Abstract
This paper comprises a theoretical and empirical incursion into the phenomenon of state violence, namely police violence. Although extensively explored in different perspectives within and outside academia, police violence is complex and has not been sufficiently problematized yet. In our understanding, this phenomenon requires a dialectical and dynamic discussion wherein both the development of state powers (macro-perspective) and how these powers affect the subjectification of those who act on their behalf (micro-perspective) are articulated into a critical analysis. In more concrete terms, the present study contributes to such analysis by shedding light on the main processes of moral disengagement (cf. Bandura, 1990, 1999, 2004) disclosed in the internal perspectives of six Portuguese police officers about common daily work-related situations. To legitimize the resort to police violence, police officers rely heavily on different mechanisms of moral disengagement. For instance, sanitizing language (anchored in a police technical jargon) is typically used as a linguistic mechanism to disguise violent actions; advantageous comparisons with other law enforcement agencies or with the recipient’s conduct are typically employed; non-lethal violence is usually minimized and portrayed as innocuous; and the recipient of violence is usually dehumanised and seen as responsible for the acts of violence. The findings are discussed based on the moral disengagement theory (Bandura, 1990, 1999, 2004); on the denial approach (Cohen, 2001, 2003); and on the impact of organizational, legal and socio-cultural dimensions of police organization (e.g., Fassin, 2011; Huggins, Haritos-Fatouros, & Zimbardo, 2002).
Highlights
This paper comprises a theoretical and empirical incursion into the phenomenon of state violence, namely police violence
Following Albert Bandura’s framework, our results show how moral disengagement allows for the emergence of harmful conduct even if basic “anti-violence” moral standards remain unaffected
The discussion of such mechanisms is organised in this paper in accordance to Bandura’s distinction between different sets of mechanisms such as behaviour, outcome, agency and recipient mechanisms (Bandura, 1990, 1999, 2004): 1. Behaviour mechanisms are reflected in the use of sanitizing language framed within police officers’ technical and professional jargon, for example
Summary
This paper comprises a theoretical and empirical incursion into the phenomenon of state violence, namely police violence. Barbosa, & Matos studies is that police violence or use of force can be explained through different variables (e.g., situational characteristics, personal traits) and, if these variables are understood and controlled, the damage resulting from police violence can be mitigated These works often fail to examine, at a macro-level, how police violence is constituted within state coercive powers themselves and, at a micro-level, how these powers and the instituted ‘work of violence’ affects several subjective dimensions (e.g., socio-moral, psychological) of police officers as ‘powerholders’ or state-representatives. A second example is the emergence of police violence as an important public issue in Portugal due to the intense media coverage of police repression and violence, mainly during the public demonstrations carried out between 2011 and 2013 These demonstrations arose as an expression of the social dissatisfaction felt towards the economic austerity measures and labour precariousness of the time, and towards the oppressive response to quell the demonstrations (cf Duarte & Baumgarten, 2015; Soeiro, 2014). It is worth mentioning the public scrutiny of violence embedded in the training procedures of the Portuguese armed forces, an instance of which resulted in the deaths of two military trainees during the last year of 2017
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