account for involvement in street crime and

violence but also reduce youths’ ability to alter their homeless status

(Wekerle & Wall, 2002).

À critical variable that can shed light on the poor mental health of

high-risk youth is exposure to violence (Johnson, 2003). Researchers

have evaluated the impact of witnessing violent events on the mental

health outcome of children and adolescents and found serious negative

consequences (Howard, 1996; Wekerle & Wall, 2002). Given that the

streets offer few safe havens for homeless youth, the social environment

becomes one of ongoing stress where carrying weapons for protection

may be seen as normal (Gaetz, 2004). Although public violence on the

streets has serious implications, «research in the field of community vio-

lence is in its infancy» (Cooley, Turner & Beidle, 1995 :207). Homeless

youth are frequently exposed to violence in the community context with

unknown but potentially devastating impacts (Krug et al., 2002).

À general model (Figure 1) shows the intersection of risk factors, tar-

gets for intervention, and the different levels where high-risk youth may

be approached for research, prevention, and intervention.

__ 83 —

FIGURE 1 : MODEL OF IDENTIFICATION

AND INTERVENTION FOR YOUTH

AT RISK OF VIOLENCE

es seacnes es se cec s0001101100 0

Home / School

Experience

—--srcs c000e a 000001000000 0

paemsemeeecse m0 000070007000 0R

Culture /

Substance Use /

Risk Factors

Immigration Status

Mental lilness

_---2-0000

___________ v

High-Risk Youth

-— —" — e —s —S —E C=E —S CN GS UEN QEN CN CN US CN CR S US CN Ss sCCsrCC0S

Most Vulnerable Youth aged 16-21

Targets for

intervention

Key Questions:

How to reduce and prevent violence

——

at early / crucial / important stages of

.-

P SS

the life course/for boys and girls ?

++++++++ +»

—." — —S e RP C0 srssrsSsrsCSsrsSrtsrsEE

Research Sites

|

ts =s =s CSsCSsCsSsCSsCSsCSsCCS sC” S 000 OS OS OS OS CN OS CN 0S CSsCSsCC0

Method &

; Schqols Sheiters

Surveys

Family

level of

analysis

|

l Community ]

[ Population l

[ Clinical |

seaut ihéiteres are vx

we sepa

v

METHOD

Data Collection

This study presents data from the first wave of the Youth Pathways

Project (YPP), conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers

from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of

Toronto. The purpose of the study was to examine and compare path-

ways to independent living or continued housing instability among high-

risx young women and men over time. The YPP study also sought to

explore the relationship between physical and mental health, drug use,

victimization, criminal activity, pregnancy and service utilization on

housing status among vulnerable youth. The study incorporated a lon-

gitudinal design in which youth, aged 16-20, accessing services for street-

involved youth in Toronto were recruited to participate in four 1inter-

views over the course of 12 months. After screening, youth were inter-

viewed in private, in a one-to-one interview, and paid $20 for their par-

ticipation. Data collection took place from January 2005 to June 2006.

During this time, a total of 150 respondents were recruited : 75 female

__ 84 __

street-involved youth and 75 male street-involved youth. The study pro-

posal was reviewed and received ethical approval from the Research

Ethics Boards of the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addic-

tion and Mental Health. This paper focuses on the correlates of violence

perpetration and victimization experiences of street-involved youth in

both bivariate and multivariate analyses.

Sample Characteristics

The characteristics of this sample of 150 street youth are shown 1n

table 1. As noted, we deliberately strove to have equal numbers of men

and women, to counter the gender imbalance found in many prior stud-

1es dominated by males.

TABLE 1 : SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS

Variables

Males (N=75)

Females (N=75)

70

9

[6

Age

16-17 years

11

17

39

83

18-20 years

Sexual Orientation

Heterosexual

73

64

Bisexual

15

29

Gay/Lesbian

11

Other

Country of birth

Canada

85

83

Other

15

17

Citizenship

Canadian

92

89

Other

11

Language spoken at home

English

69

79

French

— 85 —

TABLE 1 : SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS

Variables

Males (N=75)

Females (N=75)

%

%

Other

27

19

The majority of respondents were in the 18 to 20 year old range, with

only 11% of males and 17% of females aged 16-17 years. Like most

prior studies, ours found a higher proportion of sexual minorities (gay,

lesbian, bisexual) than the overall youth population. More women than

men reported being non-heterosexual, 36% compared to 27%. Similar to

other Toronto studies of street youth (Dematteo et al., 1999; Smart et

al., 1992), nearly all had Canadian citizenship and were Canadian born.

Given the tremendous ethnic diversity in Toronto, it is not surprising

that about one quarter of respondents had grown up with a language

other than English or French.

Outcome Measures :

Victimization and Perpetration

Victimization was measured by a series of questions concerning the

youths’ experiences of being assaulted with a gun, knife, or other object

in past 12 months. À dichotomous outcome was created by summing

the scores for the three types of weapon assault and collapsing the

groups into two categories: experienced no assaults in the past

12 months and experienced one or more assaults in the past 12 months.

Experiencing no assaults was the reference category.

Perpetration was measured by youths' responses to whether or not

they had beat up or hurt someone on purpose in the past 12 months and

if so, how many times. The perpetration outcome measure was coded

into three groups : no, did not beat up or hurt anyone (0), yes, once or

twice (1) and yes, three or more times (2). Those who did not beat up

or hurt anyone on purpose were the reference group.

Correlates

There were several correlates we examined in our analysis of violent

victimization and perpetration. To assess the different experiences of the

young men and women in the sample we included gender in our analy-

sis. The males were coded as O and the females were coded as 1. For

our regression analyses, we reverse coded gender, so females became the

reference category. We also examined the impact that housing had on

the odds of being victimized or perpetrating violence. Housing was

measured by a series of questions about where the youth had stayed for

at least one night in the past four months. À dichotomy was created for

housing. If youth reported staying in an apartment or rented room, a

supervised apartment, with parents, partner/friend, friend’s family, or

foster family in the past four months they were considered to have

secure housing and were given a value of 1. However, if the youth

reported staying on the street, in an abandoned building, a park, at a

bus/train station, a stairwell, under a bridge, or at a hostel/shelter in the

past four months, then these youth were considered to have insecure

housing and were given a value of 2. Insecure housing was the reference

category.

Youth were asked 1f they felt dependent on a number of different

substances including alcohol, marijuana, hallucinogens, amphetamines,

powder cocaine,

crack,

and heroin.

From these multiple yes/no

responses, a variable was created measuring the total number of sub-

stances youth reported feeling dependent upon. Given the negatively

skewed distribution for the number of drugs youth felt dependent upon,

a dichotomy of substance use problems was created. If youth reported

feeling dependent on 0-2 substances they were given a score of 1; if they

reported feeling dependent on 3 or more substances they were given a

value of 2. Alcohol and cannabis were examined separately from the

other substances in previous analyses and we found that there was a

strong association with other drug use problems involving more danger-

ous substances. To avoid multicollinearity in our final models, we

decided to use the combined substance dependency measure.

In addition to substance use, youth were asked about their mental

health. For the current analysis, we included a measure of mental health

that asked the youth 1if they had ever received a mental health diagnosis.

If the youth responded yes, then they were given a value of 1; all no

responses were given a value of 2 and this was the reference category for

our multivariate analyses.

Selling drugs was measured by asking the youth how often they sold

drugs in the last 12 months. Given the wide variability in responses we

created a three category measure to capture the different levels of drug

selling reported. Youth reporting that they never sold drugs were given

a value of 0: those who sold drugs 1-50 times in the last 12 months were

given a value of 1; and those who reported selling drugs 50 or more

times in the past 12 months were given a value of 2. These variables

were reverse coded for the regression analysis with «never sold drugs»

as the reference category.

__ 87 —

Youth were asked about how often they carried a knife for the pur-

pose of defending themselves or using in a fight in the last 12 months

and how often they carried a gun for reasons other than hunting or tar-

get shooting in the last 12 months. Given our interest in specific weapon

carrying and not the frequency of weapon carrying, we created two

dichotomies to measure XÆnife carrying and gun carrying in the past

12 months. If youth reported carrying a knife at least once in the past

12 months they were given a value of 1, if they reported never carrying

a knife, then they were given a value of zero. The same coding proce-

dure was followed for the gun carrying measure. Again, when we pro-

ceeded to the regression analysis stage, we reverse coded the categories

of weapons carried so that «never carried a weapon in the past

12 months» was our reference category.

ANALYSIS

We begin our analysis with an overview of perpetration, victimiza-

tion and criminal involvements of the street involved youth in our sam-

ple. We expand our understanding of violence and victimization by

examining the combined effects of gender, housing, mental health, sub-

stance use problems, weapon carrying, and involvement in the drug

trade using logistic and multinomial regression modeling. All analyses

for this paper used SPSS version 15.0.

RESULTS

Descriptive analyses examined the proportion of respondents report-

ing various types of violent victimization and perpetration in the past 12

months, past 12 month criminal activity and arrest frequency. These

findings are presented in table 2.

