Hiérarchie des légitimités. Obstacle et défi à la connaissance des violences carcérales

• Main Author: Corinne Rostaing
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: ENS Éditions 2010-11-01
• Series: Tracés
• Subjects: hierarchy of credibility; investigation; knowledge; legitimacy; prison; violence
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/traces/4906

This paper proposes to explore the moral obstacles to the knowledge of violence in prison, which have to do with the hierarchical organization of the legitimacy of violence. There seems to be no question that there is violence in prison. In a first section, we focus on the specificities of the prison environment and analyze the forms which institutional violence takes, beyond the usual discourse on interpersonal violence. How can violence be studied in an institution which, because of its mission and the way it is organized, itself produces violence ? How can interviewees be made to speak about violence, when the prison environment incites to shams, makes it difficult to stay oneself and necessary « to look wild » ? In a second section, we question the principles of the hierarchical organization of the legitimacy of violence in prison, starting from an observation that all forms of violence are not equal. What are the effects of that hierarchical organization on the investigation ? Some types of violence are more justifiable than others, because they receive official recognition. Violence is handled differently according to the status of the victim, whether it is a prisoner or a member of staff. The sociologist can be interested in violence that is particularly taboo : sexual violence, staff violence against the prisoners or violence among staff. These various obstacles to the knowledge of violence can then become tools of knowledge.