Crime, Social Control and Human Rights: From Moral Panics to States of Denial, Essays in Honour of Stanley Cohen by D. Downes, P. Rock, C. Chinkin and C. Gearty (Eds.)

Abstract

Cullompton : Willan ( 2007 ) 452pp . £50.00hb ISBN 978-1-84392-228-5 Stan Cohen occupies a pivotal position in criminology. His work over the last four decades has done much to transform the discipline from a dull social science into the site of exciting, formidable and urgent political questions, while his commitment to intellectual honesty, social justice and humanitarian practice has come to define the vocation. He is, as the editors of this collection honouring his contribution say: ‘almost above controversy, and is steadfastly admired by those who are little inclined to admire one another’ (p.xxiii). The book includes some 30 chapters written by a mix of international luminaries, rising scholars and active practitioners – each of whom has been influenced by some aspect of Cohen's work – and is divided into six chronological parts. Following a foreword by Noam Chomsky and a brief introduction by the editors, which does the difficult job of contextualising his œuvre and distinctive approach in a few pages, the first part addresses Cohen's seminal influences. It contains essays on what it was like to grow up with Stan as a Jewish boy in a divided South Africa (Adam Kuper), the experience of exile in foreign places (Richard Sennett), a recent interview (Laurie Taylor), and the troubling ethics of research (Howard Becker). The next two parts deal with his early work on youth culture and psychological survival. Three chapters are devoted to his much used and abused concept of moral panic and in different ways seek to update it for current conditions. Thus Malcolm Feeley and Jonathan Simon describe the institutionalisation of moral panics in North America, Jock Young grapples with the concept in late modern, media-saturated worlds and Michael Welch charts the move from over- to under-reaction (from panic to denial) in his and Cohen's work. The remaining chapters cover the punishment of sexual offenders (Andrew Rutherford), the degradations of healthcare systems (Harvey Molotch), Supermax imprisonment (Sharon Shalev), the torture debate (David Kretzmer), and the death penalty (David Garland). The fourth part revisits Cohen's (1985)Visions of Social Control, and here the chapters range from detailing the harms generated by markets and states (Steven Lukes), current patterns of crime control (Thomas Blomberg and Carter Hay), the rise of the privatised military in order maintenance (Tim Newburn), the ethics of migration (Robin Cohen), the dispersal of discipline into mental health (Jill Peay) and managing madness (Andrew Scull). Part Five groups articles on Cohen's more recent work on denial and rights. It includes chapters by Nicola Lacey on denial and criminal responsibility, Claire Moon addressing the politics of acknowledgement and Ron Dudai describing the field of transitional justice in areas torn by conflict. Other contributors apply a rights perspective to regions like the Mediterranean (Peter Townsend), Cambodia (Margo Picken), Israel and South Africa (Daphna Golan-Agnon). Finally, Part Six offers ‘Ways ahead’. Beginning with Albie Sachs's remarkable journey from ANC terrorist to Justice in the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the chapters offer various routes to social justice through Cohen's work. They address intimate citizenship (Ken Plummer), restorative justice (Nils Christie), constructing solidarity (Fred Halliday), criminology as vocation (Robert Reiner) and the promise of human rights (Ruth Jamieson and Kieran McEvoy). Clearly, each of the chapters in the collection deal with some aspect of Cohen's intellectual project and inevitably they do so with varying degrees of success, though what is missing is a critical engagement with the project itself – the themes that run through it, what it can and cannot provide. Indeed, he has, at various times, subjected the new criminology, cultural studies and left realism to nuanced critique, and each of these interventions have had a significant impact on subsequent developments in the field. These issues are touched on in the introduction, but one or two of the chapters could have tackled the work as a whole. For example, a persistent theme running through it is a concern with the social psychology of reaction, whether this is through the media, punishment, lived experience, or political condition (as in the later work on denial) and some assessment of this overall distinctiveness would have been helpful. This complaint aside, the book contains many fine essays that will repay lasting attention and is a fitting tribute to a unique vision.