ADVANCED NOTICE
ZEMIOLOGY: BEYOND CRIMINOLOGY?
Conference at Dartington, Totnes, Devon
12th and 13th February 1999.
During a person's life-cycle they are going to experience a range of physical and
social harms in different contexts: in the home, on the street, at work and at play.
The patterns of harm and the social background of those affected will vary
according to the levels of development of their country. The source of harm will
include poverty, malnutrition, war, state violence, pollution, traffic accidents,
disease, crime, medical negligence, natural and avoidable disasters. Many of these
harms will be ignored whilst others will be responded to by a number of different
agencies. At a national level, for example, in Britain the response may come from
the police, the health and safety executive, social services and increasingly private
organisations. At the international level, human rights organisations play an
important role in responding to social harm.
The aim of this one day conference is to explore the feasibility and policy potential
of moving beyond the analysis of crime to the study of harm, hence zemiology,
which comes from the Greek word zemia meaning harm.
The main objective will be to define what we mean by harm; the context in which
harm is most likely to occur; the patterns and extent of harm; and the
characteristics of those most likely to experience harm.
A second objective will be to understand why criminology has been so impervious
to the substantial critiques which have been made over many years. To begin with,
there is no ontological reality to crime and the vast majority of events which are
dealt with by the criminal justice system would not score particularly highly on a
scale of personal hardship. Moreover, events which do cause serious harm and
appear to be within the embrace of the criminal justice system are either ignored or
dealt with in other arenas. Furthermore, it accepts uncritically key notions of
criminal law such as intent and individual responsibility which play a fundamental
role in classifying certain social harms as criminal.
A third objective is to explore whether a new approach would assist in developing a
broader and more effective range of policy responses to the harm which people
experience during their life cycle. When an harmful event is defined as a crime a
process of criminalisation is set in motion, foreclosing social policy and political
responses. The criminalisation process - the defining, the collating, the classifying,
the broadcasting, the fortifying and the disposing - is expanding and penetrating
deeper into the social structures of modern societies. Crime control has become an
industry, yet it remains extremely ineffective in providing protection from harm.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in Britain may exacerbate the emphasis on harms
defined through criminalisation. It makes provision for every local authority to
produce a "Crime Audit". What is the potential to broaden the remit to produce a
social harm or a public safety audit which would include data on pollution, deaths
and injuries at work, epidemiology and iatrogenesis? Some local authorities are
already moving in this direction.
The fourth objective of the conference will be to discuss the viability and potential
of an approach organised around the concept of social harm. Would such an
approach be subject to insoluble definitional problems? Would it challenge the
narrow paradigm of criminology? Would it lead to a change in emphasis on events
which are considered harmful? Would it lead to a decline in the criminalisation?
Would it change the range of responses to social harm?
Confirmed speakers include: Louise Christian, Marianne Hester, Betsy Stanko,
Andrew Sanders, Phil Scraton, Steve Tombs, and Tony Ward.
All participants will be invited to send in advance comments, ideas, reactions prior
to the Conference. These will then be available in the Conference packs. Speakers
will be limited to 20 minute presentations providing ample time for discussion.
Further details will be available from Paddy Hillyard and Christina Pantazis, Centre
for the Study of Social Exclusion and Social Justice, School for Policy Studies,
University of Bristol. Telephone and email details:
Paddy Hillyard (0117) 928 9000 ext. 4078 [log in to unmask] Christina
Pantazis (0117) 928 8519 [log in to unmask]
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