| 1. |
- Jönsson, Elin, 1993-
(författare)
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Hardened Responsibility? : Contestations and Contradictions in the Regulation of Corporations
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Throughout the last decades, the social responsibility of corporations has undergone significant changes. From revolving around self-regulation, voluntariness, and soft law, the regulatory landscape has expanded to involve harder demands on corporations, such as mandatory sustainability due diligence. This thesis considers these changes as a hardening of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and explores such hardening as an outcome of contestation and struggle. In doing so, it echoes critical scholars’ call for criminology to direct attention toward the harms committed by powerful entities – in this case, large corporations in the global context – and the interests that frame the regulatory response to such harms. Three papers are included in this thesis, focusing on key actors that participate in the contestation and struggle under study: politicians (Paper I), corporations (Paper II), and non-governmental organizations (Paper III). The first two papers consider struggles for and against regulatory hardening, and shed light on the contradictory dynamics that permeate these struggles, while the third paper explores how organizations struggling for justice in the wake of corporate harm seek to alter the contours of the existing regulatory landscape. Taken together, the papers offer insight into how social actors articulate demands for change, or resist such change, and their underscoring interests or ambitions.This thesis situates these findings in previous research on the regulation of corporate social and environmental responsibility, considers the papers’ methodologies, and develops the theoretical lens through which the findings can be understood. The final analytical discussion considers the hardened regulations as solutions, with the problem at hand being the paradigm of self-regulation and voluntariness that has long characterized CSR. This problematization is interpreted as an articulation of internal critique, in which social actors strive for consistency between practices and normative expectations. Thus, new regulatory practices, which conform to these expectations, have been proposed. The analysis then traces this problematization, and the contestation around it, to fundamental contradictions. Drawing attention to the inherent contradictoriness of CSR as a social formation, it argues that this should be understood as the driving force behind contestation and thus the hardening trend itself. In addition, the analysis considers the transformative potential in actors’ struggles, suggesting that some may go beyond an adjustment of regulatory practices to an existing normative framework.All in all, the thesis contributes to criminological research on corporate responsibility by highlighting the dynamics of conflict and contradiction involved in contemporary regulation. Moreover, by understanding hardening as a solution to a problem, revolving around the shortcomings of CSR – which was itself introduced as a regulatory solution in the 1990s – the thesis situates the regulation of today in a historical development. By doing so, it draws attention to both continuity and change in this regulatory landscape.
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| 2. |
- Flyghed, Janne, 1953-
(författare)
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Conscription Refusal as Pollitical Resistance
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Resistance Studies. - Sparsnäs : Irene publishing. - 2001-9947. ; 9:1, s. 10-29
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the law on universal conscription was passed 1901, there has been adebate in Sweden concerning how to deal with those who refuse militaryservice. The state faces a dilemma: on the one hand maintaining the law onconscription, while on the other allowing the right to conscientious objection.The objective of this article is to scrutinize how the Swedish state has tried tosolve this dilemma. At the beginning of the 20th century, those who refused tofulfill the fundamental duty of military service were not regarded as deservingany kind of legal protection. Their actions questioned the consensus onthe need for a military defense, and therefore had to be punished. But it didnot take long until this view was modified, and a law was established thatopened up the option of community service for conscientious objectors. In thatway, the legislators created a buffer in the conflict between pro-militarists andanti-militarists. As long as the objectors stayed in the buffer construction, theydid not represent any threat towards military defense. On the contrary, theyeven served as proof that the state respected human rights. The opposition wasin that manner divided into two parts; those who accepted community serviceand those who did not. The latter, who did not accept the state’s offer of communityservice, were sentenced to prison. Since 1901, the legislator’s mainstrategy to tackle opposition towards military defense has been a combinationof co-optation via community service and repression via prison for those whodo not accept that service. It has been of great concern for the lawmakers tokeep the number of the latter, the total resisters, sentenced to prison as low aspossible. If the number becomes too high, it will cause debate and criticism,both in public and in the parliament. The lawmakers have responded bymodifying the prison sentence and changing the construction of the buffer.
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| 3. |
- Burcar Alm, Veronika, et al.
