Local governance of safety and the normalization of behavior

Urban space and the social control of incivilities: perceptions of space influencing the regulation of anti-social behaviour

“…The increasing regulation and social control of incivilities across Europe is a prime example of a shift in social control from the notion of crime towards broader notions of disorder and other sub-criminal behaviour (Garland 2001;Zedner 2009;Pleysier 2015;Peršak 2016a). Incivilities, also known under other names, such as anti-social behaviour, disorder, quality-oflife crimes, public nuisance and petty offences, encompass a variety of conduct from littering and vandalism to public drunkenness, aggressive begging, noisy neighbours and so forth.…”

Controlling risks in the safe city: The rise of pre-emptive practices in law enforcement, public surveillance and mental health and addiction care (1970–2020)

“…This article is different because it scrutinises pre-emptive practices in law enforcement, public surveillance, mental health and addiction care in the urban context of Amersfoort to analyse how and to what extent an 'integral' precautionary approach of urban criminal justice and public mental health care has emerged since the 1980s. In addition, we question the tendency in the above, as well as in urban studies of precautionary practices, to emphasise the top-down, uncontested policy process (Gressgard, 2016;Pleysier, 2015). We show how these practices are often contested, also on the top level; municipal policies also regularly result from bottom-up pressure, as 'elites or the powerful cannot completely set the tone of a specific urban social control' (Persak and Di Ronco, 2018: 338).…”

From harmless incivilities to not-so serious organised crime activities. The expanded realm of European crime prevention and some suggestions on how to limit it

“…The expansion in CP has been reflected in its goals, which, as put it by Garland (2001: 16-17), have broadened to include "prevention, security, harm-reduction, loss-reduction, fear-reduction-that are quite different from the traditional goals of prosecution, punishment, and 'criminal justice'". According to social theorists of risk, CP is currently dominated by an anticipatory logic (Zedner, 2007;Pleysier, 2015Pleysier, , 2017, which emphasises the importance of preventing the public from future harms and protecting it from 'risk' (Beck, 1992). In contemporary actuarial justice (Freely and Simon, 1994), individual and collective assessments of what constitutes a 'risk group' may largely be affected by public perceptions and fears, also fuelled by the media and contingent 'moral panics' (for a case of fears shaping the national security policy and its reliance on 'risk profiles', see van Swaaningen, 2005).…”

“…b No 1). In short, according to this decree local measures can target behaviour that falls within the pre-crime stage (Pleysier, 2015(Pleysier, , 2017, for it favouring or being conducive to 'serious' crime, such as drug dealing, violence and the exploitation of prostitution.…”