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      Cleaning up the Dirty Squad: Using the Obscene Publications Act as a Weapon of Social Control

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      State Crime Journal
      Pluto Journals
      crime, corruption, police, Obscene Publications Act, social control
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            Abstract

            Formed as a result of the introduction of the Obscene Publications Act 1959, the Obscene Publications Squad – known colloquially as the “Dirty Squad” – controlled a web of corruption and managed the proliferation of pornography in the Central London district of Soho. Although its reputation for corruption was the primary reason for the vice unit's notoriety, their role in applying social control also had a profound impact on London society during the 1960s and 1970s. During this period, the Dirty Squad mounted a campaign against the underground press and their influence on the counterculture. It is suggested that these investigations were designed to provide a cover for the vice squad's inaction against pornographers; by focusing attention on more radical elements of the city's counterculture, the Dirty Squad gave the impression that they were taking action whilst simultaneously allowing their corrupt partners in the vice industry to continue in their business unabated.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            10.2307/j50005552
            statecrime
            State Crime Journal
            Pluto Journals
            2046-6056
            2046-6064
            1 January 2019
            : 8
            : 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/statecrime.8.issue-1 )
            : 19-38
            Affiliations
            [1 ] University of New England, Armidale, Australia;
            Article
            statecrime.8.1.0019
            10.13169/statecrime.8.1.0019
            e521568f-e208-49b3-8190-83571f2aea9c
            © 2019 International State Crime Initiative

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Categories
            Custom metadata
            eng

            Criminology
            crime,corruption,police,Obscene Publications Act,social control

            References

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