Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

The theory of vulnerable autonomy and the legitimacy of the civil preventative order

Ramsay, Peter (2008) The theory of vulnerable autonomy and the legitimacy of the civil preventative order. LSE law, society and economy working papers (01-2008). Department of Law, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

[img]
Preview
PDF
Download (328kB) | Preview

Abstract

Criminologists and criminal law theorists have explained the ASBO and the terrorism Control Order as purely instrumental measures in the service of crime control. The political consent enjoyed by these new Civil Preventative Orders has for the most part been regarded in the expert literature as an example of penal populism which has thrown aside sound legal principles. This paper, by contrast, investigates a possible normative basis for these orders. It first analyses and reconstructs their substantive law, arguing that they impose a liability for manifesting a disposition which fails to reassure others. It then investigates the basis for this liability in official anti-social behaviour and counter-terrorism policy, both of which emphasise the vulnerability of normal citizens. The paper then proposes that the ‘vulnerable autonomy’ which these policies and legal instruments seek to protect is an axiomatic feature of the political theories of ‘advanced liberalism’. Finally, the claim made by normative criminal law theorists that Civil Preventative Orders are illegitimate is reconsidered in the light of the theory of vulnerable autonomy.

Item Type: Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/law/wps/wps1.htm
Additional Information: © 2008 The Author
Divisions: Law
Subjects: K Law > K Law (General)
Date Deposited: 02 Jun 2009 16:03
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 23:12
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/24186

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics