Work

Resisting and enabling domination: voluntary organizations’ efforts to regulate prison and police detention

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Mobilizing a neo-republican account of domination, we explore voluntary organizations’ efforts to regulate prison and police detention. We find that regulatory functions ‘on the books’ are insufficient to counteract detainee domination ‘in action’, as power is neither reliably controlled by common knowledge and effective rules, nor under sufficient control by persons and groups subject to those rules. Using a large, original qualitative dataset, we present four antipowers through which voluntary organizations seek to regulate domination in detention: (1) providing information and advice to detainees; (2) holding rule makers to account on behalf of detainees; (3) campaigning for different rules; (4) establishing democratic participation by prisoners. Simultaneously, we illustrate how voluntary organizations may contribute to domination and be subject to dominating practices from authorities.

Source: The British Journal of Criminology

DOI: 10.1093/bjc/azaf091

Authors: Matty Hall, Philippa Tomczak

Institution: University of Nottingham

Language: English

Topic: Criminal Justice and Penology

Subfield: Law

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $5,341