TABLE 2 : DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF PAST 12 MONTH

VICTIMIZATION, WEAPON RELATED VICTIMIZATION,

ASSAULT PERPETRATION, CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

AND ARREST HISTORY

Variables

Males

Females

(N=75)

(N=75)

0

O

7

Victimization-past 12 months

__ 88 —

TABLE 2 : DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF PAST 12 MONTH

VICTIMIZATION, WEAPON RELATED VICTIMIZATION,

ASSAULT PERPETRATION, CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

AND ARREST HISTORY

Males ÎF emales

Variables

(N=75)

(N=75)

0

0

7

In the past year has your partner hurt you physically (hit

33.0

27.0

or slap)

In the past year has someone threatened or tried to sexu-

7.0

30.0

ally assault you

1.0

18.0

In the past year have you been sexually assaulted

Weapon related victimization — threats

In the past 12 months have you been threatened by a knife

41.3

25.0

36.0

11.0

In the past 12 months have you been threatened by a gun

In the past 12 months have you been threatened by an

28.0

21.4

object

Weapon related victimization — hurt

In the past 12 months have you been hurt by a knife

13.5

4.1

In the past 12 months have you been hurt by a gun

4.1

2.7

In the past 12 months have you been hurt by an object

17.6

5.5

Assault perpetration (beat up/hurt) in the past 12 months

Never

63.5

66.7

Once or twice

20.3

20.0

Three times or more

16.2

13.3

Criminal activity — past 12 months

Physically hurt boyfriend/girlfriend/partner

23.0

Taken something worth $50 or less

T 557Î)0

42.0

Taken something worth $50 or more

64.0

24.0

Carried a knife

56.0

33.0

_Sold drugs

49.0

35.0

Spent a night in detention or custody

73.0

50.0

— 89

TABLE 2 : DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF PAST 12 MONTH

VICTIMIZATION, WEAPON RELATED VICTIMIZATION,

ASSAULT PERPETRATION, CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

AND ARREST HISTORY

Males

Females

Variables

(N=75) | (N=75)

“

%

Arrest history — how many times have you been arrested

None

18.3

39.4

1 — 5 times

43.7

49.3

6 — 15 times

19.7

7.0

16+ times

18.3

4.2

Table 2 illustrates past 12 month victimization for male and female

street youth. These findings reveal approximately one third of the male

and female (33 % and 27 % respectively) respondents report being phys-

ically hurt (hit or slapped) in the past 12 months. Over four times as

many women report a threatened or attempted sexual assault than men

(30% vs 7%) and finally, 18% of the females in the sample indicate

being sexually assaulted in the past 12 months compared to ! % of their

male counterparts.

The findings related to past year weapon related victimization pertain

to two aspects of weapon victimization — being threatened and actually

being hurt. Three types of weapons are examined : knives, guns and

objects. Being threatened with a knife was reported most frequently by

both males and females although a much greater proportion of males

report this form of violence in comparison to females (41 % vs. 25 %).

Gun related threats were also more commonly reported among males;

36 % indicated being threatened with a gun in the past 12 months com-

pared to 11 % of female street youth. Finally being threatened with an

object was reported by 28% of the male respondents and 21% of

females.

Overall, a much smaller proportion of street youth report actually

being hurt with a weapon over the past 12 months than being threat-

ened. However, 14 % of males indicated being hurt with a knife and 4%

of females reported the same. In general, the proportion of respondents

who reported being hurt with a gun was low for both groups; 4% of

males and 3 % of females. Being hurt with an object was most frequently

— 90 —

reported and three times as many men indicated this type of weapon

related violence than women (18 % vs. 6%).

The proportion of street youth who reported perpetrating an assault

(hurting or beating someone up) on another person in the past

12 months 1s also presented in table 2. Two-thirds of both male (64 %)

and female (67 %) street youth indicated «never» assaulting someone in

this time frame. Assaulting someone «once or twice» in the past

12 months was reported by 20 % of both groups of street youth. Finally,

16% of male respondents reported assaulting someone three or more

times in the past 12 months and 13 % of females reported the same.

À range of criminal activities were included in these analyses. In the

last 12 months, over four times as many female street youth reported

physically hurting their boyfriend/girlfriend/partner than did their male

counterparts (23% vs. 5%). Theft was commonly reported by both

groups. Among males, 57 % reported taking something worth $50 or less

and 64% taking something worth $50 or more. Minor theft appeared to

be more common for women, as 42% indicated stealing something

worth less than $50, while 24% reported theft of something worth more

than $50. Over half (56 %) of the male street youth indicated carrying

a knife in the past 12 months and a third (33 %) of the women reported

the same. Selling drugs was also commonly reported among these

respondents. Just under half (49 %) of males and 35% of females indi-

cated participating in this activity in the past 12 months. Finally, it was

not uncommon for this group to have spent a night in detention or cus-

tody over the past year. Half (50%) of the females and approximately

three-quarters (73 %) of the males reported this experience.

Related to time spent in custody or detention, table 2 reveals the fre-

quency of arrest for this group. À larger proportion of female street

youth (39 %) reported having never been arrested than their male coun-

terparts (18 %). Similarly, women were slightly more likely to indicate

being arrested 1 to 5 times than males (49% vs. 43%). Conversely, a

much larger proportion of male street youth reported more significant

arrest histories. Specifically, 20% of men reported being arrested 6 to

15 times and 18% indicated 16 or more arrests compared to 7% and

4 % of their female counterparts.

In addition to the descriptive findings, two logistic regression analy-

ses of weapon related victimization and violence perpetration were con-

ducted. These analyses examined the impact of a variety of risk factors,

including gender, mental health diagnosis, housing stability, weapon car-

rying, substance use problems and drug selling, on the likelihood of

these two outcomes.

— 91 —

The logistic regression model for weapon related victimization is pre-

sented in Table 3. These analyses indicated five significant risk factors

for this outcome.

TABLE 3 : ODDS RATIOS AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS

FOR LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODEL PREDICTING

WEAPON RELATED VICTIMIZATION FOR STREET YOUTH

OR

95% CI

Variables

Male

2.402*

1.011, 5.706

Secure housing

0.612

0.238, 1.577

Mental health diagnosis

2.598*

1.135, 5.947

3 or more reported substance use problems

1.362

0.549, 3.377

Carried a knife in the past 12m

3.371**

1.451, 7.833

7.066*

1.306, 38.221

Carried a gun in the past 12m

Sold drugs 1 — 50 times in the past 12m

2.479+

0.559, 4.712

Sold drugs 50+ times in the past 12m

1.622

0.893, 6.880

+p<0.10, *p<0.05, **p<0.01

The risk for weapon related victimization was greater for males than

females. Specifically males were more than twice as likely as females to

report this type of victimization (OR :2.4; CI 1.01-5.71). Moreover, the

odds of weapon related victimization were 2.6 times greater for those

street youth with a mental illness diagnosis than those without (OR :2.6;

CI 1.14-5.95). Respondents who reported carrying a knife in the past

year were three times more likely to be victimized than those who did

not carry a knife. In addition, those street youth who carried a gun in

the past 12 months were 7 times as likely to be at risk of weapon related

victimization than those who do not carry this weapon (OR :7.07; CI

1.31-38.22). Finally, selling drugs 1 to 50 times in the past year was also

observed to significantly increase the odds of being victimized. Youths

with this pattern of drug selling were two and half times more likely to

be victimized (OR : 2.50; CI 0.56-4.71) than those not involved in drug

selling activities.

Table 4 shows the logistic regression model for violence perpetration.

These analyses examined the impact of the various risk factors on the

likelihood of perpetrating one or two types of violence and the likeli-

hood of committing three or more types of violent acts.

__ 92 _

TABLE 4 : ODDS RATIOS AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS

FOR MULTINOMIAL LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODEL

PREDICTING VIOLENCE PERPETRATION

Variables

! or 2 types of violence

3+ types of violence

OR

95% CI

OR

95% CI

Male

0.858

0.323

, 2.27

1.422

0.360, 5.611

Secure housing

0.441

0.141

, 1.384

0.389

0.070, 2.148

Mental health diagnosis

1.463

0.578

, 3.701

1.784

0.510, 6.244

3 or more substance use problems

1.220

0.453

, 3.281

2.2440.390, 12.922

Carried a knife in the past 12m

0.874

0.323

, 2.369

4.966*11.262, 19.543

Carried a gun in the past 12m

1.420

0.300

, 6.723

2.2640.406, 12.623

1.155, 14.174

2.312/2.468, 58.413

Sold drugs 1-50 times in the past 12m_ 5.326**

Sold drugs 50+ times in the past 12m

4 046*

1.756, 16.160) 12.007** 0.365, 14.631

+p<0.10. *p<0.05. **p<0.01, ***p<.001

Only the drug selling variables emerged as significant factors on the

odds of perpetrating one or two types of violence. Respondents who

reported selling drugs | to 50 times in the past 12 months were 5 times

more likely to indicate having perpetrated a violent act against another

(OR : 5.33; CI 1.16-14.17) and those who sold 50+ times were approx-

imately 4 times as likely to report the same in comparison to those street

youth not engaged in drug selling over the past year (OR : 4.05; CI 1.76-

16.16).

The odds of committing three or more types of violent acts against

another were significantly influenced by two factors: carrying a knife

and selling drugs 50 more times in the past 12 months. Individuals who

reported carrying a knife were 5 times more likely to report this level of

violence perpetration (OR : 4.97; CI 1.26-19.54) than those who did not

carry a knife and those street youth who indicated selling drugs more

than 50 times in the past year were 12 times more likely to engage in

this degree of violence perpetration than those not selling drugs (OR :

12.01; CI 0.37-14.63).

DISCUSSION

The findings presented in this paper reinforce the reality of violence

for street youth. The young men and women in this study report not

only being victimized but also perpetrating acts of violence against oth-

ers as well.

__ 93 —

Supporting other literature (Simons & Whitbeck, 1999; Gaetz, 2004),

the descriptive findings reveal a greater proportion of female street

youth reported being the victim of sexual assaults, both threatened and

actual, than their male counterparts. Clearly the reality of experiencing

this type of violence remains a significant risk for these young women.

Male street youth on the other hand are more likely to experience

weapon related violence, both threatened and actual, than their female

counterparts. This may be related to the finding that male street youth

also reported carrying weapons more than females and perhaps are in

situations of confrontational violence more so than female street youth.

Knife related violence 1s the most common form of victimization expe-

rienced by both males and females, and a large proportion of both, par-

ticularly males, report carrying this type of weapon as well. This may

be a reflection of access, as in the Canadian context, knives are more

readily available and less expensive than guns (see Erickson et al., 2006).

Not surprisingly, this sample of street youth has engaged in a variety

of petty and more serious criminal activities and a majority have histo-

ries of arrest. The extent to which their criminal behaviours reflect

«surviving street life» remains a question for subsequent research. To

the extent that stealing and drug selling represent primary forms of

income generation for these youth, intervention initiatives could con-

sider developing other legitimate income opportunities. The large pro-

portion of youth reporting weapon carrying likely reflects the need for

self protection against the dangers of living on the street or in precari-

ous, even dangerous housing.

While we expected that those who were more dependent on a variety

of substances would be more prone to victimization, this was not the

case. The logistic regression analyses failed to find a significant relation-

ship between drug problems and victimization.

