Conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social 
Control (British Section)

State Crime and Corporate Violence: 
Human Rights Violations in the New World Order

CALL FOR PAPERS
 
25-27th April 2000
University of Wales, Bangor


A commitment to respect and guarantee human rights has been central to the 
self-conception of democratic states throughout late modernity. In the post-war 
era this commitment has received formal acknowledgement in the adoption of 
numerous conventions on human rights to which most states, democratic or otherwise, 
are now signatories.  Whilst formally committed to respecting human rights, democratic 
as well as authoritarian states have been and remain implicated in serious human rights 
violations.   

The main provisions of the 1998 Human Rights Act, which incorporates most of the 
European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, comes into force in October 2000.  
While the Act aims to guarantee and protect human rights, it will take effect in a 
state where legislation of recent decades in areas such as criminal justice, 
political asylum and mental health has become, and continues to become, 
increasingly repressive. 

The conference will problematise and contest these violations by examining a 
range of repressive practices adopted by economically advanced states and corporations.  
The conference will also examine the wider social, political and cultural context that 
allows such violations to continue. 

The conference will address the following themes: 

Ø state and corporate complicity with oppressive regimes
 
Ø human rights violations sanctioned by trans-national corporations
 
Ø human rights violations sanctioned by democratic states against their own populations 
 
Ø cultures of denial and techniques of neutralisation

Ø the potential negative consequences of the implementation of the meta-narrative of 
'Human Rights' in terms of the self-determination of 'bodies'



Abstracts of about 200 words should be sent to Christina Pantazis, Centre for the 
Study of Social Exclusion and Social Justice, SPS, University of Bristol,  8 Priory Road, 
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 ITZ.  Email: [log in to unmask] 

Further information and application forms can be obtained from Claire Davis Centre for 
Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Wales Bangor, Bryn Afon, 
College Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DG. Tel: 01248-383886; Fax: 01248-382217; 
Email: [log in to unmask]

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C Pantazis, School Policy Studies
[log in to unmask]
Centre for the study of social exclusion and social justice
School for Policy Studies
University of Bristol
8 Priory Road
Bristol
BS8 ITZ

Telephone: (0117) 9546766
Fax: (0117) 9546756

--- End Forwarded Message ---


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C Pantazis, School Policy Studies
[log in to unmask]
Centre for the study of social exclusion and social justice
School for Policy Studies
University of Bristol
8 Priory Road
Bristol
BS8 ITZ

Telephone: (0117) 9546766
Fax: (0117) 9546756



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