Table Of ContentActor-Network theory
ANd crime StudieS
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Actor-Network theory
and crime Studies
explorations in Science and technology
Edited by
domiNique robert and mArtiN dufreSNe
University of Ottawa, Canada
© dominique robert and martin dufresne 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
dominique robert and martin dufresne have asserted their right under the copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the british Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
robert, dominique, 1970-
Actor-network theory and crime studies : explorations in science and technology / by
dominique robert and martin dufresne.
pages cm
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSbN 978-1-4724-1710-7 (hardback) -- iSbN 978-1-4724-1711-4 (ebook) -- iSbN 978-
1-4724-1712-1 (epub) 1. Actor-network theory. 2. criminology--research. i. dufresne,
martin. ii. title.
hm741.r63 2014
303.01--dc23
2014020420
iSbN 9781472417107 (hbk)
iSbN 9781472417121 (ebk – Pdf)
iSbN 9781472417121 (ebk – ePub)
V
Printed in the united kingdom by henry Ling Limited,
at the dorset Press, dorchester, dt1 1hd
Contents
Notes on Contributors vii
Preface by Katja Franko Aas ix
Introduction: Thinking through Networks, Reaching for Objects
and Witnessing Facticity 1
Dominique Robert and Martin Dufresne
1 Situational Crime Prevention in Nightlife Spaces: An ANT
Examination of PAD Dogs and Doorwork 5
Jakob Demant and Ella Dilkes-Frayne
2 Actor Network Theory and CCTV Development 21
Anne-Cécile Douillet and Laurence Dumoulin
3 How Does a Gene in a Scientific Journal Affect My Future
Behavior? 37
Martin Dufresne
4 Making Crime Messy 51
Anita Lam
5 Seeing Crime: ANT, Feminism and Images of Violence Against
Women 67
Dawn Moore and Rashmee Singh
6 Translating Critical Scholarship Out of the Academy: ANT,
Deconstruction and Public Criminology 81
Michael Mopas
7 Can Electricity Soothe the Savage Breast? What Tasers Do to the
Police Use of Force 99
Cédric Moreau de Bellaing
8 The Relevance of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) for Research on
the Use of Genetic Analysis for Identification in Criminal Justice 113
Bertrand Renard
vi Actor-Network Theory and Crime Studies
9 The Factishes of DNA Identification: How a Scientist Speaks
about His Craft to Politicians 127
Dominique Robert and Martin Dufresne
Index 143
Notes on Contributors
Katja Franko Aas Ph.D., is Professor, Department of Criminology and Sociology
of Law, University of Olso, Norway. She is Editor, among others, of The Borders
of Punishment. Migration Citizenship, and Social Exclusion (2013, Oxford
University Press), Cosmopolitan Justice and its Discontent (2011, Routledge). She
is the author of Sentencing in the Age of Information: From Faust to Macintosh
(2005, Cavendish/Glasshouse Press) and many articles published in Theoretical
Criminology and Punishment and Society.
Jakob Demant Ph.D., is Professor, Department of Sociology, University of
Copenhagen, Denmark. He is author of articles published in Body and Society,
Alcohol Use and Misuse, Health, Risk and Society.
Ella Dilkes-Frayne is a Ph.D. candidate at Monash University, Australia. She is
author of articles published in Contemporary Drug Problems.
Anne-Cécile Douillet Ph.D. is Professor, Department of Political Sciences,
Université Lille 2, France. She is the author of L’action publique et la question
territoriale, (2005, PUG) and articles published in British Journal of Criminology,
Champ pénal and Politique Européenne.
Martin Dufresne Ph.D., is Associate Professor, Department of Criminology,
University of Ottawa, Canada. He is the author of articles published in Canadian
Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, New Genetics and Society, Nouvelles
pratiques sociales.
Laurence Dumoulin Ph.D., is Researcher, Institut des sciences sociales du
politique (CNRS-ENS Cachan), France. He is the author of articles published in
Droit et Société, Réseaux, British Journal of Criminology.
Anita Lam, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor, Department of Social Science, York
University, Canada. She is the author of Making Crime Television (2014, Routledge)
and articles published in Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Dawn Moore Ph.D. is Associate Professor, Department of Law and Legal Studies,
Carleton University, Canada. She is the author of Criminal Artefacts: Governing,
Drugs and Users (2007, UBC Press) and articles published in Punishment and
Society, Theoretical Criminology, British Journal of Criminology.
viii Actor-Network Theory and Crime Studies
Michael S. Mopas Ph.D., is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and
Anthropology, Carleton University, Canada. Author of articles published in Crime,
Media, Culture: An International Journal, Canadian Journal of Law and Society,
Critical Criminology.
Cédric Moreau de Bellaing Ph.D., is Assistant Professor, Department of Social
Sciences, École normale supérieure, France. He is the author of articles published
in Déviance et Société, Droit et Culture, Politix.
Bertrand Renard Ph.D., is Researcher, National Institute of Criminalistic and
Criminology, Belgium. He is the author of articles published in Droit et Cultures,
Déviance et société and Champ pénal.
Dominique Robert Ph.D., is Associate Professor, Department of Criminology,
University of Ottawa, Canada. She is the author of articles published in
Criminologie, Réseaux, New Genetics and Society.
Rashmee Singh Ph.D. is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Legal
Studies, University of Waterloo, Canada. She is the author of articles published in
Theoretical Criminology and Canadian Journal of Sociology.
Preface
Katja Franko Aas
It is no longer clear whether there exist relations that are specific enough to be
called ‘social’ and that could be grouped together in making up a special domain
that could function as ‘a society’. The social seems to be diluted everywhere and
yet nowhere in particular. (Latour 2007: 2)
The statement above may seem radical, particularly to a social science trained
reader. It also resonates, as Latour himself observes (ibid.: 5), with Margaret
Thatcher’s famous quip – fervently critiqued by numerous academic and other
critical social observers alike – that “[t]here is no such a thing as a society”. This
characteristic embrace of controversy may explain some of the love-hate attitudes
held towards Latour’s work throughout the years. Yet, I would like to suggest
that it precisely at the heart of the heated debate that also lie some of the most
important challenges and contributions that this volume, and the work of actor-
network-theory (ANT) more generally, holds to criminological scholarship.
While one may fervently disagree with Latour’s diagnosis, and/or his style, this
preface suggests that, in the spirit of intellectual honesty and curiosity, criminology
should face the challenge presented by the ANT. As evident in contributions to
this volume, the work of scholars associated with the ANT presents us with a
fundamental question: how does criminology see society? More precisely, how
does it conceptualize and theorize the nature of non-human sociality? The ANT
invites us to question our understanding of the social and proposes a radical
redefinition of the notion of the social; so radical that, for some, it may amount to
denial. To claim, for example, that there are no groups, only group formations, is
to question one of the central premises of criminological and sociological enquiry
of subcultures and socially marginalized groups. The question is, of course, why
should criminology face such a head on challenge to some of its most central and
cherished traditions? In what follows I shall make an attempt at answering the
question and outline several domains and examples where ANT holds potential
contributions to our understanding of crime and punishment.
Criminology and Socio-Technological Change
The question of the social emerges, as Latour (2007: 247) points out, ‘when the ties
in which one is entangled begin to unravel’. The condition of unravelling of social
ties is a diagnosis that several prominent observers of crime control have been
