Disconnected Citizenship:The Impacts of Anti-terrorism Policy on Citizenship in the UK

This article draws on primary focus group data from the UK to offer three contributions to recent debate on the impact of anti-terrorism measures on citizenship. First, it presents a qualitatively rich account of citizens' own perspectives on this relationship. Second, it explores the significance of ethnic identity in relation to public attitudes. Finally, it traces the implications of anti-terrorism initiatives upon multiple dimensions of citizenship including participation, identity and duties as much as rights. The article argues that citizens from a range of ethnic minority backgrounds, and thus not only Muslims, believe that anti-terrorism measures have directly curtailed and diminished their citizenship. This is in contrast to white participants who, while not untroubled about the impact of these measures, generally viewed this as a concern distanced from their everyday lives. This difference suggests that anti-terrorism measures may be contributing to a condition of disconnected citizenship in the UK

Thought bite: A case study of the social construction of a crime and justice concept

The social construction of copycat crime exhibits a process in which a new criminological meme developed first as a media construct and subsequently as a criminological concept. How common the sequence where criminologists follow the media in the construction of crime and justice reality is unknown. The examination of the social construction of copycat crime suggested that the media create a new crime and justice construct through increased usage and modification of either newly minted or previously existing phrases that are disseminated as new crime and justice memes. In the case of copycat crime, media usage and public acceptance foreshadowed criminologists use of the phrase. A multi-step social construction process is hypothesized. A new construct becomes established and accepted in the public lexicon and popular media content; criminology researchers and practitioners note the increased public interest; renamed and reinvigorated research follows, and successful constructs become validated crime and justice phenomena. Employing the social construction history of copycat crime as a case study, this article details the social construction activities in the public and media spheres that created receptive environments for a unique new criminological construct to be developed. Traced from the inception of its component parts to its birth and adoption, the social construction of copycat crime demonstrates a useful methodology for the study of other crime and justice constructions and suggests that the relationship between criminology and the media regarding the social construction of crime and justice be further explored