Supporting other research highlighting the risky nature of drug mar-

ket involvement (Brunelle, Brochu & Cousineau, 2000; Goldstein, 1985)

the findings presented here found a marginally significant relationship

between «small time dealers» (selling 1-50 times in the past year) and

increased risk for victimization. However, those more involved in drug

selling activities were at no greater victimization risk. This may indicate

that smaller dealers have increased odds of being victimized because

they are less experienced with protecting themselves, or less protected by

others higher up in the drug trade, while the more experienced sellers

know the situations to avoid and may present themselves as «tougher.»

Since being a male and carrying weapons increase the odds of vic-

timization, this suggests they may do so for protection. Perhaps it is a

self-fulfilling prophecy : If they are carrying a weapon, they are antici-

_— 94 —

pating being victimized, and may be less likely to back down from a sit-

uation where they feel threatened, but may still end up being injured.

These analyses present some additional insight into violence perpe-

tration. For more frequent violence, carrying a knife and more frequent

drug selling increased the likelihood of violence against others, but only

drug selling (any) was significant for less frequent violence. Again this

supports the systemic link between drug selling and violence as a means

to maintain control of illegal exchange situations (Goldstein, 1985).

Unlike drug using delinquents, where systemic links to violence are less

evident (Brunelle, Brochu & Cousineau, 2000), it 1s likely that street

youth involved in frequent drug selling are more similar to adult coun-

terparts and resort to more serious violence more often. Carrying a knife

for protection may be risky 1f they are caught by the police, hence they

may be more likely to work with someone else who will provide protec-

tion. However, unlike the economic compulsive aspect of Goldstein’s

(1985) model, the more substance dependent youth were not more likely

to inflict violence to get money for drugs.

Gender was not significant, suggesting an even propensity of boys

and girls to inflict violence. Perhaps there 1s an «on-the-street» sociali-

zation which leads girls to follow the boys’ example of violence in order

to cope; or alternatively, perhaps more violence prone girls leave their

homes and are drawn to the street. As well, they are similar to delin-

quent girls who have been found to be more equal to boys in their acts

of violence compared to the general youthful population (Butters et al.,

2009).

CONCLUSION

It is evident that like other research on street-involved youth, those

in Toronto are no stranger to violence, whether on the giving or receiv-

ing end. This study has attempted to identify a sub-group among street

youth who are at even higher risk of being victims or perpetrators of

violence. However, due to the constellation of risk factors, it could be

said that most of these youth are high risk simply because they must

function in a dangerous environment where it is necessary to carry

weapons and participate in illegal and hazardous activities like drug sell-

Ing

Being male was a stronger predictor of victimization than predation,

perhaps because the focus of the outcome was on weapons related vio-

lence rather than sexual assault. Much remains to be gained from

research continuing to examine male and female street youth collectively

to highlight shared predictors and experiences. However, it is imperative

—— 95 _

for this work to also identify potentially unique risk factors and out-

comes that males and females experience differently in this environment.

The implications for prevention are clear : as long as youth remain

street-involved, violence will be part of their lives. It 1s essential to devise

strategies to improve their chance of moving off the streets, and finding

a transition to a more conventional and crime-free adult way of life.

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ABSTRACT

International studies show consistently that street-involved or home-

less youth have elevated levels of involvement in violence, both as victim

and perpetrator. This study recruited equal numbers of male (n=75) and

female (n=75) youth, aged 16-20 years, who were accessing service for

street-involved youth in Toronto, Canada. This paper examines the cor-

relates of their experiences of violent victimization and perpetration,

applying both bivariate and multivariate analyses. We find that because

so many of the risk factors for youth violence in general are already

__ 98 __

concentrated in street youth. it is difficult to identify additional

attributes that clearly differentiate the youth who are most likely to be

implicated in violence. Some links however were found. Specifically,

being male, having a mental health diagnosis, selling drugs and carrying

a knife or a gun were associated with victimization, and carrying a knife

and selling drugs 50+ times in the past year were significant factors in

the more frequent perpetration of violence against others.

RÉSUMÉ

Les études internationales montrent de manière consistante que les

jeunes de la rue ou sans domicile ont des niveaux élévés d'implication

dans la violence, tant comme victimes que comme auteurs. Pour cette

étude, 1l a été fait appel à un nombre égal de jeunes garçons (n=75) et

filles (n=75), âgés de 16 à 20 ans pris en charge dans un service pour

jeunes de la rue, à Toronto (Canada). Le présent article examine les cor-

rélations entre leurs expériences de victimes et d’auteurs de violences, en

faisant appel aux analyses tant bivariées que multivariées. Comme tant

de facteurs de risqué de violence de jeunes en général sont déjà concen-

trés chez les jeunes de la rue, il apparaît diifficile d’identifier des attri-

buts additionnels susceptibles de différencier clairement les jeunes

davantage susceptibles d’être impliqués dans la violence. Certaines cor-

rélations apparaissent néanmoins. Spécifiquement, un garçon, diagnos-

tiqué sur le plan mental, impliqué dans le trafic de drogues, et porteur

de couteau ou d'arme, est associé à la victimisation, et le port d'un cou-

teau et la vente de drogues plus de 50 fois au cours de l'année qui pre-

cède, sont des facteurs de perpétration plus fréquente de violences contre

les autres.

RESUMEN

Los estudios internacionales muestran de manera consistente que los

jôvenes de la calle 0 sin domicilio tienen niveles elevados de implicaciôn

en la violencia, tanto como victimas como autores. Para este estudio, se

han reunido un nümero igual de jôvenes masculinos (n=75) que feme-

ninos (n=75), de edades comprendidas entre 16 y 20 años, que han sido

asistidos en un servicio para jôvenes de la calle en Toronto (Canada).

Fl presente articulo examina las correlaciones entre sus experiencias de

victimas y de autores de violencias, acudiendo a anâlisis tanto bivaria-

bles como multivariables. Como existen muchos factores de riesgo de

violencia de jôovenes en general que estän ya concentrados en los jôvenes

de la calle, parece dificil identificar atributos adicionales susceptibles de

_— 99 —

diferenciar claramente los jôvenes que son aun mâs susceptibles de estar

implicados en la violencia. Sin embargo, aparecen algunas correlaciones.

Concretamente, un chico diagnosticado en el plano de salud mental,

implicado en el träfico de drogas y portador de un cuchillo o arma, se

ha asociado a la victimizaciôn, y el porte de un cuchillo y la venta de

drogas mâs de 50 veces en el transcurso del año que precede son factores

de perpetraciôn mâs frecuente de violencias contra los demas.

100

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY :

«POETRY» OR «TECHNIQUE »?

Dr. Klära Kerezsi ‘!)

Joseph Paul Jernigan killed a 75 year old man for

a radio and a microwave oven in 1981. He was 39

when he was executed in 1993, Texas. Before his

death, he agreed to donate his body for scientific

research. After he received lethal injection, his frozen

body was handed over to the doctors of the Visible

Human Project, and taken to Denver where it was

carved into 1,862 transverse (horizontal) slices. Each

millimeter-thin section was photographed, digitized,

and electronically reassembled. Jernigan’s body in a

virtual form has been serving as a teaching material

for medical

students and an attraction

in the

museum for all other people ever since.

(http://Www.exploratorium.edu/bodies/vhuman.html)

In his death, Paul Jernigan is a good example of what jurisdiction

can do for science. The example of the Visible Human Project shows

that several types of relationship may exist between science and jurisdic-

tion. As a criminologist, I shall examine the theoretical and practical

relationship between these two from the aspect of criminal justice and

criminology.

We may view criminal justice system in the widest possible sense as

one of the manifestations of the punishing power of the state : the insti-

tutional system of crime control by criminal investigation and jurisdic-

tion. “ These activities include the functioning of investigating bodies,

courts and penal enforcement bodies, and if we perceive criminal justice

system in this broad sense, it has 4 main tasks :

1. defending the community and society ;

2. operating the system of jurisdiction or prosecution ;

3. executing punishments; and

(- Deputy Director, National Instutite of Criminology; Associate Professor, Eotvos Uni-

versity, Department of Criminology.

C) PALANKAI, Tiborné (1996), «A magyar bünteto igazsägszolgaltatäsi rendszer jogi

kerete, mukôdési struktüräja». In Kriminolôgiai ismeretek - bunôzés

bunôzeskontroll [«The

legal framework and functioning structure of Hungarian jurisdiction system», In Criminology

crime

crime control| (Eds : GONCZÔL — KORINEK - LÉVAY), Corvina Kiadô. Budapest.

p. 312

— 101 —

4. helping the re-integration of perpetrators.

THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN JURISDICTION REFORMS

In the past decades countries in Western Europe have started juris-

diction reforms in order to improve criminal justice system, decrease

costs and ensure access to justice to a broader group of citizens. In this

process it may be of relevance what the opinion of the public on justice

system and the functioning of jurisdictional institutions.

From the EU Eurobarometer research we receive information each

year about what people in Europe think about criminal justice, how

much trust they have in the legal system of their country, how secure

they feel etc. We experience lack of trust and safety deficit to a greater

extent in Central-Fastern Europe than it would be reasonable based on

objective data (or at least data more objective than opinion polls)

related to safety. Lappi-Seppälä, based on data of Western-European

countries attested that indeed there is a connection between prison rates

and trust in the legal system. Ÿ The results might give some support for

the assumptions that a system which seeks to uphold norm-compliance

rather through trust and legitimacy, than fear and deterrence, may man-

age with less severe sanctions.

If we compare Lappi-Seppälä’s data with similar data coming from

Fastern-EFuropean countries, it becomes ever clearer that imprisonment

is not the most successful means to enhance trust in the legal system and

legitimacy, as countries where people do not trust the legal system of

their own country, prison rates are generally high.

G) LAPPI-SEPPALÀ, T

«Penal Policy and Prison Rates : Long-Term Experiences from

Finland»,

Manuscript,

October

2004

(draft)

http://www.optula.om.fi/uploads/

anfhavc10(1).pdf.

