‘The Flaw in the Taser Debate is the Taser Debate’: What do We Know about Taser in the UK, and How Significant are the Gaps in Our Knowledge?

Abi Dymond

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Over the last decade the use of the electric-shock weapon Taser by police forces in England and Wales has substantively increased. This trend, widely noticed in media and policy debates, has featured little in the academic literature. In keeping with the spirit of this journal—to speak to practitioners and academics alike—this article aims to assist the former by providing an overview of the knowledge pertaining to Taser in England and Wales, and the latter by using this review to highlight gaps in the broader literature on Taser and police use of force. It argues not only that there is a need for more literature focusing on this jurisdiction, but also that the broader literature would benefit from paying greater attention to the technical features of the device and from further contextualizing its use. Yet until use of force reporting improves it will be difficult for researchers to convincingly answer this call.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-9
Number of pages10
JournalPolicing
Early online date31 Mar 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • police
  • force

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