Police Corruption Prevention in Post-Conflict Societies

A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 72060

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BX, UK
Interests: police corruption; conflict studies; anticorruption; statebuilding

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The role of the police is pivotal in law enforcement and criminal justice of any society. The police are tasked to perform their duties with respect to the rule of law and human rights. In post-conflict societies or states undergoing armed conflict, these roles are often hindered, with the police engaging in corruption, brutality, and criminality. As representatives of the state and its governance, police malfeasance results in poor public confidence and illegitimacy within the national police force and the government. Due to these factors, and particularly within an extremely volatile setting, police corruption can intensify public support for anti-opposition groups and an insurgency that further deteriorates police reform and state functionality.

In the response to police corruption, many externally driven and legal policy reform initiatives have been undertaken, which have attracted support from the donor community and major international financial institutions. However, the fight against police corruption in conflict-stricken or recovering states has been undermined by grand corruption and issues related to pay, which have intensified petty bribery in addition to roadside extortion and state capture.

This Special Issue focuses on the importance of challenging police corruption in post-conflict societies due to the weakening of the rule of law and security. The central focus in on anticorruption strategy and legal policy reform toward combating and preventing police corruption in post-conflict societies.

We invite submissions from a diverse set of contributors to examine the following:

  • Both the problems that police corruption brings in a variety of post-conflict societies and the legal efforts to curtail police corruption in volatile settings.
  • What are the causes and consequences of police corruption in post-conflict societies and states undergoing current armed conflict?
  • What pre-existing strategies have been put in place to prevent and fight police corruption in post-conflict societies?
  • What lessons can be learned regarding the viability of contemporary anticorruption strategy and legal policy reform?
  • What recommendations can be provided to establish greater cohesion and efforts to prevent police corruption in post-conflict societies?
  • What is the role of the international donor community and external stakeholders?
  • Should local ownership of anticorruption strategy be encouraged to prevent police corruption?

Submissions may choose to focus on thematic work based on a range of settings, and submissions on specific country contexts are strongly encouraged. It is envisioned that the Special Issue will appeal to scholars and practitioners within the criminal justice sector, political scientists, criminologists, and international lawyers.

The Special Issue will contribute to scholarship and the themes of police corruption, conflict studies, anticorruption, and statebuilding, with a focus on the potential of legal policy reform and other political initiatives to prevent and combat police corruption in post-conflict societies and states undergoing armed conflict.

Dr. Danny Singh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • police corruption
  • conflict studies
  • anticorruption
  • police reform
  • statebuilding
  • rule of law
  • corruption
  • human rights

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 357 KiB  
Article
The Causes of Police Corruption and Working towards Prevention in Conflict-Stricken States
by Danny Singh
Laws 2022, 11(5), 69; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11050069 - 30 Aug 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 71214
Abstract
The police are the initial faces of law enforcement and commence the criminal justice process and thus hold significant responsibility for functioning law and order. As key representatives of the state, the integrity of the police in all societies is pivotal to retain [...] Read more.
The police are the initial faces of law enforcement and commence the criminal justice process and thus hold significant responsibility for functioning law and order. As key representatives of the state, the integrity of the police in all societies is pivotal to retain public trust in the rule of law and the preservation of internal security. When police corruption is exposed or is perceived by the public to be prevalent, confidence in and communal relations with the police force become disjointed. Poor credibility of the police also negatively impacts on the legitimacy of the government. Negative public perceptions of both the police and government are particularly troublesome in violently divided societies or states undergoing armed conflict. The article focuses on the main causes and consequences of police corruption in hostile environments to introduce a range of prevention strategies to combat it and restore public confidence in policing and governance. The article suggests that a holistic anticorruption strategy, rather than a linear one, has the potential to raise awareness, increase pay to deter petty forms of corruption, install independent anticorruption agencies, and periodically rotate police officers to increase police integrity and loyalty for the host country. It is recommended that these multifaceted prevention strategies are needed within a police force that is faced with a violently divided society to reaffirm public support and deter support for armed anti-governmental oppositional groups. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Police Corruption Prevention in Post-Conflict Societies)
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