Risk calculation and precautionary uncertainty: two configurations within crime assessment
In: Crime, law and social change: an interdisciplinary journal, Band 55, Heft 1, S. 15-31
ISSN: 1573-0751
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In: Crime, law and social change: an interdisciplinary journal, Band 55, Heft 1, S. 15-31
ISSN: 1573-0751
In: Crime, Law and Social Change, Band 55, Heft 1, S. 15-31
This paper explores two configurations of thinking about crime amongst law enforcement agencies and private sector security managers: 'risk calculation' (concerned with everyday, calculable probabilities and impacts and their management) and 'precautionary uncertainty' (concerned with events that might be incapacitating, yet are not calculable by probability assessments). The paper explores their respective constituent concepts and fields of application in crime assessment, drawing upon qualitative research-in-progress in Belgium. Risk calculation, as applied to crime, starts with past data on routines that link perpetrators with targets that lack capable guardians. Precautionary uncertainty focuses on potential impacts that are highly disabling and potentially wide-spreading (contagion, knock-on effects), asking how such impacts can be contained and recovered from. Risk and uncertainty are shown to be related to 'rational-instrumental' and 'deliberative-constitutive' approaches as developed by Fisher's work in the field of law, which offers a meta-narrative in relation to which they can be positioned. Finally, the paper asks if these two crime assessment methods should be seen as distinct or as merging. On the basis of criteria of conceptual sharpness, openness to public debate and justiciability, the authors champion the maintenance of a clear distinction between risk and uncertainty.
In: Crime, law and social change: an interdisciplinary journal, Band 55, Heft 1, S. 15-31
ISSN: 1573-0751
In: Evidence & policy: a journal of research, debate and practice, Band 19, Heft 2, S. 256-274
ISSN: 1744-2656
Background:Research impact is at least partly generated through collaborative interactions, yet the associations between knowledge production and impact are far more complex than relatively simple linear models generally describe.
Aims and objectives:In this case study, we focus on a community-university partnership and try to answer the question, 'What are the conditions that facilitate or hinder successful collaborative interactions aimed towards solving a shared challenge between partners from different organisations?'
Methods:A set of four co-creation sessions with diverse stakeholders was organised with the aim of tackling the nuisance caused by youth in a specific deprived neighbourhood in Belgium. The sessions were video-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed following a Grounded Theory (GT) approach to develop theoretical understandings of the process of knowledge production and research impact.
Findings:Roles and mandates of individual stakeholder representatives determine (and hinder) their access to (confidential) information, but also their visibility and accessibility towards youth as end users. Achieving positive outcomes through collaboration was perceived by stakeholders as slowly evolving towards small successes, and was facilitated by being able to accept failure, working in a climate of trust, developing a shared identity, managing expectations, informally sharing information, and being able to connect with youth.
Discussion and conclusions:We reflect on the importance of overcoming organisational asymmetries in collaborative interactions through installing feedback loops, and through the particular roles of boundary organisations, boundary objects, and practical tools that can help steer iterative collaborative interactions towards positive impact.