(författare)
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Ungas utsatthet för brott
- 2022. - 5th
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Ingår i: Den svenska ungdomsbrottsligheten. - 9789144152981 ; , s. 115-140
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
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| 4. |
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Den svenska ungdomsbrottsligheten
- 2022. - 5
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ungdomsbrottslighet framstår som ett av de centrala problemområdena i såväl kriminologisk forskning som i svensk samhällsdebatt. I den här antologin medverkar flera av landets främsta experter på ungdomsbrottslighet. Utifrån sin forskning belyser de centrala frågor kring ungdomars brottslighet. Denna femte upplaga innehåller fem helt nyskrivna kapitel som behandlar skjutningar i gängmiljöer, skolan och brottsligheten, ungas utsatthet för brott, ungdomsbrottslighet ur ett livsförloppsperspektiv samt social förändring och ungdomsbrottslighet. Övriga kapitel har genomgått omfattande uppdateringar och omarbetningar. Sammantaget ger boken utifrån skilda perspektiv och metoder en mångfacetterad kunskap om ungdomsbrottslighetens karaktär, omfattning och utveckling, dess orsaker och förklaringar samt om samhällets åtgärder och reaktioner.
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| 5. |
- Schoultz, Isabel, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Performing unbelonging in court : Observations from a transnational corporate bribery trial—a dramaturgical approach
- 2022
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Ingår i: Crime, law and social change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0925-4994 .- 1573-0751. ; :77, s. 321-340
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article presents a study of the theatrical performance in court in a high-profile transnational corporate bribery case. Data gathered from observations in court were supplemented with interviews with the defense teams and the presiding judge. The paper’s objective is to demonstrate how the defendants performed unbelonging in court via the interactions between the different ‘teams’ in the courtroom; the defense, the prosecutors, the judges, and the company Telia. The analysis draws on Goffman’s theater analogy and his understandings of performance and self-presentation. The authors introduce the concept of ‘performing unbelonging in court’ and show how the defendants performed unbelonging via an indirect expression of status and standing. The authors further analyze the defense teams’ framing of the case, including the framing of the defendants as being scapegoated by the corporation, and of the prosecution as being unfair and illegitimate, which also contributes to the performance of unbelonging in court. The complexity and ambiguity of a transnational corporate bribery case permeated the interactions during the trial; however, at the end of the article, the authors discuss how knowledge from this case is transferable to other crime types or legal cultures.
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| 6. |
- Nyberg, Tove, 1989-
(författare)
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Justice for children? : A socio-legal study on Colombia’s responses to children associated with armed violence
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to examine how criminal justice policy practices arose and persist in light of the international victim-centred legal framework for children associated with armed groups. The study explores the gaps between how children are treated in law versus empirical practices of criminalisation in a particular domestic setting (Colombia), which has been riddled by internal armed conflict and hybrid forms of violence. The study centres around how judicial and other actors in Colombia experience policy reform and how they perceive the boundaries of victimisation and criminalisation in relation to children associated with armed violence. The research incorporates insights from youth justice studies on transformation and entrenchment in criminal justice, and various (and difficult) conceptions of victims from victimological studies, especially from the contexts of armed conflicts and peacebuilding. The study employs the qualitative method of interviews with state and government officials, judicial practitioners, and various other organisational actors as well as analyses of relevant policy documents and reports. This research increases our knowledge of criminological and socio-legal processes pertaining to children involved with different types of armed actors, including smaller community-based armed groups like gangs. The main conclusions concern the various complexities surrounding the process of children being recognised as victims in light of common criminalisation practices. The paradoxes inherent to the victim-offender overlap are central to our understanding of entrenched and unsettled practices with regards to children in the peacebuilding and the criminal justice systems.
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| 7. |
- Schoultz, Isabel, et al.
(författare)
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“We Have Been Thrown Under the Bus” : Corporate Versus Individual Defense Mechanisms Against Transnational Corporate Bribery Charges
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime. - 2631-309X .- 2631-3103. ; 2:1, s. 24-35
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The telecommunication company Telia’s dealings in Uzbekistan have resulted in bribery accusations both in Sweden and in abroad. The article analyzes the defense mechanisms produced by both the corporation and the prosecuted former executives of the company. Telia’s initially denial eventually changed into a partial acknowledgment in combination with a scapegoating discourse. While Telia hardly defended itself at all in the Swedish court, the company’s former executives employed a defense of legality, denial of knowledge, of deviance, and of responsibility as well as a claim of being scapegoated. We discuss these developments in the light of the transformation of the Telia case from a mediated corporate scandal to a criminal court case and from a focus on organizational to individual responsibility.
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| 8. |
- Schoultz, Isabel, et al.
