NCJ Number
139187
Journal
Crime, Law and Social Change Volume: 18 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (September 1992) Pages: 105-136
Date Published
1992
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses the implications of the concepts of intended and unintended consequences of undercover policing and identifies some of these consequences within the Canadian context.
Abstract
The author first discusses features of the Canadian context of undercover policing and briefly describes the Canadian policing apparatus. He then analyzes the meaning of intended and unintended consequences in the field of undercover policing. The final section of the paper identifies some of these consequences and classifies them according to four categories, namely, consequences that are desirable, from a law enforcement perspective, and intended; consequences that are desirable and unintended; consequences that are undesirable and intended; and consequences that are undesirable and unintended. The author concludes that the dichotomy between intended and unintended consequences of undercover operations is too rigid to accommodate all the consequences of undercover policing. He proposes that the concept of "entailed consequence" be introduced into the analysis. A consequence that is entailed by undercover policing is short of or beyond intention. It could be likened to the unavoidable price that has to be paid for a certain kind of police practice. The benefits of viewing certain outcomes of undercover policing as entailed consequences include the facilitation of a lucid cost- benefit analysis and a conceptual framework for an objective assessment of the political, social, and ethical issues of undercover policing. 41 references