AUSTIN T. TURK’s research while affiliated with University of Toronto and other places

Partisan criminological analysis is characterized by dogmatic theories whose volidity is politically rather thon scientifically determined. Methods of inquiry ore used to demonstrate rather thon test theoretical propositions. Standard methodological tactics include assertion, anecdote, association, and analogy. In contrast, nonpartisan conflict analysis treats as entirely problematic the processes by which conceptions of deviance are socially constructed and become the official concerns of those who wield state power. What, how, why, and by whom behavioral or nonbehovioral attributes are labeled deviant is viewed as o function of the relative power of parties in conflict over the distribution of life chances.

Deviance in the policing of political activities may be either legal or behavioral. Both are generated to satisfy external demands without risking undeniable failure. Tactics of secrecy and scapegoating to avoid the perils of external scrutiny are supplemented by applying the principles of need to know and plausible deniability. The demand for results regardless of methods makes legal deviance inevitable and behavioral deviance very probable. Deviance in political policing is very unlikely to be inhibited significantly by legal reforms or public politics. Organizational changes are more likely to have some impact.