IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/36544.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A curious reconstruction? the shaping of 'Marketized' forensic science

Author

Listed:
  • Lawless, Christopher J

Abstract

The integration of science into policing functions continues to be a subject of considerable official concern. Sociological study of forensic science has demonstrated great promise in illuminating the dynamics of the law-science relationship, but has yet to be fully extended to issues relating to policing. This paper seeks to address the importance of extending research activity in this area by addressing the effects of broader political and economic trends on the development of forensic science and its use in criminal investigations. It focuses on the influence of 'liberalizing' policies on policing functions, which have extended to the provision of scientific support to the police. Forensic scientific services in England and Wales are now procured via a market-led system, and an economic imperative can be seen to have permeated strongly into this domain. With recourse to examples of a series of initiatives, I show how the application of liberalizing processes has permeated into the science-police relationship in various ways, leading to the emergence of assemblages which serve to differentially reconstruct the relationship between forensic scientists and their chief 'customers', the police. I argue that these differences in reconstruction reflect ongoing tensions between two different interpretations of scientific integration - one which is science-led and another which is police-led. Drawing upon these examples, I demonstrate how these tensions manifest themselves, but also show how these two interpretations co-exist. I show how an exploration of these initiatives aids understanding of how science, policing, and liberal modes of governance co-evolve.

Suggested Citation

  • Lawless, Christopher J, 2010. "A curious reconstruction? the shaping of 'Marketized' forensic science," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 36544, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:36544
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/36544/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michel Callon, 2006. "What does it mean to say that economics is performative?," CSI Working Papers Series 005, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Karl Beyer & Stephan Puehringer, 2019. "Divided we stand? Professional consensus and political conflict in academic economics," ICAE Working Papers 94, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    2. Stephan Puehringer, 2021. "Zur Pluralitaet der oekonomischen Politikberatung in Deutschland," ICAE Working Papers 132, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    3. Andrea Pollio, 2020. "Making the silicon cape of Africa: Tales, theories and the narration of startup urbanism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(13), pages 2715-2732, October.
    4. Bear, Laura, 2020. "Speculations on infrastructure: from colonial public works to a postcolonial global asset class on the Indian Railways 1840-2017," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103445, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Isabelle Huault & Hélène Rainelli-Le Montagner, 2007. "Innovations financières:construire et légitimer un nouveau marché financier de gré à gré–le cas des dérivés de crédit," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 10(1), pages 211-243, March.
    6. Anette Hallin & Tina Karrbom‐Gustavsson & Peter Dobers, 2021. "Transition towards and of sustainability—Understanding sustainability as performative," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1948-1957, May.
    7. Sarah Bracking, 2012. "How do Investors Value Environmental Harm/Care? Private Equity Funds, Development Finance Institutions and the Partial Financialization of Nature-based Industries," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 271-293, January.
    8. Marlee Tichenor, 2022. "Statistical capacity development and the production of epistemic infrastructures [The millennium development goals: A critique from the south]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(4), pages 541-554.
    9. Mike G Tennant, 2015. "Values-led entrepreneurship: Developing business models through the exercise of reflexivity," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 30(5), pages 520-533, August.
    10. Marion Maignan, 2014. "The collective interest cooperative company (SCIC), a social innovation : performativity of alternative models in the third sector organizations," Post-Print halshs-01468643, HAL.
    11. Riccardo Baldissone, 2013. "And the Real Butchers, Brewers and Bakers? Towards the Integration of Ethics and Economics," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 2(1), pages 1-5, April.
    12. Isabelle Huault & Hélène Rainelli Le Montagner, 2007. "Innovations financières : construire et légitimer un nouveau marché financier de gré à gré," Post-Print halshs-00150768, HAL.
    13. Farías, Ignacio, 2014. "Virtual attractors, actual assemblages: How Luhmann’s theory of communication complements actor-network theory," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 17(1), pages 24-41.
    14. Sander Merkus & Marcel Veenswijk, 2017. "Turning New Public Management theory into reality: Performative struggle during a large scale planning process," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(7), pages 1264-1284, November.
    15. Tribe, John & Liburd, Janne J., 2016. "The tourism knowledge system," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 44-61.
    16. Kosta Josifidis & Alpar Lošonc & Novica Supić, 2010. "Neoliberalism: Befall or Respite?," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 57(1), pages 101-117, March.
    17. Kopper, Moisés, 2019. "A politics of hope: The making of Brazil's post-neoliberal new middle class," MPIfG Discussion Paper 19/7, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    18. Nabila Iken & Franck Aggeri & Stéphane Morel, 2020. "How to lead a sustainability transition at the company level? An approach based on management tools performativity [Comment mener une transition soutenable au niveau de l'entreprise ? Une approche ," Post-Print halshs-02903500, HAL.
    19. Claudius Graebner & Stephan Puehringer, 2021. "Competition universalism: Its historical origins and timely alternatives," ICAE Working Papers 125, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H0 - Public Economics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:36544. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.