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“Violence as Unresponsiveness: Toward a New Conception of Crime.”

Pepinsky, Hal.
June 4, 2015

Source: (1988) Justice Quarterly 5(4):539-563.

This essay views crime and punishment as synonymous forms of domination that rise and fall as systems of power are concentrated and dissipated. The result is a theory of “unresponsiveness, +” and a counterpart theory of peacemaking as a matter of organizing “responsiveness.” Responsiveness is viewed as the antithesis of violence, which escalates as a function of an increasing scale of social organization. Examples are presented of how responsiveness might be organized to reduce violence, crime and punishment.

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