— 102 —

Prison rates and trust in the legal system (2003-2004)

350 -

-— 100

Prisoners

— Trust

- 90

300 —

- 80

250 —

- 70

200 -

- 60

- 50

150 -

- 40

:

100 —

—

- 30

gæä**è.-

N

- 20

50 —

- 10

À

-

-

4

+

-

4

p

—

-

4

- 0

UK

italy

Ë

ÎË

Ë

France

Austria

Spain

Poland

Estonia

Ë

Slovenia

Ë

Ë

%

Germany

Bulgaria

Portugal

Hungary

Slovakia

Romania

Lithuania

Czech Rep

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Sources: Eurobarometer 61/2004

http://www.prisonstudies.org,

Tapio Lappi-Seppälä, 2004

THE BIRTH OF CRIMINOLOGY

Criminology had an immediate and fundamental impact on criminal

justice system in the moment it was born. If we take the experiences of

Henry Fielding about the jurisdiction of London or if we quote Bec-

caria’s famous book published in 1764, we can say that these scientific

findings formed the basis of the creation of the professional police and

prosecution service, the collection of data on crime, limitations on the

sale of alcohol, of the use of social policy means in crime prevention. It

was Beccaria and then Bentham who described the philosophy of deter-

rence that criminal law is built on up to the present day.

For interpreting the relationship between science and criminal justice

a unique phenomenon first described by Lawrence Sherman in also an

important to discuss. According to him, criminology was born twice in

the 18 century : first as an empirical science and then as a theoretical

science. ‘* Criminology as an empirical science re-formulated the insti-

tutional system of criminal jurisdiction. However, its theoretical line —

however important scientific results it has lead to in the works of

( SHERMAN, L.W. (2005), «The Use and Usefuiness of Criminology, 1751-2005 : Enlight-

ened Justice and Its Failures», The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and

Social Science, Vol. 600, No. 1, pp. 115-135.

— 103 —

20th century thinkers — had little impact on the functioning of criminal

justice system of the time. As Sherman says, social sciences and crimi-

nology rather adopted the role of the critic and not the inventor, and

this choice had long-term consequences regarding the reception of sci-

entific conclusions. Criminology as a theoretical science, exactly because

of its level of abstraction, was not able to confirm its statements

directly, and its scientific axioms could be questioned referring to emo-

tional reasons as well. Criminology as a discipline was mingled with 1de-

ology and philosophy. The further development of criminology as a the-

oretical science may explain the fact that the functioning of criminal

jurisdiction 1s still an unexplored area and we still know too little about

what impact the functioning of criminal jurisdiction has on the safety of

the community.

Social sciences justify their usefulness 1f, as an applied science, they

are able to demonstrate the usefulness (or adequacy to avoid damage)

of the new solutions they work out. Rise in crime levels at the end of

the last century has again confirmed the importance of criminological

research. As Sherman says, applied criminology 1s not only able to give

more comprehensive knowledge about the adequacy of crime manage-

ment, but a!so serves basic research and formulation of more adequate

policies better. ©)

Adolphe Prins, Gerard van Hamel, Franz von Liszt and the

«sociological» approach to criminal justice in criminal law reforms has

proven that scientific results can be transformed into legislation, and as

such, can have an impact on the functioning of criminal justice. The his-

tory of criminology and social sciences also shows that when creating

new crime control institutions in the turn of the 18#-19t" century, results

collected on the criminal behaviour were also taken into consideration,

thus making the institutional system of crime control more chiselled and

modern. ‘ Ethnographical research in big cities — e.g. the investigations

of the Chicago School — started to explore the multidimensional rela-

tionship between human behaviour and the subsystems of society in

more and more details. This complexity was also reflected in the causal

explanations of criminology that became increasingly comprehensive.

CRIMINOLOGY AND RELATED DISCIPLINES

The history of the development of criminology was affected by the

findings of other closely related disciplines that had a positive or — just

() SHERMAN, L.W. (2005), «The Use and Usefulness…», id m? p. 120.

(6) GARLAND, D. (1996), «The limits of the sovereign state : Strategies of crime control

in contemporary society», The British Journal of Criminology, 36(4) pp. 445-469.

— 104 —

because of the lack of new and useful knowledge — negative impact on

the development of criminological thinking. So the question is that in

the course of historical development, how, when and why just then did

criminology and other disciplines interact with each other, and how they

shaped criminal policy ” and the system of crime control — either with

criminology as an intermediary or sometimes with criminology left out

from the process.

Trying to find the reason for criminal human behaviour has changed

the theories about the justification and purpose of punishment. Denis

Szabo classified theoretical approaches in criminology as «consensual»

and «conflict» models, emphasizing that based on the two paradigms we

should rather talk about intellectual trends. The approaches of the two

paradigms to individuals and to the relationship between individuals

and environment are fundamentally different. One of them assumes that

human nature can be changed, and it claims that environmental condi-

tions have a great impact on it.‘“ This approach claims that human

beings can be changed and aims to make an impact by punishment, the

purpose of which is primarily prevention. Emphasis on the interests of

the community also increases the state’s possibilities to intervene to a

larger extent in order to reach the desired goal, and combines the penal

system with welfare elements. We can tell which elements of a crime are

in fact or potentially harmful, and in the light of this we can «do harm»

by punishment in order to prevent an even greater harm that would

occur if the further crime were committed. Szabo calls this approach to

human nature as «homo socius».

The approach contrary to this we could call «homo moralis» — this

approach is sceptical of humans’ ability to change, and claims that

behaviour and actions are determined by the biological and psycholog-

ical characteristics of the human body. Justification of punishment 1s

not approached from the aspect of possible outcomes and it does not

consider the possible future impact of punishment. It evaluates the act

committed in the past, which will determine the degree of the necessarily

punitive reaction. The degree of punishment in criminal law depends on

the degree of moral outery - Szabo says. The degree of moral outery

however, he adds very pragmatically, depends on how much the popu-

lation trusts the efficiency of public security .

If the sensitivity of society to crime changes, crime control also takes

a new direction and will prefer knowledge from vther fields of discipline

() Regarding the definition of crime policy see : LIGETI, K. (2006). «Kriminälpolitika és

pônologia», In : Kriminologia

Srakkriminologia (szerk : GôNCZÔL

KEFREZSI

- KORINEK

Lévay). Complex Kiadôi Kft, Budapest. 599-626.0.

(®) SzaBo, D. (1981): Criminology and crime poliey, Gondolat, Budapest. 45.0.

see 26.0.

9 SZaBo, D. (1981): Criminology.

-— 105 —

than it previously did. Of course this relationship can be other than lin-

ear, as the change of approach to human beings in crime control may

result returning to the results of an earlier stage of criminological inves-

tigations. It is without doubt however that new successes in a field of

discipline can bring the resurrection of an earlier level of investigation

in another discipline. See for example how new genetic and brain

researches’ findings resurrected biological explanations in criminology.

When analysing the relationship between criminology and other dis-

ciplines, Welch’s eco-system theory that analyses interactions between

man and environment on seven levels can make a good use. ‘!°

Level 1

The biology of humans

Neurology : physiology, medicine, the

effects of medicines on the brain and

body, etc.

Level 2

Intra-personal

level

Theories on personality; developmental

(thinking, emotions)

psychology; cognitive theories; psychol-

ogy of disorders; psychiatry etc.

Level 3

theories dis-

Interpersonal level (inter-

Psychological/sociological

actions between people)

cussing interpersonal relationships

Level 4

Family and other smalil

Social psychology; sociology of family

groups

etc

Level 5

Local community (neigh-

Sociology of education, health service;

bourhood)

social policy; pedagogics etc.

Level 6

Social

and

culture

Specific culture

anthropology

theories; urban sociology; social policy

of minorities, etc.

Level 7

Nation,

state,

society

Economics;

welfare

system

theories;

(power)

political science; politology; government

administration, etc.

Interpreting the above from the aspect of criminology, we can see

that the problems of crime and delinquency as well as institutional reac-

tions given to these can be interpreted on every level of the human eco-

system (biological, intra-personal, interpersonal, small community,

neighbourhood, culture and society levels), and this 1s the characteristic

that makes the changes of direction in crime control possible.

(10) WELCH, G. (1987), «An Integrated Approach to Social Work Practice», In MCKEN-

DRICK, B.W. (ed.), Introduction to Social Work in South Africa, Owen Burgess, Pinetown,

pp. 152-176. Quoted by: Woops, R. (1994), «A szociâlis munkäsok tevékenységeinek egy

lehetséges rendszerezése [A possible sytemization of the activities of social workers]», In : A

szociâlis munka elmélete és gyakorlata, 1.k. (edited by : HEGYESI, G.-TALYIGAs, K. - TANCZOS,

E. — GOSZTONYI, G.), Semmelweis Kiadoô, 33.0.

— 106 —

REVALUATION OF THE ROLE OF CRIMINOLOGY

Examining the causes of delinquency appeared first in the activities

of the positivist school. Positivist approach — that instead of crime put

perpetrators in the centre of investigation — was the first to «separate»

perpetrators from the formal categories of criminal law. The crime pol-

icy of the first half of the 20" century can be called a «functional» pol-

icy as it harmonized scientific findings and crime control.

New investigation methods in the first third of the 20" century and

researches conducted on large samples greatly increased the persuasive-

ness of social sciences. Scientific approach and explanation of crime —

using the results of any other discipline — became generally accepted.

These approaches were quite different in their preconceptions but all of

them had their place in the flexible framework of the crime policy of the

era. Promising scientific results were transmitted to the political sphere

by criminology. The ideology of the welfare state did not assume a fun-

damental conflict of interests in the relationship of the state and indi-

viduals, but it aimed to affect the causes of crime and serve re-sociali-

sation. Thus professions working in areas that indicate social problems

(first of all, social workers) could define themselves as a «puffer»

between the individual/family/small groups and the state, in a flexible

and active role. !) This is why the social worker profession was pros-

pering in the 1950-60s, however its «willingness» to solve social prob-

lems, especially problems related to crime, brought the disadvantage

that the borders between professional and political responsibility were

«blurred». Due to belief in professional competence it was not ques-

tioned until the 1960’s if the solutions proposed by criminology are

indeed suitable to deal with crime. However, as a consequence of the

economical recession in the middle of the 1970’s, the responsibility of

the state was revaluated, and the state gradually recognized its limited

ability to control crime and deviances.

The 1dea of re-socialization and social prevention that for a long time

was guiding criminal policy, and was able to hold together theoretical

development and innovation (like for example labelling theory) was

coming to the end of its reserves. ? Criminology found its way out in

«everyday criminology», at least in the United States. «Everyday

criminology» considers crime as a normal, routine behaviour that 1s part

of modern society and people committing crimes otherwise behave like

( KEREZSI, K. (1995), «The defenceless child (Violence and neglect in the family)», Kôz-

gazdasagi és Jogi Kônyvkiado. Budapest, 28.0.

