NCJ Number
227029
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2009 Pages: 219-240
Date Published
April 2009
Length
22 pages
Annotation
In this article, the legal and political theory of Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, specifically his discussion of sovereign power and bare life are utilized to offer a theoretical basis for understanding the regulation and treatment of sex offenders in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, arguing that the sex offender can be conceived of as homo sacer, that is, life without form and value.
Abstract
Through an examination of the constructions of the pedophile as a permanently depraved monster, the institution of civil commitment and community notification statutes, and the techniques used to exact violence on and to regulate the movement of sex offenders, this article has shown how sex offenders can be conceived of as a form of outlaw, as homo sacer in the Agambenian sense (life without form and value, stripped of political and legal rights accorded to the normal citizen). It has been shown that the sex offender as homo sacer serves to embody the opposite of that which is sacred and stands accused of defiling the sacred. Community notification statutes being named after child victims of sex offenders are legal regimes given a pure sanctified face and any opposition to such laws are challenges to the moral order, resulting in the exertion of sovereign power where the sex offender is placed in the ambiguous terrain of the camp and there is a restoration of order and maintenance of the sacred. Through use of Agamben’s political and legal theory, specifically his concept of homo sacer, this article has highlighted and contributed to an understanding of the critical role of the law in the creation of lawless spaces of the camp. Notes and references