« Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century

« Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century

This article attempts, via a comparative analysis of the memoirs of French and English policemen written around the turn of the century, to investigate police perspectives of and attitudes towards the poorer classes. Initially, a comparison is made between police views of the putative causes of indi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
In:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/chs,
Main Author: Lawrence, Paul
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Language:Anglais
Published: Crime, Histoire & Sociétés 2009
Online Access:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
id openedition-oai:revues.org:chs_849
record_format openedition
spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:chs_849 en https://journals.openedition.org/chs/849 2009-04-02T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/dz6t All rights reserved « Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century Crime, Histoire & Sociétés Librairie Droz info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1663-4837 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1422-0857 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/chs Lawrence, Paul This article attempts, via a comparative analysis of the memoirs of French and English policemen written around the turn of the century, to investigate police perspectives of and attitudes towards the poorer classes. Initially, a comparison is made between police views of the putative causes of indigent criminality and those advanced by mainstream social commentators. Then, police attitudes towards vagrants/mendicants are examined and contrasted with the assistance and tolerance granted to the so-called 'deserving poor’. It is concluded that while the social control junctions of the police in both countries were evident in their dealings with the poor, police perceptions were nonetheless multi-dimensional. Pragmatism, empathy and practical assistance were as much in evidence as repression and suspicion. En comparant les mémoires des policiers anglais et français, cet article examine les représentations et les attitudes des policiers à l'égard des classes les plus pauvres. Dans un premier temps on compare leur vision de la criminalité des indigents avec celle du courant dominant au sein des spécialistes de la question sociale. On étudie ensuite les attitudes policières concernant les vagabonds et les mendiants, qui contrastent avec l'assistance et la tolérance accordés aux « pauvres méritants ». On en conclut que si, dans les deux pays, la fonction de contrôle social confiée à la police est évidente, les représentations policières sont cependant multi-dimensionnelles. Le pragmatisme, l'empathie et l'aide concrète sont aussi présents que la répression et le soupçon.
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
description This article attempts, via a comparative analysis of the memoirs of French and English policemen written around the turn of the century, to investigate police perspectives of and attitudes towards the poorer classes. Initially, a comparison is made between police views of the putative causes of indigent criminality and those advanced by mainstream social commentators. Then, police attitudes towards vagrants/mendicants are examined and contrasted with the assistance and tolerance granted to the so-called 'deserving poor’. It is concluded that while the social control junctions of the police in both countries were evident in their dealings with the poor, police perceptions were nonetheless multi-dimensional. Pragmatism, empathy and practical assistance were as much in evidence as repression and suspicion.
author Lawrence, Paul
spellingShingle Lawrence, Paul
« Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century
author_facet Lawrence, Paul
author_sort Lawrence, Paul
title « Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century
title_short « Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century
title_full « Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century
title_fullStr « Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century
title_full_unstemmed « Images of Poverty and Crime ». Police Memoirs in England and France at the end of the nineteenth Century
title_sort « images of poverty and crime ». police memoirs in england and france at the end of the nineteenth century
publisher Crime, Histoire & Sociétés
publishDate 2009
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/chs
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/chs/849
_version_ 1877244423438336000

Similar Items