(2) ALBRECHT, H.-J. (2000), A büntetojog europaizâläsa és a belsd biztonsäg Eurôpâäban.

[« Europe-izing» Criminal law and domestic securitiy in Europe], Belügyi Szemle, 3.sz. 17-

4|.0.

— 107 —

average people in every other respect. This type of criminology 1s char-

acterised by pragmatism and a lack of overarching theories. Crime pol-

icy became «more expressive, emotional and direct, and became the

means of the creation of public security and feeling of security for the

society». (*) They started to think less and less that perpetrators were

the victims of an unjustly functioning society. Crime control was per-

vaded by politics. Strong ties between science and policy weakened as

the need decreased for scientifically grounded findings regarding perpe-

trators.

New punishment philosophies formulated first of all in the United

States represented a simpler and more transparent rationality. À study

published by Robert Martinson in 1974 in Public Interest played a great

role in this shift of paradigm. "* The paper that became famous by the

title «Nothing works» in criminology, again indicated that 1f political-

economical conditions were favourable, the results of science could have

a direct impact on the functioning of criminal justice system. À three

decade long increase of the prison population and persons under the

control of criminal justice system started in the USA. At the same time,

the budget for prison rehabilitation programmes was gradually

decreased.

Criminology, as a social science, will never be able to reach the level

of exactness (and thus persuasiveness) that characterizes Euclidean

geometry or Leibnitzian mathematics. Still, we know that even in natu-

ral sciences, the exactness of predictions decreases rapidly when more

complex systems are investigated. So it is not only in the case of social

sciences that making statements on complex phenomena 1s difficult.

I have to agree with Sherman that criminology 1s an applied science,

and its usefulness for crime policy and criminal jurisdiction originates

from this characteristic. However, I do not think that the problem of the

relationship between criminology and the functioning of criminal juris-

diction 1s in fact the conflict between theoretical science and applied

research. I believe that the main problem is that criminology is now

expressly facing with the fact that 1) crime policy is able to free itself

from the system of reacting to causal interconnections of crime, and 2)

crime control can be considered as a purely political or business 1issue

too

(13) ALBRECHT, H.-J. (2000), «A büntetojog europaizäläsa…», ibid., 17-41.0.

(4 MARTINSON, R. (1974), What Works? Questions and Answers about Prison Reform,

Public Interest, 35 :22-54.

— 108 —

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND SECURITY-SERVICE

Security as a service 1s realized the most easily by extending the con-

trolling powers of criminal jurisdiction. Laurie Robinson, Assistant

Attorney General of the United States argued that «I find it ironic

that probation has not gotten more attention. Politically this is the

arena where public safety occurs or doesn’t occur. How can we have a

conversation about public safety in this country and not talk about the

3.9 million people on probation and parole. That’s about three times the

number of people behind bars.» !*

The increase of the number of individuals under control of the crim-

inal jurisdiction necessarily raises the question how to make control less

expensive to exercise.

Therefore new approaches and techniques

appeared in the field of criminal jurisdiction. In the 1990’s the defining

factors became the following : 1) managerial efficiency (what works best

in a certain place) 2) cost-efficiency (what costs less) 3) evaluation of the

specific danger (what danger the person in question represents to soci-

ety). At the end of the 20'" century economics and management theory

were the fields and cost-benefit analysis was the means that could pro-

vide new and useful elements for criminal policy. We could say that with

cost-benefit analyses common sense and rationality got a new emphasis

in criminology and with adaptation of evaluation methods of manage-

ment theory the techniques of relationship between individuals was

emphasized.

At the same time, it became clear that fields that exclusively

improved the «technique» of crime management could gain a place in

crime control. At the turn of the 20"-215 century geographical informa-

tion system (GIS) appeared in the field of criminal jurisdiction too.

However, the relationship of criminology and criminal jurisdiction

changed with the appearance of high technology. Hi-tech applications

appeared not only via criminology as an intermediary (such as GIS 1n

the territorial analysis of crime) but also directly in crime control.

The change in world politics had a decisive impact on the process.

With the collapse of the bipolar world order, instead of arms race a

market had to be found that requires and can use hi-tech innovations.

At present, crime control provides an excellent terrain for this :

1. Fight against terrorism requires the development and application of

new tools that in themselves require further innovative products

(e.g. iris diagnostics, Echelon system etc.)

(5) Dickey, W.J. - SMITH, M.E. (1999), «Five Futures for Community Corrections», In :

Rethinking Probation : Report of the Focus Group, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of

Justice, Office of Justice Programs.

— 109 —

The concept of zero tolerance and increasing the effectiveness of

sanctions makes technological innovations necessary in other fields

of criminal jurisdiction as well. So among the tools of the electronic

personal monitoring system new generations of personal control

devices appear, suitable for satellite positioning of mobile phones.

Hi-tech innovations can be utilized in security business and protec-

tion of property (e.g. satellite devices preventing car stolen).

Magnus Hôrnqvist is pointing out the doubtless dangers of the proc-

ess described above when he claims that criminal law can cross its field

of competence «downwards» and «upwards» as well.(6 It is crossing

the line upwards when in fighting terrorism national defence and police

activity are blurred. Zero tolerance however often aims to extend the

borders of criminal law in a downward direction blurring the activities

of social services and the police.

Besides technological innovations, procedural changes are also serv-

ing the decrease of costs of criminal jurisdiction, and a number of forms

of diversion have appeared in criminal procedures. As criminal jurisdic-

tion functions as a system ”), results and practices desired by crime pol-

icies cannot only be reached directly by legal limitation of the sentencing

practice of courts, but also by putting pressure on other elements of the

system. International experiences show that legislators are increasingly

using the means of limiting the discretionary powers of law enforcement.

They are gradually «taking back» the power to define the content of

punishment from professionals, and the influence of social science exper-

tise 1s gradually decreasing in the system of crime management.

This 1s what the most significant change in the past decades refers to :

the «re-allocation» of sanctioning powers. The process in which legisla-

tors empower non-court bodies with «quasi-sentencing» power 1s getting

more intense. The re-allocation of the sentencing power of the courts in

various forms of diversion increases the role and powers of prosecutors

in criminal procedures. However, this is just one of the signs of the

change in the balance of the actors of criminal justice system. Other

measures also decrease courts’ possibilities to penalize, such as the sen-

tencing guidelines (often called the «straitjacket of courts»), compulsory

minimum penalties, and the «third strikes» laws. 18

(16) HôRNQVIST, M. (2003), «Repression and empowerment in post-liberal societies», In

Crime and Crime Control ina n Integrating Europe, NSfK’s 45th research seminar. Nordiska

Samarbetsradet fôr Kriminologi, Helsinki. pp. 105-110.

(1) FARKAS, À. (2006), «Limits of the efficiency of the criminal jurisdiction system», In

Criminology - specialized criminology (szerk : GÜNCZÔL - KEREZSI — KORINEK - LÉVAY), Com-

plex Kiadoi Kft. Budapest, 692.0.

(18) For more details regarding this question see : KEREZSI, K. (2006), Control or support :

the dilemma of alternative sanctions, Complex Kiadoi Kft.

— 110 —

The question is inevitably raised : do the «territories taken back»

with the above solutions mean an undue increase of governmental

power in the field of imposing sanctions? This question 1s even more sig-

nificant in the case of diversion where the re-allocation of sentencing

power was carried out to the benefit of jurisdictional authorities func-

tioning under governmental control (e.g. prosecution service). We may

ask if these diversion measures that give more power to prosecutors in

a very pragmatic way, do not breach the concept of «jurisdiction by

courts only» and do not question the realization of the concept of sep-

aration of powers in practice? There is no difference in the content of

applied penalties and in the form of implementation according to the

ordering authority. They can be imposed in the input or output stage

of the process by the prosecutors service, as well as it can be used by

the court as a classic criminal law sanction — see for example the sanc-

tion of probation.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRIMINOLOGY

AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

So what is the relationship between criminology and criminal

jurisdiction? Criminal sciences can help by creating theories and con-

ducting research to a) define goals of crime control and b) choose the

means to reach these goals. Therefore theoretical and applied researches

are the activities that make criminology useful for jurisdiction. Based on

possible consonance or lack of consonance between them we can talk

about three models :

1. Cooperation (service) model - we can talk about this model if the

political sphere requires and uses the findings of criminal sciences

when working out crime policy. Ît supports empirical research,

acknowledges achievements of the profession, and respects the free-

dom of research. Representatives of a profession make recommenda-

tions according to their best knowledge regarding crime policy to be

employed as well as its specific elements, from which politicians can

choose from, taking professional aspects into consideration, and

they bear the political responsibility for the efficiency of imple-

mented crime control measures.

Submissive model — in this model political stakeholders submissively

apply professional proposals without recognizing their political

responsibility. They leave the definition of crime control policy goals

to the experts, blurring professional and political responsibility.

Political responsibility is resolved in professional responsibility and

it is impossible to see where one ends and the other begins. An

— 111 —

example for such a model in the history of criminology was

«treatment policy» — the policy of the welfare state, which consid-

ered crime control as an exclusively professional expert issue.

Disillusioned (dismissive) model — à model in which political power

is acting independently, both regarding the definition of the guide-

lines of crime policy and the set of measures to be used. This type

of crime policy considers crime control and the definition of meas-

ures as a solely political issue, and does not let criminology expertise

influence crime policy. Instead of letting independent criminology

experts acquire knowledge regarding the current trends of crime and

efficiency of crime control there is a strong centralization of this

work as a part of governmental activities.

Choosing any of these models has long-term consequences to the

criminology profession as well. We are now far away from the dilemma

that according to Christie, criminology or a criminologist has to decide

on : should a criminologist be a poet or rather a technician? Christie had

no doubt when making his decision — according to him, criminology

«offers a comprehensive picture about society and the deviances in it,

so there is more to it than just defining specific techniques to apply». “?)

