THE LIMITS OF THE SOVEREIGN STATE - STRATEGIES OF CRIME-CONTROL IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

The article offers a descriptive analysis of strategies of crime contr ol in contemporary Britain and elsewhere. It argues that the normality of high crime rates and the limitations of criminal justice agencies have created a new predicament for governments. The response to this p redicament has been a recurring ambivalence that helps explain the vol atile and contradictory character of recent crime control policy. The article identifies adaptive strategies (responsibilization, defining d eviance down, and redefining organizational success) and strategies of denial (the punitive sovereign response), as well as the different cr iminologies that accompany them.