Stanley Cohen's sociology of denial and the study of punishment

Abstract

In this article we introduce and discuss the later work of Stanley Cohen, that is, his writings on denial. We focus in particular on the interaction between social commitment and scientific distance, the so-called «double loyalty» that characterises his approach to questions of crime and deviance, punishment and control. We will argue that the sociology of denial of Stanley Cohen not only helps us understand the ways in which we talk about political conflicts and serious violations of human rights but also about more down-to-earth penological questions. We illustrate this by focusingon two case-studies: the monitoring of prison conditions by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter CPT) and the debate on the regulation and deregulation of strip-searches in Belgian prisons.