In the conceptual framework however, in which the causes of crime are

originated from the individual and the shortcomings of different control

mechanisms instead of the social causes of crime, a criminologist can

easily find himself in the role of a «crime management assistant

worker». From his expertise political stakeholders will only require ele-

ments of technical nature. This knowledge is just enough to explore the

geographical characteristics of crimes and prevalence of perpetrators…

Criminology has become an applied social science by taking up the

role of examining criminal justice system. In the past decades we could

see that regarding governmental expectations in crime management in

most countries instead of «why» and «what» the question «how»

became the most important. By giving an answer to these types of ques-

tions, from an applied science criminology is turning to an «adapting/

conforming» science. À neutral criminology free of values and politics

is certainly an illusion for two reasons. First, because criminological

researches have to be grounded on some scientific theory; and second,

because the verification of theories is also done by research. Agreeing

with Roger Hood, I myself also think that it is not the task of crimi-

nology to define the goals of crime policy. ? When defining the means

(19) CHRISTIE, N. (1971), «Scandinavian Criminology Facing the 1970's», Scandinavian

Studies in Criminology, vol. 3. Ed: N. CHRISTIE, Oslo, Universitetsforlaget, p. 145.

(0) Hoop, R. (2001), «Penal Policy and Criminological Challenges in the New

Millenium», The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, Vol. 34, No. 1!, April,

p. 8.

— 112 —

of crime control, professional and political responsibility is divided

between criminology as a science and politics as the actor applying

means of crime control. In the relationship of science and jurisdiction it

is the cooperation/service model that best serves the optimal division of

professional expertise and responsibility, and the implementation of sci-

entific findings in the practice of jurisdiction.

SUMMARY

The author outlines the theoretical and practical relationships

between science and jurisdiction. Based on possible consonance or lack

of consonance between criminology and criminal jurisdiction the author

traces different models.

Criminology had a fundamental impact on the criminal justice sys-

tem and the law reforms proved that scientific results could be trans-

formed into legislation. The paper examines the course of historical

development : how, when and why exactly in the given moment of his-

tory did criminology and other disciplines interact with each other, and

how they shaped criminal policy and the system of crime control. When

societal sensitivity towards crime and criminality changed, crime control

took a new direction and admitted knowledge from other fields of dis-

ciplines than before. Promising scientific results were transmitted to the

political sphere by criminology in the first half of the 20th century.

Lately the strong ties between science and policy weakened as the need

decreased for scientifically grounded findings regarding perpetrators. In

the beginning of the 21st century criminology 1s expressly facing with

the fact that crime policy is able to free itself from the system of reacting

to causal interconnections of crime, and crime control can be considered

as a purely political or technical issue as well. The relationship of crim-

inology and criminal jurisdiction changed with the appearance of high

technology, and the «technique» of crime management gained a central

place in crime control. The governmental expectations in crime manage-

ment have dramatically changed, because instead of the questions in

most countries instead of «Why» and «What» the question of «How»

has become the most important one in most countries. International

experiences also show that legislators are increasingly using the means

of limiting the discretionary powers of law enforcement. They are grad-

ually «taking back» the power to define the content of punishment from

professionals, and the influence of social science expertise is gradually

decreasing in the system of crime management. The author warns that

criminologists can easily find themselves in the role of a «crime man-

— 113 —

agement assistant worker», and from his expertise the political stake-

holders will only require elements of technical nature.

RÉSUMÉ

L’auteur esquisse les relations théoriques et pratiques entre science et

Justice. Elle propose différents modèles sur base de consonance ou de

dissonance entre criminologie et administration de la justice.

La criminologie a eu un impact fondamental sur le système de justice

criminelle, et les réformes législatives ont montré que les résultats scien-

tifiques pouvaient être transposés en droit. L’article porte sur le déve-

loppement historique de ce processus : comment, quand et pourquoi, à

un moment précis de l’histoire, la criminologie et d’autres disciplines

ont-elles interagi, et comment ont-elles dessiné la politique criminelle et

le système de contrôle du crime? Quand la sensibilité de la société au

crime et à la criminalité a changé, le contrôle du crime a pris d'autres

directions et admis des connaissances d’autres disciplines qu'auparavant.

Des résultats scientifiques prometteurs ont été transmis par la crimino-

logie à la sphere politique au cours de la première partie du XX° siècle.

Les liens puissants qui unissaient science et politique se sont ensuite

affaiblis à mesure que le besoin se faisait moins sentir de données scien-

tifiquement fondées concernant les auteurs. Au début du XXI* siècle, la

criminologie a été confrontée à la possibilité pour la politique criminelle

de s’affranchir du système de réaction aux interconnexions causales du

crime, et au risque que le contrôle du crime soit considéré comme une

question purement politique ou technique. La relation entre criminolo-

gie et Justice a changé avec l’apparition de la haute technologie, et la

prise de pouvoir de la «technique» de management du crime dans le

contrôle du crime. Les attentes gouvernementales en matière de contrôle

du crime ont été bouleversées parce que, dans beaucoup de pays, la

question du «quoi» et du «pourquoi» a fait place à la question du

«comment» dans les préoccupations fondamentales. Les expériences

internationales montrent aussi que les législateurs tendent à limiter les

pouvoirs discrétionnaires de la Justice. Is «reprennent» progressivement

aux professionnels le pouvoir de définir le contenu de la peine, et

l’influence de l’expertise en sciences sociales décroît graduellement dans

le système de gestion du crime. L’auteur met les criminologues en garde

contre le risque qu’ils soient confinés au rôle d’assistants de gestion du

crime, et que les décideurs se bornent à faire appel à leur expertise seu-

lement pour des éléments de nature technique.

— 114 —

RESUMEN

La autora esboza las relaciones teôricas y prâcticas entre ciencia y

Justicia. Propone diferentes modelos sobre la base de la consonancia o

la disonancia ente la criminologia y la Administraciôn de Justicia. La

criminologia ha tenido un impacto fundamental en el sistema de justicia

penal y las reformas legislativas han mostrado que los resultados cien-

tificos podian transponerse al Derecho. El articulo versa sobre el desa-

rrollo histôrico de este proceso : cômo, cuâändo y por qué, en un

momento preciso de la historia, la criminologia y otras disciplinas han

interactuado y cômo han dibujado la politica criminal y el sistema de

control del delito? Cuando ha cambiado la sensibilidad de la sociedad

hacia el delito y la criminalidad, el control del delito ha tomado otras

direcciones y ha admitido conocimientos de otras disciplinas. La crimi-

nologia ha transmitido resultados cientificos prometedores a la esfera

politica a lo largo de la primera parte del siglo XX. Los fuertes vinculos

que unian ciencia y politica se han debilitado a medida de que la nece-

sidad de datos cientificamente fundados en relaciôn con los autores se

hacia sentir menos. À principios del siglo XXI, la criminologia se ha

confrontado a la posibilidad para la politica criminal de liberarse del sis-

tema de reacciôn a las interconexiones causales del delito y al riesgo de

que el control del delito sea considerado como una cuestiôn puramente

politica o técnica. La relaciôn entre la criminologia y la Justicia ha cam-

biado con la apariciôn de la alta tecnologia y la toma de poder de la

«técnica» de gestion del delito en el control del crimen. Las expectativas

gubernamentales en materia de control del delito se han alterado debido

a que en muchos paises la cuestiôon del «que» y el «porque» ha dejado

paso a la cuestion del «como» en las preocupaciones fundamentales.

Las experiencias internacionales muestran también que los legisladores

tienden a limitar los poderes discrecionales de la Justicia. Ellos

«retoman» progresivamente de los profesionales el poder de definir el

contenido de la pena y la influencia del peritaje en las ciencias sociales

disminuye gradualmente en el sistema de gestiôn del delito. La autora

advierte a los criminôlogos contra el riesgo de que estén limitados al rol

de asistentes de gestiôn del delito y que los que toman las decisiones se

limiten a recurrir a su peritaje solamente para elementos de naturaleza

técnica.

— 115 —

LA S.I.C. FACE AUX DÉVELOPPEMENTS

DE LA CRIMINOLOGIE

COMME DISCIPLINE ACADÉMIQUE

Le projet d’un observatoire

des programmes académiques

en criminologie ‘

Tony Peters ‘*

1. — CONSTATATIONS

— La criminologie comme discipline académique connait des dévelop-

pements récents qui changent son statut et ses relations avec les sciences

qui ont été depuis son origine des forces à la fois inspirateurs et coloni-

sateurs.

— La tendance récente (depuis plusieurs décades) de se réserver une

place particulière dans le contexte des sciences sociales a été traduite par

la mise en place des INSTITUTS ou des ECOLES de CRIMINOLO-

GIE où la recherche CRIMINOLOGIQUE et l’enseignement CRIMI-

NOLOGIQUE se déroulent d’une manière organisationnelle et structu-

relle indépendante.

— En Europe continentale les INSTITUTS et/ou Ecoles de CRIMI-

NOLOGIE restent encadrés dans les Facultés de Droit, tandis qu’en

Grande Bretagne, aux E.U. et au Canada ces INSTITUTS et ECOLES

s'organisent comme entités indépendantes ou bien associées aux Facultés

des Sciences Sociales.

— Les évolutions récentes montrent une certaine diversification de la

CRIMINOLOGIE. A côté d’une tendance de garder les programmes

d'enseignement centrés autour de la criminologie comme discipline aca-

() Ce texte est, avec celui de Georges Picca, l’une des deux contributions de la Société

inernationale de criminologie au colloque de la Fondation internationale pénale et péniten-

tiaire de Liège de 2009 évoqué dans l'éditorial.

Este texto constituye, junto con el de Georges Picca, una de las dos contribuciones de

la Sociedad Internacional del Criminologia en el congreso de la Fundaciôn Internacional

Penal y Penitenciaria de Lieja en 2009, al que nos hemos referido en la editorial.

This text, together with that of Georges Picca, is one of two contributions to the inter-

national conference of the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation held in Liège in

2009, by the International Society for Criminology mentioned in the editorial.

( Président de la Société Internationale de Criminologie.

— 117 —

démique, il y a au même temps une tendance d’orienter la criminologie

vers des thématiques appliqués comme «la justice pénale», «la sécurité»

et «l'intervention policière». Cette réalité fait que les programmes aca-

démiques de criminologie se positionnent entre une discipline purement

académique et une science appliqué tendant vers une éducation profes-

sionnelle de police, justice, sécurité, prévention etc.

