Normalising and Neutralising Offending: The Influence of Health and Safety Regulation

View/ Open
Author(s)
Schindeler, Emily
Ransley, Janet
Year published
2015
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
One form of corporate malfeasance involves violation of workers' rights to a safe workplace. This article complements the dominant functionalist discourse concerned with defining, categorising and establishing antecedent conditions for psychological injury (and attendant physical health and social harm) arising from mistreatment at work. Drawing from claims heard in Australian courts and tribunals, this analysis examines the counterarguments presented by respondents in such cases. This preliminary evidence suggests that the normalisation and neutralisation of offending behaviours provides a justification for failing to deliver ...
View more >One form of corporate malfeasance involves violation of workers' rights to a safe workplace. This article complements the dominant functionalist discourse concerned with defining, categorising and establishing antecedent conditions for psychological injury (and attendant physical health and social harm) arising from mistreatment at work. Drawing from claims heard in Australian courts and tribunals, this analysis examines the counterarguments presented by respondents in such cases. This preliminary evidence suggests that the normalisation and neutralisation of offending behaviours provides a justification for failing to deliver a safe work environment and for exacerbating injury when it has occurred. Further, the framing of regulation has enabled this pattern of neutralisation of offending and denial of justice for victims. This article calls for a re-examination of the way in which victimisation has been problematised and the consequent implications for prevention.
View less >
View more >One form of corporate malfeasance involves violation of workers' rights to a safe workplace. This article complements the dominant functionalist discourse concerned with defining, categorising and establishing antecedent conditions for psychological injury (and attendant physical health and social harm) arising from mistreatment at work. Drawing from claims heard in Australian courts and tribunals, this analysis examines the counterarguments presented by respondents in such cases. This preliminary evidence suggests that the normalisation and neutralisation of offending behaviours provides a justification for failing to deliver a safe work environment and for exacerbating injury when it has occurred. Further, the framing of regulation has enabled this pattern of neutralisation of offending and denial of justice for victims. This article calls for a re-examination of the way in which victimisation has been problematised and the consequent implications for prevention.
View less >
Journal Title
Current Issues in Criminal Justice
Volume
26
Issue
3
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© 2015, Published by The Institute of Criminology, University of Sydney. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Criminology not elsewhere classified
Criminology
Sociology
Law