McCahill, M., Finn, R.L.
The surveillance of ‘prolific’ offenders: Beyond ‘docile bodies’
(2013) Punishment and Society, 15 (1), pp. 23-42.
Abstract
This article uses ethnographic research to explore how a sample of state-defined ‘prolific’ offenders living in Northern City (a small city in the North of England) experience and respond to a surveillance regime which includes ‘appointments’, ‘tracking’, ‘interviews’, ‘drug testing’, ‘electronic monitoring’, ‘home visits’ and ‘intelligence-led policing’. While some writers have argued that the experience of ‘house arrest’ and electronic monitoring is consistent with ‘disciplinary power’ and the ‘self-governing capabilities’ identified by Foucault, our article interweaves surveillance theory with the work of Pierre Bourdieu to argue that the ‘surveilled’ are a group of creative ‘social actors’ who may negotiate, modify, evade or contest surveillance practices. © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.
Author Keywords
‘prolific’ offenders; capital; resistance; surveillance
DOI: 10.1177/1462474512466198
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