Organizational Deviance and Political Policing (From Organizational Police Deviance - Its Structure and Control, P 111-125, 1981, Clifford D Shearing, ed. - See NCJ-85562)

• NCJ Number: 85567
• Author(s): A T Turk
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Butterworth
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from Criminology, V 19, N 2, P 231-250; revision of a paper presented at the meeting of the American Society of Criminology, November 7-10, 1979, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Annotation

This article clarifies the meaning of deviance by and within organizations engaged in political policing, points out the structural sources of such deviance, and assesses the potential impact of various proposals for preventing or stopping this deviance.

Abstract

Political policing can be labeled deviant if there are (1) demonstrable violations of legal rules and (2) blameworthy failures to accomplish organizational objectives. Legal deviance in political policing cannot be defined independently of the specific political context or apart from the political/legal consequences of disclosures. Any conception of legal deviance in this type of policing inevitably clashes with the fact that such organizations were invented to prevent radical political changes. Political and military considerations often override legal or ethical ones. Thus, the same practice can be legal and illegal, depending upon what is required and the political consequences of disclosure. To help solve this problem, the article defines the goals of political police organizations based on what is known or reported about their activities and lists in order of decreasing probability policing actions that may be deviant under law if the organization cannot sustain a denial under internal/external review. Political, legal, and organizational proposals for curtailing deviance in political policing are outlined. Notes and 18 references are supplied.