Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Nišu (Jan 2018)

Concept of 'police violence'

  • Kesić Zoran

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 57, no. 78
pp. 271 – 287

Abstract

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify an extremely complex phenomenon which is in the scientific and professional literature known as police violence. It is justified by the fact that this issue has not been sufficiently discussed in local literature, particularly in the context of scientific-theoretical and empirical research on this phenomenon. Having in mind that the theoretical and working definition of the subject matter of this research is the first and indispensable step in understanding the indicators of the phenomenon under consideration, the author first considers the conceptual definition of police violence in an endeavor to remove, at least partly, certain ambiguities and increase the interest of the academic community to research this phenomenon, not only in the form of theoretical analysis but also through empirical research in Serbian society. The need for such research primarily stems from the fact that there is an insufficient number of empirical studies that would systematically and comprehensively research the phenomenon of police violence in Serbia. Consequently, numerous indicators of this phenomenon and its extent are mainly the result of assumptions and arbitrary assessment.

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