— Les rencontres des organisations scientifiques ayant comme théma-

tique centrale divers aspects de la criminologie s’occupent quasi exclusi-

vement des recherches scientifiques. Ces rencontres sont des moments

privilégiés pour les chercheurs scientifiques en criminologie pour échan-

ger leurs points de vue et les résultats de leurs recherches. C’est là ou

on discute la méthodologie de la recherche et une grande diversité de

sujets dont s'occupe la criminologie actuelle. (criminalité de violence, cri-

minalité urbaine, criminalité organisée, criminalité transnationale et

internationale, la «cyber» criminalité etc.)

— L'organisation de l’enseignement c’est à dire la vision concernant

la manière de traduire la discipline de la criminologie en programme

concrète et cohérente à l’université reçoit à peine une attention structu-

relle et continuée. Certes, il y a de temps en temps des articles scienti-

fiques informatifs, problématisant la matière de l’enseignement en crimi-

les

relations

avec

les

constituantes

nologie,

disciplines

(droit,

psychologie, sociologie, philosophie, économie, histoire, médicine), la

place de la méthodologie de la recherche et la méthodologie de l’inter-

vention criminologique et les questions d’éthique sociale et profession-

nelle. Mais 1l y a une absence très claire d’un suivi systématique de ces

questions. Ce qui manque d’abord est une information consistante et

cohèrente de base concernant les programmes académiques en crimino-

logie selon les différents niveaux (baccalauréat, maîtrise et doctorat).

2. — UN RÔLE À JOUER PAR LA S.I.C.

— Vu le fait que les organisations scientifiques nationales et régionales

s’intéressent plutôt à la recherche criminologique et les contacts et

échanges entre chercheurs, il me semble que la S.I.C. pourrait jouer un

rôle spécifique et unique en s’occupant de l’organisation d’un service

d’information sur les programmes académiques en criminologie actuel-

lement en vigueur. Le développement de ces programmes a connu pen-

dant les dernières décades plusieurs moments de changements profonds

et des prises d’initiative décisives.

La fondation d’une Ecole de Criminologie à l’université de Montréal

en 1960 selon le modèle d’un institut indépendant organisant des cours

de baccalauréat, de maîtrise et de doctorat en criminologie a influencé

— 118 —

pas mal des programmes en criminologie déjà existants en Europe (par

exemple en Belgique, au Portugal et en Suisse) et a servi d’exemple au

Canada (Ottawa et Vancouver).

Sous l’influence Nord Américaine on a vu l’introduction des institu-

tions pareilles de criminologie en Grande Bretagne.

L’institut de criminologie de Cambridge a pendant des décades formé

de criminologues de très haut niveau dans le cadre de sa maîtrise spé-

cialisée en criminologie. La même chose peut être dit de la London

School of Economics (programme de «crime and social deviance»).

L’introduction par la U.E. des règles de Bologne a stimulé la réor-

ganisation et/ou l’introduction des programmes académiques de crimi-

nologie.

Au Pays Bas les nouveaux programmes de criminologie aux univer-

sités d'’Amsterdam, de Leyden et Rotterdam ont précédé la mise en

oeuvre d’une politique académique Européenne mais ils ont certaine-

ment modélé leurs programmes selon les normes de Bologna.

A l’heure actuelle, différentes universités Espagnoles prennent, sous

l’influence de la politique académique Européenne, des initiatives dans

le domaine de la criminologie. L’ancienne situation des maîtrises spécia-

lisés en criminologie et l'introduction selon une loi nationale de 2002 des

licences en criminologie sera bientôt substituée par l’organisation des

programmes académiques en criminologie selon le modèle de Bologna

avec des baccalauréats, des maîtrises et le doctorat.

— L'initiative de la S.I.C. viendra au bon moment. De plus en plus 1l

se montre le besoin de connaître et de suivre de près l’existence et

l’introduction des programmes académiques de criminologie.

Ce besoin concerne la structure du programme au différents niveaux

(BA/MA/Doct), l’implication des différentes disciplines constituantes et

leur relation avec la criminologie, la place et l’importance de la forma-

tion méthodologique, l’apport et la place des cours d’éthique social et

la déontologie professionnelle et enfin la diversité des sujets de spéciali-

sation dans le domaine de la criminologie.

Il faut y ajouter l’information sur l’accès aux programmes des diffé-

rents niveaux. Dans le domaine de la criminologie 1l y a cette longue tra-

dition de donner accès à la formation à des groupes professionnels spé-

cialisés (police, éducateurs, travailleurs sociaux) et aux étudiants de

certaines facultés à l’université (droit, médicine, psychologie, sociologie)

afin de pouvoir se spécialiser.

Le problème de l’accès se pose récemment d’une nouvelle manière.

Au lieu de faciliter l’accès, certains groupes ont actuellement plus de dif-

ficultés à accéder au programme académique en criminologie, vu le fait

— 119 —

que le programme se présente de plus en plus comme un programme de

base, complet et indépendant, donnant accès en premier lieu au étu-

diants qui choisissent la criminologie comme première éducation.

— La collecte systématique de tous ces données, leur compilation

selon un ordre bien réfléchi et sa mise au service des institutions et per-

sonnes intéressées, devient la mission dont la S.I.C. va s’occuper’ à par-

tir de Septembre 2009. Ce service de base d’information sur les pro-

grammes académiques en criminologie sera utile pour les universités qui

sont en train d'organiser ou de réorganiser leur programmes. Cette

information sera au même temps un instrument de travail en fonction

des échanges entre universités au niveau des professeurs et des étudiants.

Cette information facilitera les contacts et les projets de collaboration

entre les universités. En plus la S.I.C. en fait un point récurent de ses

activités de la Commission Scientifique. Le développement académique

de la discipline reçoit un forum privilégié où il y aura une attention per-

manente et un lieu de discussion et d’échange de vue.

3. — LE PROJET : UN OBSERVATOIRE

DES PROGRAMMES ACADÉMIQUES EN CRIMINOLOGIE

— Pendant sa réunion du 23 Mai 2009 le Comité Directeur de la

S.I.C. a accepté le projet d’un observatoire des programmes acadé-

miques de criminologie.

— L’Observatoire sera organisé sous les auspices de la S.I.C. et sera

suivi par sa Commission Scientifique (C.S.). L'Observatoire sera un

point récurent de l’agenda de la C.S.

L’observatoire fera l’objet des groupes de travail et des ateliers lors

des congrès mondiaux de la S.I.C.

— Les activités de l’observatoire seront organisées en collaboration

avec les universités contactés (personnes de contact) et en association

avec toute organisation nationale ou internationale avec un intérêt en la

matière. Le projet sera un travail sous les auspices de la S.I.C. en asso-

ciation avec ses organisations soeurs (comme The European Society of

Criminology, The American Criminological Association) et les organi-

sations internationales avec lesquelles la S.I.C. collabore depuis de lon-

gues années c’est à dire la A.I.D.P., La Société Internationale de

Défense Sociale, la F.I.P.P. et la Société Mondiale de Victimologie.

L’observatoire figurera comme un point recurrant à l’agenda des ren-

contres des cinq grandes organisations internationales.

— La réalisation d’un observatoire des programmes académiques en

criminologie est considérée comme un projet de longue durée et se fera

— 120 —

pas par pas. L'établissement de l’observatoire et sa réalisation progres-

sive seront évalués après deux ans de travail.

— Le travail exécutif et la gestion journalière du projet ont été accepté

par l’Institut de Criminologie — L.I.N.C. de la Katholieke Universiteit

Leuven.

L.I.N.C. fonctionnera comme institut hôte et responsable. L.I.N.C.

mettra ce travail en oeuvre à partir de Septembre 2009. Un chercheur à

temps partiel s’occupera du travail exécutif.

— Un groupe d’'experts(5S à 6 personnes) supervise de près les activités

de l’observatoire et contrôle la qualité du travail. Le groupe d’experts est

présidé et coordonné par le professeur Dr. Katrien Lauwaert (Université

de Liège et associée au L.I.N.C.)

Un Comité d’Avis (Advisory Board) sera composé sous la présidence

de la S.I.C. Y seront représentées les Sociétés et Associations nationales

et internationales qui s’associent au travail de l’observatoire. Sa mission

est de donner le support scientifique, de promouvoir le travail de

l’observatoire et de veiller à la qualité du service.

RÉSUMÉ

Le comité directeur de la Société internationale de criminologie a

adopté en 2009 le projet d’un observatoire mondial des programmes

académiques en criminologie. Ce texte en décrit les raisons et les moda-

lités.

RESUMEN :

El comité de direcciôn de la Sociedad Internacional de Criminologia

ha adoptado en 2009 el proyecto de un observatorio mundial de los pro-

gramas académicos en criminologia. Este texto describe las razones y las

modalidades.

SUMMARY

The management committee of the International Society for Crimi-

nology adopted the project for a world watchdog for academic pro-

grammes in criminology. This text describes the reasons for it and the

practical details.

— 121 —

LES ORGANISATIONS

NON GOUVERNEMENTALES (O.N.G.)

À VOCATION SCIENTIFIQUE ONT-ELLES

UNE INFLUENCE SUR LES POLITIQUES

CRIMINELLES?

Georges Picca ?

La création et le développement de l’Organisation des Nations Unies,

en 1945 ont été suivis de la création d’un nombre croissant, dans le

monde occidental, surtout, d’associations poursuivant divers objectifs,

notamment d'ordre humanitaire. Elles ont été qualifiées d’Organisations

non gouvernementales, dites O.N.G. (N.G.O en anglais).

C’est la Charte des Nations Unies qui, dans son article 71, a fait

pour la première fois référence à ces organisations, dans les termes

suivants : (article 7) «Le Conseil économique et social peut prendre

toutes dispositions utiles pour consulter les Organisations non gouver-

nementales, qui s'occupent de questions relevant de leur compétence.

Ces dispositions peuvent s'appliquer à des Organisations internationales

et, s'il y a lieu, à des Organisations nationales après consultation des

membres internes de l’Organisation».

Ainsi qu’on a pu le souligner, l’'Organisation des Nations Unies s’est

imposée «comme le système solaire dans la galaxie des O.N.G.»

