Suchergebnisse

Presents a vision of social control with specific reference to the situation of Italy at the end of the millennium, drawing on personal experience with social control policies. The situation in Italy is described as one in which the recourse to penality has increased as a means of stabilizing the social system, while a market ideology has legitimized recourse to privately funded security agencies. These processes are taken to be congruent to the extent that the Italian Left has subserved the conservative position by confusing the social demand for security with a social demand for legality. It is suggested that no definitive solution to the dilemma created by these processes is imminent, but progress may be made in incremental steps. Policy debates leading to such progress should be founded on several valid discussion points: (1) crime prevention ought to be conducted at the local level; (2) preventive efforts are effective to the extent that they mobilize people to create social consensus; (3) this consensus cannot be based on fear of crime; & (4) safeguarding public security cannot be achieved solely by the police, but must include the participation of other local democratic institutions. D. M. Smith