The surveillance of 'prolific' offenders : beyond 'docile bodies'

McCahill, Michael; Finn, R

Abstract

This article uses ethnographic research to explore how a sample of state-defined ‘prolific’ offenders living in Northern City (a small city in the North of England) experience and respond to a surveillance regime which includes ‘appointments’, ‘tracking’, ‘interviews’, ‘drug testing’, ‘electronic monitoring’, ‘home visits’ and ‘intelligence-led policing’. While some writers have argued that the experience of ‘house arrest’ and electronic monitoring is consistent with ‘disciplinary power’ and the ‘self-governing capabilities’ identified by Foucault, our article interweaves surveillance theory with the work of Pierre Bourdieu to argue that the ‘surveilled’ are a group of creative ‘social actors’ who may negotiate, modify, evade or contest surveillance practices.

Citation

McCahill, M., & Finn, R. The surveillance of 'prolific' offenders : beyond 'docile bodies'. Punishment and Society, 15(1), 23-42. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474512466198

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Punishment & Society-International Journal Of Penology
• Print ISSN: 1462-4745
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 23-42
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474512466198
• Keywords: REF 2014 submission**
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/465415
• Contract Date: Nov 13, 2014