C’est dans ce contexte que sont ainsi nées et, se sont développées, de

nombreuses ONG dans le sillage de la création des Nations Unies,

L'ONG présente, en général, trois caractéristiques essentielles : un

statut d’'association, un objectif commun et, souvent des activités inter-

nationales. Elle n’est pas, pour autant, nécessairement, une organisation

de droit international mais, souvent, une association ou un organisme de

droit national. Développement durable, droits de l'homme, action

humanitaire, protection de l’environnement, sont autant de domaines,

dans lesquels les ONG se sont aujourd’hui, développées, de manière

considérable.

Dans ce contexte, les ONG dites «scientifiques», sont celles qui, agis-

sent plus particulièrement dans le domaine de la justice pénale, des

( Communication présentée à l’Université de Liège (Belgique) à l’occasion du Colloque

de la FIPP (24-27 juin 2009 - L'influence des O.N.G. scientifiques sur les politiques crim-

inelles nationales et internationales).

C Secrétaire général de la Société Internationale de Criminologie.

— 123 —

droits humains voire de la criminologie. Nous les connaissons bien car

il en est ainsi, notamment de l’Association Internationale de droit péna,l

et de la Société Internationale de Criminologie, que jJ'ai l’'honneur de

représenter ici, aujourd'hui. Elles sont néanmoins, peu nombreuses et,

l’on peut s’interroger sur le point de savoir si elles ont (ou non) une

influence sur les politiques criminelles nationales ou internationales. Tel

est, en tous cas l’objet de cette réflexion que je vous propose.

S'agissant de la notion de politique criminelle telle qu’elle est apparue

en occident, dans le discours pénal, depuis le début du XX° siècle, 1l faut

entendre, toute stratégie étatique destinée à combattre le crime dans un

sens (plus ou moins autoritaire ou libéral), utilisant pour cela le droit

pénal, la procédure pénale, et la prévention sociale.

Les orientations de la politique criminelle sont, 1l faut le rappeler

avant tout, de nature politique, et justifiées par le maintien d’'un certain

ordre public face à des agissements antisociaux.

Elles sont, pour cela, on doit le souligner, inspirées par de considé-

rations d'ordre philosophique ou moral, plus ou moins importantes dans

le cadre national. En outre, ce cadre national se trouve, aujourd’hui, sin-

gulièrement élargi; Il en est ainsi de l’espace géographique et politique

de l’'Union européenne ou, suivant des accords régionaux, tel que le

Mercosur, qui regroupe les États du sud de l’Amérique. Il existe ainsi

désormais, une tendance à mettre en œuvre des politiques criminelles

communes au niveau de certaines régions du monde, une réalité qui

s'impose notamment, en raison du développement des communications

interétatiques.

Dans un tel contexte, 1l est nécessaire de ne pas se borner à un débat,

de nature théorique, limitant le rôle de nos Associations à des considé-

rations de portée dite «scientifique», mais négligeant les réalités sociales

et politiques qui peuvent suffire à justifier les orientations de la politique

criminelle. Nos ONG sont aujourd’hui, particulièrement attentives aux

réalités de la criminalité et à leur évolution dans le temps et l’espace. La

vocation, dite scientifique signifie, seulement qu’il ne s’agit pas d’Orga-

nisations dotées de pouvoirs politiques ou, ayant des responsabilités

gouvernementales. Ceci ne les empêche pas d’organiser des Congrès ou

Colloques inspirés par l’actualité ou, à exprimer des opinions sur les réa-

lités des diverses tendances de la criminalité. Ceci est d’autant plus vrai

que si la responsabilité et la mise en œuvre des politiques criminelles

nationales incombe, au premier chef, aux États nations, cette observa-

tion n'exclut pas, pour autant, l’importance de la coopération interna-

tionale, qui peut conduire à infléchir certains aspects nationaux de ces

politiques criminelles. Dans cette perspective, le rôle des ONG dans le

cadre, notamment, de l’Organisation des Nations Unies, du Conseil de

— 124 —

l’Europe ou, de l’Union européenne, doit également, retenir une parti-

culière attention.

Ainsi en ce qui concerne les Nations Unies, l’organisation périodique

des Congrès mondiaux sur la prévention du crime et de la lutte contre

la criminalité, ainsi que l’activité de la Division des Nations Unies de

Vienne, témoignent, non seulement du rôle essentiel de l’Organisation

dans ces domaines, mais aussi de sa coopération avec les ONG; Celles-

ci peuvent participer, en effet, à ces activités en qualité d’observateur, au

titre de ce l’on appelle «Statut consultatif», qui leur est conféré.

S'agissant de l’Europe, on doit souligner, également la participation

active, depuis de nombreuses années, de certaines de nos Associations

aux travaux du Comité européen pour problèmes criminels (CDPC) à

Strasbourg. Ceci même si l'influence des ONG peut apparaitre, parfois,

difficilement compatible avec les propositions de nature politique pré-

sentées par les représentants des États.

Il importe, par suite, de souligner que l’action des ONG appelle des

appréciations très différentes suivant l’interprétation qu’elles font de leur

rôle consultatif. Il peut arriver, en effet, que certaines ONG, s'invitent

dans des réunions internationales pour faire valoir leur point de vue, au

risque de créer un certain trouble ou, des manifestations violentes, plu-

tôt qu'une réelle coopération.

Ceci doit contribuer à poser la question, non seulement, de

l’influence des ONG, mais également celle des limites de leur rôle.

Certains auteurs ont pu estimer que, les ONG «font entendre la voix

des «populations dont le droit est bafoué» (N. Rodley). Mais cette

vocation guerrière, ne peut concerner les seules ONG scientifiques, dont

la représentativité est parfaitement respectable. Ce qui est vrai, en

revanche c'est, qu'une relation nouvelle s’est, aujourd’hui créée, dans les

rapports des ONG avec les principales Organisations internationales.

Elle témoigne, à la fois, de leur développement et, de la reconnaissance

de leur rôle, au moins dans son principe.

On doit, en effet, souligner que les ONG scientifiques offrent, géné-

ralement, des perspectives à la fois respectables et constructives. Ces

perspectives existent, notamment, dans la participation active aux

actions conduites, dans le cadre des Nations Unies ou de l’Union euro-

péenne. Il en est de même dans la mise en œuvre d’initiatives dans le

domaine international, telles que les Congrès mondiaux, organisés par la

majorité des associations, dans les domaines qui sont les leurs (évolution

des législations pénales, action en faveur des victimes, droits de

l’homme, etc.

Ces manifestations qui rassemblent un nombre important de partici-

pants qualifiés, contribuent à sensibiliser les populations à l’existence de

— 125 —

certaines pratiques contestables et, sont aptes à proposer des évolutions

sociales des législations ou des politiques de prévention. Plus générale-

ment elles contribuent à favoriser l’élaboration de politiques criminelles

transnationale tendant à réduire la criminalité, dans certains de ses

aspects, ce qui est un rôle positif.

De telles actions, tout en se situant à un niveau scientifique, ne sont

pas, en effet, dépourvues de références politiques ou sociologiques

auprès des États nations, et propres à influer sur les politiques crimi-

nelles existantes. En effet, l’idée que le système international ne se limi-

terait plus aux seuls acteurs étatiques s’est, en effet, répandue, même si

cette diffusion est encore trop limitée à certains milieux professionnels

intéressés (justice, police) ou dans diverses régions du monde.

Dans ces perspectives, ce qui pourrait contribuer à donner une

influence nouvelle aux ONG, c’est le développement du «Statut

consultatif», tel qu’il existe actuellement, mais, qui pourrait se traduire

par la qualité, plus active de Consultant des Nations Unies. De telle

sorte que, non seulement, nos ONG doivent continuer à développer des

actions dans les domaines qui sont les leurs, mais elles doivent, en outre,

s’efforcer de gagner en audience auprès des pouvoirs publics, pour

acquérir une réelle influence, au sein des Organisations internationales,

et auprès des États nations.

Au-delà de ces constatations, peut-on aller plus loin et estimer que

nos activités de nature scientifique, peuvent avoir une plus grande

influence sur les politiques criminelles nationales mises en œuvre par les

États?

Cela nous parait plus aléatoire, dans la mesure, où le rôle des ONG

ne se situe pas, au niveau d’élaboration de ces politiques, qui sont le pri-

x

vilège d’institutions

a

caractère étatique voire, parlementaire dans les

démocraties.

Par suite, ce que l’on peut regretter c’est, actuellement l’insuffisance

de procédures de communication, entre les associations scientifiques, et

les instances politiques (nationales ou internationales), qui exercent des

responsabilités dans l’élaboration du droit et, ainsi que, des services de

justice ou de police qui appliquent les textes qui inspirent les politiques

criminelles.

Dès lors, en conclusion 1l serait opportun que les activités de ces

ONG, dites scientifiques, soient davantage prises en considération, en

vue de l’élaboration des politiques criminelles nationales, voire interna-

tionales. En effet, la vocation de nos associations, est particulièrement

orientée vers une meilleure connaissance des activités criminelles et des

réponses à leur apporter. Cela contribue à tracer les limites de leur

action dans le domaine de la réflexion et de proposition. Elle ne devrait

— 126 —

pas, pour autant, conduire à limiter une influence positive, sur les res-

ponsables politiques, dans l’élaboration des lois et leur mise en œuvre

par la justice.

RÉSUMÉ

L'auteur analyse le rôle que peuvent jouer des organisations non

gouvernementales à vocation scientifique comme la Société internatio-

nale de criminologie, dans l’orientation des politiques criminelles, auprès

des instances politiques nationales et internationales, particulièrement

l’'Organisation des Nations Unies, le Conseil de l’Europe, ou l’Union

européenne.

RESUMEN

El autor analiza el papel que pueden jugar las organizaciones no

gubernamentales con vocaciôn cientifica, como la Sociedad Internacio-

nal de Criminologia, en la orientaciôn de politicas criminales, al lado de

las instancias politicas nacionales e internacionales, particularmente la

Organizaciôon de Naciones Unidas, el Consejo de Europa o la Uniôn

Europea.

SUMMARY

The author analyses the role that can be played by non-governmental

organisations with a scientific vocation such as the International Society

for Criminology, in the orientation of criminal policy, in tandem with

national and international authorities, particularly the United Nations

Organization, the Council of Europe, or the European Union.

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