(författare)
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Denials and Confessions : An Analysis of the Temporalization of Neutralizations of Corporate Crime
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. - : Elsevier BV. - 1756-0616 .- 1876-763X. ; 62
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years two Swedish companies, Telia and Lundin Petroleum, have had to work hard to legitimate their actions as a result of allegations of criminal activity. In this paper, the corporate framings employed to deal with allegations of crime will be analysed on the basis of Stanley Cohen's (2009) theoretical work on processes of denial and neutralization techniques. More specifically, the paper focuses on the temporalization of neutralizations of corporate crime and aims to answer the following questions: How have the corporations' defence mechanisms changed over time? How might the types of crime of which they have been accused, and their corporate structures, affect the ways in which particular defence mechanisms are employed? The analysis demonstrates that although there are similarities, such as both companies framing their businesses as contributing to the development of democracy, human rights, prosperity and peace, the companies follow two different lines of development in their defences. While Telia moves from literal denial to confession, Lundin Petroleum stays with its literal denial in parallel with a strong condemnation of the condemners. These differences seem to be grounded both in the crimes of which the companies have been accused and their respective corporate structures.
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| 9. |
- Schoultz, Isabel, et al.
(författare)
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From “We Didn’t Do It” to “We’ve Learned Our Lesson” : Development of a Typology of Neutralizations of Corporate Crime
- 2020
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Ingår i: Critical Criminology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1205-8629 .- 1572-9877. ; 28, s. 739-757
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- When corporations are faced with accusations of crime, they usually find it necessary to justify their actions to the public, the media and their shareholders. Corporate self-defense, aimed at protecting a corporation’s image and legitimacy, belongs to a broader category of offenders’ denials and neutralizations. The objective of this article is to compile and discuss literature that is of value for an understanding of neutralizations of corporate crime and, by means of this literature and our own empirical studies on corporate denials, to outline a typology of corporate neutralizations. The typology distinguishes between a wide variety of corporate responses to allegations of crime and exemplifies how these techniques have been used. We also discuss the function of corporate neutralization techniques and argue that corporate accounts mediate action; they influence both other actors and future corporate actions.
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| 10. |
- Stenström, Anders, 1981-
(författare)
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The Plural Policing of Fraud : Power and the investigation of insurance and welfare fraud in Sweden
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is a vast literature on plural policing and the ways in which non-governmental actors now have and are assuming more responsibility for crime control. This literature argues that the connection between policing and the state is being eroded, questioned and sometimes abandoned in favour of networks in which the state acts as one actor among many others. This thesis examines the Swedish policing of insurance and welfare fraud via an analysis of the ways in which power is organized and articulated by actors in the private insurance industry, and at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and police authority.The three articles included in the thesis contribute to a field that has received comparatively little attention, particularly in Sweden but also internationally. The existing literature has primarily been interested in the control of street-level criminality and the operations of uniformed security actors. Investigation practices in general and the plural policing of white-collar crime in particular have received far less attention. In Sweden, studies of policing are primarily state-centred, and the interactions between the police and other policing actors require further consideration. When examining insurance fraud, scholars have not considered the ways in which the insurance institution controls fraud; instead, this literature focuses on the characteristics of fraudsters. Thus the current thesis furthers our knowledge of a field of policing about which we currently know relatively little.The thesis takes as its general assumption the view that this form of policing is marked by a basic ambiguity between on the one hand being responsibilized and assuming responsibility for crime control, and on the other being responsible for other goals, such as promoting trust in, and the legitimacy and survival of the insurance institution. Existing research suggests that this ambiguity is resolved by simply denying compensation, adjusting premium levels, and cancelling policies or social benefits. My research shows that there is no Swedish exceptionalism in this sense.Based on a Foucauldian understanding of power, the thesis furthers our understanding of how the insurance institution is organized to tolerate fraud. The uncertainty between crime control and additional organizational goals is embedded in attempts to police the policing actors themselves, which is reflected in forces that make the policing of fraud a professional risk for the policing actors. The thesis argues that power relations provide opportunities to ensure that organizational goals are not endangered, while at the same time maintaining the public image that crime is being controlled. In contrast with existing research, the thesis shows that the law and the state – analytical categories that existing research, and particularly post-Foucauldian approaches, tend to reject or avoid – are critical to the plural policing of fraud. It is further suggested that scholars need to pay more attention to the way different technologies of power shape relationships between the actors involved in plural policing and their definitions of their own roles. In particular, scholars need to consider the role of the state and the legal framework in such arrangements.
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